The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department
In June 2009, the new chief executive officer at the National University Hospital in Singapore had serious concerns about the hospital's prolonged emergency department boarding time-the time between an emergency doctor's decision to admit a patient and the patient's occupation of a hospital bed. He knew that a prolonged boarding time was one of the leading factors contributing to emergency department overcrowding, which in turn hindered the delivery of high-quality medical care and compromised patient outcomes. The chief executive officer needed to decide what strategy the National University Hospital should adopt to reduce the prolonged emergency department boarding time and how the hospital should execute such a strategy. Muhammad Adnan Zahid Chudhery and Jingui Xie are affiliated with University of Science and Technology of China. Mabel C. Chou is affiliated with National University of Singapore.
Authors :: Muhammad Adnan Zahid Chudhery, Jingui Xie, Mabel C. Chou, Joe Sim
Swot Analysis of "The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department" written by Muhammad Adnan Zahid Chudhery, Jingui Xie, Mabel C. Chou, Joe Sim includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Emergency Boarding facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Supply chain and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Emergency Boarding, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Emergency Boarding 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 The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Emergency Boarding
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Emergency Boarding
Strengths The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Emergency Boarding in The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Emergency Boarding is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Emergency Boarding 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 The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Emergency Boarding 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 Muhammad Adnan Zahid Chudhery, Jingui Xie, Mabel C. Chou, Joe Sim 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Emergency Boarding is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department 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.
High brand equity
– Emergency Boarding has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Emergency Boarding to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Emergency Boarding in the sector have low bargaining power. The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Emergency Boarding to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Emergency Boarding 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Emergency Boarding in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Emergency Boarding 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Emergency Boarding 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 The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Emergency Boarding 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 Emergency Boarding is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Emergency Boarding has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Emergency Boarding 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.
Weaknesses The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Emergency Boarding 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Emergency Boarding is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Technology & Operations segment. Emergency Boarding needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Emergency Boarding to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Emergency Boarding 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Emergency Boarding 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department HBR case study mentions - Emergency Boarding takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department 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 Emergency Boarding has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Emergency Boarding has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department 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 Emergency Boarding 's lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Emergency Boarding, firm in the HBR case study The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Emergency Boarding is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department, is just above the industry average. Emergency Boarding needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Opportunities The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department | 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 The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Emergency Boarding 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 The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Emergency Boarding to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Emergency Boarding 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 Emergency Boarding to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Emergency Boarding 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Emergency Boarding can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Technology & Operations 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Emergency Boarding to increase its market reach. Emergency Boarding 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.
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. Emergency Boarding can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Emergency Boarding can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Emergency Boarding operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Emergency Boarding can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Emergency Boarding in the consumer business. Now Emergency Boarding can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Emergency Boarding has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Emergency Boarding to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department case study. Emergency Boarding can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Emergency Boarding is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Emergency Boarding can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department 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 Emergency Boarding 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 Technology & Operations segment.
Threats The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department are -
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 Emergency Boarding.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Emergency Boarding 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
– Emergency Boarding 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.
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. Emergency Boarding needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Technology & Operations industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Emergency Boarding has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Emergency Boarding needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations 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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Emergency Boarding with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Emergency Boarding is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Emergency Boarding in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations 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.
Increasing wage structure of Emergency Boarding
– 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 Emergency Boarding.
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 Emergency Boarding in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline 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.
Environmental challenges
– Emergency Boarding 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. Emergency Boarding can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Technology & Operations industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department 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 The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department 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 The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department 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 The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department 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 The National University Hospital: Overcrowding in the Emergency Department 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 Emergency Boarding needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.