St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis
St. Mary Maternity Hospital, a nonprofit organization, had a mission to deliver healthy babies at normal weight and to offer medical care to expectant mothers regardless of their financial situation. This case demonstrates the value of staying focused on achieving a mission statement. To achieve the hospital's mission, it was important to identify factors that could affect the weight and health of babies. This case demonstrates how a few factors related to birth could result in insightful and actionable recommendations for doctors, administrators, and policy makers.
Swot Analysis of "St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis" written by Satyendra Singh, Meera Kaur includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Babies Maternity facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Babies Maternity, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Babies Maternity 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 St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Babies Maternity
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 Babies Maternity
Strengths St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Babies Maternity in St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Babies Maternity is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Babies Maternity are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Babies Maternity 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 St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Organizational Resilience of Babies Maternity
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Babies Maternity does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Babies Maternity has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Babies Maternity 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis 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 Babies Maternity in the sector have low bargaining power. St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Babies Maternity to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Babies Maternity 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 Babies Maternity is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Babies Maternity 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 St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Babies Maternity in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Babies Maternity has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis 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.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Babies Maternity digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Babies Maternity 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.
Weaknesses St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Satyendra Singh, Meera Kaur suggests that, Babies Maternity 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.
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 Babies Maternity supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Babies Maternity vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis 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 Babies Maternity 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis, it seems that the employees of Babies Maternity 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Babies Maternity 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Babies Maternity 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Babies Maternity is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Babies Maternity 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Babies Maternity has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Babies Maternity 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis, in the dynamic environment Babies Maternity has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Babies Maternity has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis | 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 St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Babies Maternity can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Babies Maternity operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Babies Maternity to increase its market reach. Babies Maternity 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Babies Maternity 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 Babies Maternity 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 Babies Maternity to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Babies Maternity 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. Babies Maternity 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Babies Maternity has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Babies Maternity to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis case study. Babies Maternity can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Babies Maternity 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 St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Babies Maternity to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Babies Maternity in the consumer business. Now Babies Maternity can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Babies Maternity can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Babies Maternity can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Babies Maternity 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Babies Maternity 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, St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Babies Maternity 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.
Threats St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Babies Maternity is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Babies Maternity 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Babies Maternity 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.
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 Babies Maternity in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Babies Maternity 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. Babies Maternity can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
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. Babies Maternity 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 Babies Maternity 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.
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. Babies Maternity needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
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 Babies Maternity.
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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis, Babies Maternity 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 .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Babies Maternity 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 St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis 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 St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis 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 St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis 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 St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis 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 St. Mary Maternity Hospital: Introduction to SPSS and Statistical Analysis 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 Babies Maternity needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.