Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014
This case provides a discussion of critical illness insurance from various perspectives. The case first looks at critical illness insurance from both a consumer's and life insurers' perspectives. The case then discusses critical illness insurance's position in a changing healthcare and health insurance environment before considering its relevance in the future.
Swot Analysis of "Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014" written by Keng Leong Yeo includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Illness Insurance facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Illness Insurance, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Illness Insurance 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 Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Illness Insurance
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Illness Insurance
Strengths Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Illness Insurance in Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Illness Insurance 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Illness Insurance 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Illness Insurance in the sector have low bargaining power. Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Illness Insurance to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Illness Insurance 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 Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Illness Insurance 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 Illness Insurance in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Illness Insurance is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Training and development
– Illness Insurance has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Illness Insurance is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Illness Insurance 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 Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Illness Insurance is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Illness Insurance to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Illness Insurance to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 are -
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 Illness Insurance supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Illness Insurance vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Illness Insurance has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Illness Insurance even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 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 Illness Insurance 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 HBR case study mentions - Illness Insurance 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Illness Insurance 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 Illness Insurance, firm in the HBR case study Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Illness Insurance 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, Illness Insurance 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Illness Insurance 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014, in the dynamic environment Illness Insurance has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Illness Insurance has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 | 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 Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Illness Insurance 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 Illness Insurance to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Illness Insurance can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Illness Insurance operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Illness Insurance in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Illness Insurance 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 Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Illness Insurance to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Illness Insurance is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Illness Insurance can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Illness Insurance 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.
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 Illness Insurance in the consumer business. Now Illness Insurance can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Illness Insurance 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Illness Insurance can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Illness Insurance 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. Illness Insurance 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Illness Insurance can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Illness Insurance 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, Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Illness Insurance with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Illness Insurance 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 Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Illness Insurance can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Illness Insurance in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Illness Insurance 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. Illness Insurance can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Illness Insurance 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.
Increasing wage structure of Illness Insurance
– 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 Illness Insurance.
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 Illness Insurance.
Regulatory challenges
– Illness Insurance 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Illness Insurance 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 Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 .
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.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Illness Insurance in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 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 Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 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 Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 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 Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 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 Critical Illness Insurance in the Singapore Market Beyond 2014 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 Illness Insurance needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.