Case Study Description of Westmount Retirement Residence
The administrator of the Westmount Retirement Residence is concerned about the current cost accounting system. The administrator is not clear on how much each service offered was truly costing, and therefore charged each resident the same price per month regardless of their needs. In the past, the majority of patients demanded similar services, and therefore this pricing and costing system was appropriate. However, with demographic changes to the population, some residents required intense medical care, while others were healthy and fit and required less care. A new pricing model had to be developed that reflected both the size of suite inhabited and the level of medical care and service required by each individual patient.
Swot Analysis of "Westmount Retirement Residence" written by Mary Heisz, Nicole Shomair includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Westmount Administrator facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Westmount Retirement Residence case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Pricing and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Westmount Retirement Residence casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Westmount Retirement Residence
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Westmount Retirement Residence case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Westmount Administrator, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Westmount Administrator 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 Westmount Retirement Residence can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Westmount Retirement Residence case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Westmount Administrator
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Westmount Administrator
Strengths Westmount Retirement Residence | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Westmount Administrator in Westmount Retirement Residence Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Westmount Administrator has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Westmount Retirement Residence 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Westmount Administrator is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Westmount Retirement Residence 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
– Westmount Administrator 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 Westmount Retirement Residence HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Westmount Administrator 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 Westmount Administrator in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Westmount Administrator 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 Westmount Administrator is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Westmount Retirement Residence Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Westmount Administrator has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Westmount Administrator 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Westmount Administrator in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Organizational Resilience of Westmount Administrator
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Westmount Administrator does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Westmount Administrator is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Westmount Retirement Residence are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Strong track record of project management
– Westmount Administrator is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Westmount Administrator 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 Mary Heisz, Nicole Shomair 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Westmount Retirement Residence firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Westmount Administrator to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Westmount Administrator to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Westmount Retirement Residence | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Westmount Retirement Residence are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Westmount Administrator is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Westmount Retirement Residence can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Westmount Retirement Residence HBR case study mentions - Westmount Administrator 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Westmount Retirement Residence 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 Westmount Administrator 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Westmount Administrator 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Westmount Administrator is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Westmount Administrator needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Westmount Administrator to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Westmount Administrator 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Westmount Retirement Residence, in the dynamic environment Westmount Administrator has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Westmount Administrator 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 Westmount Administrator 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 - Westmount Retirement Residence should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Westmount Retirement Residence, is just above the industry average. Westmount Administrator 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Westmount Administrator products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Westmount Administrator needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Westmount Retirement Residence 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 Westmount Retirement Residence can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Westmount Administrator is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Westmount Retirement Residence | 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 Westmount Retirement Residence are -
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Westmount Administrator can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Westmount Administrator 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Westmount Administrator 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. Westmount Administrator 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.
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. Westmount Administrator can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Westmount Administrator to increase its market reach. Westmount Administrator 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Westmount Administrator in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Westmount Administrator has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Westmount Administrator to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Westmount Retirement Residence case study. Westmount Administrator can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Westmount Administrator can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
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 Westmount Administrator 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Westmount Administrator to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Westmount Administrator 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Westmount Administrator 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Westmount Administrator 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 Westmount Retirement Residence - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Westmount Administrator to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Westmount Retirement Residence External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Westmount Retirement Residence are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Westmount Retirement Residence, Westmount Administrator may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
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.
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 Westmount Administrator business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Westmount Administrator has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Westmount Administrator needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Westmount Administrator in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
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.
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 Westmount Administrator.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Westmount Administrator 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 Westmount Retirement Residence .
Regulatory challenges
– Westmount Administrator 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Westmount Administrator 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Westmount Administrator demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
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. Westmount Administrator 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.
Increasing wage structure of Westmount Administrator
– 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 Westmount Administrator.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Westmount Retirement Residence 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 Westmount Retirement Residence 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 Westmount Retirement Residence 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 Westmount Retirement Residence 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 Westmount Retirement Residence 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 Westmount Administrator needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.