DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections
In 2011, DaVita HealthCare Partners (DaVita)-a Fortune 500 healthcare services company specializing in kidney dialysis services-and the Denver Public Schools (DPS)-the largest school district in Colorado-forged a plan to incorporate greater intentional focus on culture and leadership within the district. A few months into the 2013-2014 school year, DaVita "Mayor" Kent Thiry, DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg, and members of their teams gather to review and assess the overall progress, impact, and challenges of their unique corporate-community partnership focused on leadership development and culture over the past two years. With the partnership showing great promise, Thiry and his team wonder how they might create new partnerships and grow their social impact as a company without detracting from DaVita's own growth and expansion and the needs of its own "teammates." The case gives students the opportunity to explore how a mission-driven Fortune 500 company can leverage its own resources and HR expertise to partner with non-corporate entities to create social value and support success in American public education.
Swot Analysis of "DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections" written by John J-H Kim, Christine S. An includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Davita Dps facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Joint ventures, Leadership, Leadership development, Organizational culture, Social enterprise and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, technology disruption, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Davita Dps, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Davita Dps 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 DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Davita Dps
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Davita Dps
Strengths DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Davita Dps in DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Davita Dps has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Davita Dps 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.
Training and development
– Davita Dps has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Davita Dps in the sector have low bargaining power. DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Davita Dps to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Davita Dps 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 Davita Dps is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Davita Dps is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Davita Dps is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Davita Dps 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 John J-H Kim, Christine S. An 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 Leadership & Managing People field
– Davita Dps 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 Davita Dps in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Davita Dps to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Davita Dps to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Davita Dps is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Davita Dps is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections 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 Davita Dps 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 DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Davita Dps 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Davita Dps products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Davita Dps needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Davita Dps 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 - DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Davita Dps 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections 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 DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Davita Dps is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Davita Dps 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. Davita Dps 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections HBR case study mentions - Davita Dps 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections, in the dynamic environment Davita Dps has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Davita Dps has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections, it seems that the employees of Davita Dps 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Davita Dps, firm in the HBR case study DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Davita Dps 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.
Opportunities DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections | 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 DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Davita Dps to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Davita Dps 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Davita Dps can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Davita Dps is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Davita Dps 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
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. Davita Dps can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Davita Dps 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, DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Davita Dps has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Davita Dps to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections case study. Davita Dps can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Davita Dps 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 Davita Dps to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Davita Dps in the consumer business. Now Davita Dps can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Davita Dps in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Davita Dps can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Davita Dps operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Davita Dps can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Threats DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Davita Dps has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Davita Dps needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Davita Dps is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Davita Dps 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Davita Dps 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Davita Dps can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Davita Dps in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Davita Dps 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 DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections .
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Davita Dps will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
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 Davita Dps.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Davita Dps 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.
Environmental challenges
– Davita Dps 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. Davita Dps can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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. Davita Dps needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections 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 DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections 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 DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections 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 DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections 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 DaVita HealthCare Partners and the Denver Public Schools: Creating Connections 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 Davita Dps needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
