Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa
A retired Swiss banker has decided to bring primary healthcare to Africa by using a cooperative business model that brings together complementary firms. The model has proven successful in the United Arab Emirates, Zambia and Ghana. He now faces the decision of whether to expand into new African countries, and if so, which countries to enter, how to select partners and how to recruit country managers. The case also illustrates the challenges and misconceptions of doing business in Africa. Albert Wocke is affiliated with Gordon Institute of Business Science.
Swot Analysis of "Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa" written by Albert Wocke includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Africa Cooperative facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategy and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, there is backlash against globalization,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Africa Cooperative, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Africa Cooperative 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 Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Africa Cooperative
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 Africa Cooperative
Strengths Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Africa Cooperative in Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Africa Cooperative 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 Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Africa Cooperative 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 Africa Cooperative in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Africa Cooperative has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Africa Cooperative 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.
Learning organization
- Africa Cooperative 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 Africa Cooperative is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Africa Cooperative to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Africa Cooperative to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Africa Cooperative in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Africa Cooperative in the sector have low bargaining power. Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Africa Cooperative to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Innovation driven organization
– Africa Cooperative is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Africa Cooperative is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Africa Cooperative 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Africa Cooperative is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Africa Cooperative 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.
Weaknesses Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Africa Cooperative 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa, in the dynamic environment Africa Cooperative has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Africa Cooperative has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Albert Wocke suggests that, Africa Cooperative 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Africa Cooperative 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa HBR case study mentions - Africa Cooperative 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Africa Cooperative is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Africa Cooperative needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Africa Cooperative to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Africa Cooperative 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Africa Cooperative, firm in the HBR case study Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Africa Cooperative is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa 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 Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Africa Cooperative is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa | 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 Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa are -
Loyalty marketing
– Africa Cooperative 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Africa Cooperative 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Africa Cooperative 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, Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Manufacturing automation
– Africa Cooperative 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Africa Cooperative 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Africa Cooperative 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
– Africa Cooperative 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 Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Africa Cooperative to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Africa Cooperative 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Africa Cooperative 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Africa Cooperative to increase its market reach. Africa Cooperative 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Africa Cooperative can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Africa Cooperative operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
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 Africa Cooperative 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Africa Cooperative has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Africa Cooperative to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa case study. Africa Cooperative can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa are -
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Africa Cooperative is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Africa Cooperative 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.
Increasing wage structure of Africa Cooperative
– 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 Africa Cooperative.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Africa Cooperative 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. Africa Cooperative needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa, Africa Cooperative 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Africa Cooperative 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. Africa Cooperative can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Africa Cooperative 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.
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 Africa Cooperative 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 Africa Cooperative.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Africa Cooperative 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.
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. Africa Cooperative can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa 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 Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa 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 Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa 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 Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa 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 Hello Healthcare: Taking a Cooperative Business into Africa 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 Africa Cooperative needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
