TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers

This case describes the challenges facing Jon Moussally, the CEO of TraumaLink, a four-year-old social venture that provided trauma first aid to victims of traffic injuries in Bangladesh, a country that had some of the most dangerous highways in the world but no formal emergency response system. Jon, a practicing emergency room physician and public health student, had been shocked by the chaotic traffic that he observed during a trip to Dhaka, Bangladesh, for a course on global health issues. Over the next 18 months, Jon and three partners-two fellow students and the Bangladeshi head of a local social venture organization-decided on a three-pronged approach: they would train community-based volunteers who lived or worked close to the highway to provide free basic trauma first aid; they would develop an easy-to-use 911-type software system to deploy volunteers quickly to a crash scene; and they planned to raise operating funds by selling advertising or subscriptions to companies in Bangladesh whose workers travelled the dangerous highways daily. By the fall of 2017, TraumaLink had been successfully launched along two sections of particularly dangerous highways. Their trained volunteers had been able to quickly and effectively provide first aid to victims of traffic injuries. The software had worked well to notify and deploy volunteers and collect data. However, Jon and his partners had not yet found sustainable, long-term sources of revenue, despite almost four years of trying. After an initial pilot phase in November 2014, the organization had been awarded $142,500 by the US Agency for International Development, but these funds would run out by the end of 2018, with little chance of another round. TraumaLink had proven that they could deliver emergency services and save lives, but could Jon and his partners figure out how to become financially sustainable so that they could continue to support and expand their services within Bangladesh and possibly beyond?

Authors :: Kelechi Weze, Susan Madden

Topics :: Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Tags :: , SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers" written by Kelechi Weze, Susan Madden includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Traumalink Jon facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc

---

---

---

---

Introduction to SWOT Analysis of TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Traumalink Jon, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Traumalink Jon 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 TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Traumalink Jon
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Traumalink Jon

---

Strengths TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Traumalink Jon in TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers Harvard Business Review case study are -

Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field

– Traumalink Jon is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Traumalink Jon in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Traumalink Jon in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Learning organization

- Traumalink Jon 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 Traumalink Jon is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Traumalink Jon are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.

High brand equity

– Traumalink Jon has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Traumalink Jon to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Innovation driven organization

– Traumalink Jon is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Organizational Resilience of Traumalink Jon

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Traumalink Jon does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Traumalink Jon 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 TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Diverse revenue streams

– Traumalink Jon is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.

Analytics focus

– Traumalink Jon is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Kelechi Weze, Susan Madden can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Traumalink Jon 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 TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

---

---

Weaknesses TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers are -

Lack of clear differentiation of Traumalink Jon products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Traumalink Jon needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers, in the dynamic environment Traumalink Jon has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Traumalink Jon has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Traumalink Jon has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Aligning sales with marketing

– It come across in the case study TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Traumalink Jon is planning to shift buying processes online.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Traumalink Jon 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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers, it seems that the employees of Traumalink Jon don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Traumalink Jon 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. Traumalink Jon 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Traumalink Jon needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.

Need for greater diversity

– Traumalink Jon 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 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 Traumalink Jon supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Traumalink Jon 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, Traumalink Jon is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

---

Opportunities TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers | 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 TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers are -

Developing new processes and practices

– Traumalink Jon can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Traumalink Jon can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Traumalink Jon can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Traumalink Jon in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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. Traumalink Jon can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Loyalty marketing

– Traumalink Jon has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Traumalink Jon to increase its market reach. Traumalink Jon 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.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Traumalink Jon can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.

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 Traumalink Jon 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

– Traumalink Jon can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Traumalink Jon can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Traumalink Jon 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 TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Traumalink Jon to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Traumalink Jon can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Traumalink Jon 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.

---

Threats TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers are -

Increasing wage structure of Traumalink Jon

– 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 Traumalink Jon.

Instability in the European markets

– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Traumalink Jon will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Traumalink Jon can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Traumalink Jon high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.

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 Traumalink Jon.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Traumalink Jon can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

New competition

– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Traumalink Jon in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers, Traumalink Jon may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .

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 Traumalink Jon business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Traumalink Jon in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.

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. Traumalink Jon needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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.

Aging population

– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.

---

Weighted SWOT Analysis of TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers 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 TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers 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 TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers 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 TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers 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 TraumaLink: Providing Trauma First Aid Services in Bangladesh Using Trained Volunteers 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 Traumalink Jon needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

--- ---