BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets
BRAC was the largest non-governmental organization in the world, reaching out to 138 million people. It made a significant contribution to reducing poverty in Bangladesh by employing more than 117,000 community workers (Shasthya Shebikas) to improve the health and nutrition of the rural poor. The manager of BRAC's Health, Nutrition and Population program was faced with two significant challenges. First, she had to find a way to encourage more people to use BRAC's services; more than 60 per cent of the population sought the services of unqualified health care service providers, despite the significant contribution made by Shasthya Shebikas. Second, she had to bring down the 10 to 20 per cent turnover rate of the Shasthya Shebikas. Sanal Kumar Velayudhan is affiliated with Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode. Sayeda Shabukta Malik is affiliated with . Kaosar Afsana is affiliated with BRAC University.
Swot Analysis of "BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets" written by Sanal Kumar Velayudhan, Sayeda Shabukta Malik, Kaosar Afsana includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Shasthya Shebikas facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Sales and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Shasthya Shebikas, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Shasthya Shebikas operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Shasthya Shebikas
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Shasthya Shebikas
Strengths BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Shasthya Shebikas in BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Shasthya Shebikas has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
High brand equity
– Shasthya Shebikas has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Shasthya Shebikas to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Shasthya Shebikas has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Shasthya Shebikas has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Shasthya Shebikas has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Shasthya Shebikas is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Shasthya Shebikas has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Shasthya Shebikas to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Shasthya Shebikas to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Shasthya Shebikas
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Shasthya Shebikas does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Shasthya Shebikas is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Shasthya Shebikas has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Learning organization
- Shasthya Shebikas is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Shasthya Shebikas is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Shasthya Shebikas has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Shasthya Shebikas has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Shasthya Shebikas supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Shasthya Shebikas vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Shasthya Shebikas is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Shasthya Shebikas has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Shasthya Shebikas has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Shasthya Shebikas has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Shasthya Shebikas even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Shasthya Shebikas has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Lack of clear differentiation of Shasthya Shebikas products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Shasthya Shebikas needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Shasthya Shebikas is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Shasthya Shebikas needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Shasthya Shebikas to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Shasthya Shebikas 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Shasthya Shebikas has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Shasthya Shebikas to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Manufacturing automation
– Shasthya Shebikas can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Global Business segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Shasthya Shebikas in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Shasthya Shebikas can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Shasthya Shebikas to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Shasthya Shebikas to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Shasthya Shebikas to increase its market reach. Shasthya Shebikas will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Shasthya Shebikas has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Shasthya Shebikas to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets case study. Shasthya Shebikas can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Shasthya Shebikas to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Buying journey improvements
– Shasthya Shebikas can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Shasthya Shebikas can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Global Business segment.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Shasthya Shebikas can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Shasthya Shebikas can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Shasthya Shebikas can develop new processes and procedures in Global Business industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Threats BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets are -
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Shasthya Shebikas needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Shasthya Shebikas can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets .
Environmental challenges
– Shasthya Shebikas needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Shasthya Shebikas can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Shasthya Shebikas is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Shasthya Shebikas has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Shasthya Shebikas needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Increasing wage structure of Shasthya Shebikas
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Shasthya Shebikas.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets, Shasthya Shebikas may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Shasthya Shebikas.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Shasthya Shebikas can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Shasthya Shebikas business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Shasthya Shebikas with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Shasthya Shebikas needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Global Business industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of BRAC: Shasthya Shebikas' Role in Delivering Health Care Service to Rural Markets is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Shasthya Shebikas needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
