Case Study Description of Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso
Follows on from the cases Istituto Clinico Humanitas (A) and (B). Describes the design and running of the new Humanitas Emergency Department. Istituto Clinico Humanitas has developed a very efficient operating system for dealing with elective (largely surgical) patients. By opening an emergency room, however, the institution is now called upon to care for complex and highly variable medical patients. Asks if the previous operating system is appropriate for this new patient population and in what ways might it require modification to meet these patients' unique needs. The concept of hospital-within-a-hospital is central to Humnitas' new design, and the case examines if this is feasible in this setting.
Swot Analysis of "Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso" written by Richard Bohmer includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Humanitas Clinico facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Innovation, Managing organizations and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Humanitas Clinico, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Humanitas Clinico 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 Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Humanitas Clinico
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 Humanitas Clinico
Strengths Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Humanitas Clinico in Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Humanitas Clinico 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.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Humanitas Clinico digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Humanitas Clinico 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.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Humanitas Clinico 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 Humanitas Clinico in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Humanitas Clinico is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso 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.
Organizational Resilience of Humanitas Clinico
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Humanitas Clinico does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Humanitas Clinico 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 Richard Bohmer 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Humanitas Clinico is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Humanitas Clinico in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Humanitas Clinico in the sector have low bargaining power. Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Humanitas Clinico to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Training and development
– Humanitas Clinico has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Learning organization
- Humanitas Clinico 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 Humanitas Clinico is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso 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 Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Humanitas Clinico is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Humanitas Clinico 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 - Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso HBR case study mentions - Humanitas Clinico 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Richard Bohmer suggests that, Humanitas Clinico is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Need for greater diversity
– Humanitas Clinico 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso, is just above the industry average. Humanitas Clinico 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Humanitas Clinico is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Humanitas Clinico 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Humanitas Clinico is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Humanitas Clinico needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Humanitas Clinico to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Humanitas Clinico 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Humanitas Clinico, firm in the HBR case study Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Opportunities Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso | 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 Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Humanitas Clinico 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, Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Humanitas Clinico 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Humanitas Clinico 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.
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. Humanitas Clinico can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Humanitas Clinico 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.
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 Humanitas Clinico 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Humanitas Clinico 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Humanitas Clinico is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Humanitas Clinico 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 Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Humanitas Clinico to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Humanitas Clinico can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Humanitas Clinico can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Humanitas Clinico 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Humanitas Clinico can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Humanitas Clinico operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Threats Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Humanitas Clinico 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Humanitas Clinico 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 Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso .
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 Humanitas Clinico.
Increasing wage structure of Humanitas Clinico
– 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 Humanitas Clinico.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Humanitas Clinico with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Regulatory challenges
– Humanitas Clinico 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
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 Humanitas Clinico business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Humanitas Clinico in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Humanitas Clinico 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso, Humanitas Clinico 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Humanitas Clinico is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Humanitas Clinico 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso 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 Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso 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 Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso 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 Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso 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 Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso 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 Humanitas Clinico needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.