The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Global Business
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman
In 2015, many people in southwest Sri Lanka were experiencing severe health problems as a result of poor water sanitation, decaying pumps and pipes, and the resultant unsanitary water. With Sri Lanka's dubious credit record and extremely poor economy, the country's government was unsure of how to raise the US$70 million that was required to build new sanitation plants and replace many aging pipes throughout the region. Would it have to accept the first offer of support or would its long-time allies from other foreign governments come to the rescue? There was little doubt that Sri Lanka would be faced with a number of caveats and conditions as part of any agreement to secure the necessary funding. Furthermore, even if the country could find the funds, would the designated officials use them appropriately without falling prey to corruption? As in any developing country, there were many concerns that needed to be addressed, and very few resources with which to address them. Stephen Grainger is affiliated with Edith Cowan University.
Swot Analysis of "The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman" written by Stephen Grainger includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sri Lanka facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Crisis management, Ethics, International business and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization,
increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sri Lanka, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sri Lanka 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 Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sri Lanka
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 Sri Lanka
Strengths The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sri Lanka in The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Sri Lanka is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sri Lanka in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Sri Lanka 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 Stephen Grainger 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
– Sri Lanka 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 Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Sri Lanka 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Sri Lanka has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Sri Lanka 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Sri Lanka is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Sri Lanka in the sector have low bargaining power. The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Sri Lanka to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sri Lanka digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sri Lanka has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Learning organization
- Sri Lanka 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 Sri Lanka is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Sri Lanka has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Sri Lanka 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.
Weaknesses The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman 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 Sri Lanka 's lucrative customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Sri Lanka 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Sri Lanka 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 Sri Lanka products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sri Lanka needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Sri Lanka 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Sri Lanka 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.
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 Sri Lanka supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Sri Lanka vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman HBR case study mentions - Sri Lanka 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman, it seems that the employees of Sri Lanka 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman 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 Sri Lanka has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman | 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 Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Sri Lanka 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sri Lanka 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 Sri Lanka to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Sri Lanka 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Sri Lanka is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman 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.
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. Sri Lanka can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Sri Lanka 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sri Lanka 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 Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sri Lanka to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sri Lanka has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Sri Lanka to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman case study. Sri Lanka can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Sri Lanka can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Sri Lanka 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Sri Lanka 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Sri Lanka 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Sri Lanka 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. Sri Lanka 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.
Threats The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman 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 The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman, Sri Lanka 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 .
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. Sri Lanka needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Sri Lanka 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Sri Lanka in the Global Business industry. The Global Business 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.
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 Sri Lanka business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Sri Lanka 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Sri Lanka has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sri Lanka 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.
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. Sri Lanka 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.
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. Sri Lanka can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Sri Lanka 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. Sri Lanka can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sri Lanka 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman 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 Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman 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 Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman 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 Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman 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 Sri Lankan Health Crisis and the Middleman 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 Sri Lanka needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
