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 commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, 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 -
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.
Strong track record of project management
– Humanitas Clinico is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Humanitas Clinico 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 Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Humanitas Clinico has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Humanitas Clinico 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Humanitas Clinico 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 Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
High brand equity
– Humanitas Clinico has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Humanitas Clinico to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
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 -
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.
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.
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 Humanitas Clinico supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Humanitas Clinico vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
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.
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.
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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Humanitas Clinico 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 Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso, in the dynamic environment Humanitas Clinico has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Humanitas Clinico 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 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.
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.
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 -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Humanitas Clinico in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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.
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.
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.
Buying journey improvements
– Humanitas Clinico can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso 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.
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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Humanitas Clinico 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Humanitas Clinico 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. Humanitas Clinico 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.
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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Humanitas Clinico 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 Humanitas Clinico to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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.
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.
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 .
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.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Humanitas Clinico can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Humanitas Clinico 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Humanitas Clinico in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
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.
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. Humanitas Clinico needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Humanitas Clinico 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. Humanitas Clinico can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
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.