ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service
The interim president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Ontario's air ambulance service is reflecting on the first challenging months of his tenure. Previously a deputy minister in the provincial government, he now has to deal with ongoing issues of accountability within the organization and the safety of its fleet of helicopters. In the middle of a media storm of accusations of mismanagement, questionable business and spending practices that had wasted millions of dollars of public funding, problematic hiring of unqualified staff and extravagant salaries, along with possible personal improprieties of the previous CEO, he is wondering what new allegations might surface and how he might not only remedy the internal management problems but regain the public's trust in the organization.
Swot Analysis of "ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service" written by W. Glenn Rowe, Sharda Prashad includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ambulance Ontario's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ambulance Ontario's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ambulance Ontario's 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 ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ambulance Ontario's
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 Ambulance Ontario's
Strengths ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ambulance Ontario's in ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ambulance Ontario's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ambulance Ontario's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ambulance Ontario's 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.
High brand equity
– Ambulance Ontario's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ambulance Ontario's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Ambulance Ontario's 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 Ambulance Ontario's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ambulance Ontario's in the sector have low bargaining power. ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ambulance Ontario's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ambulance Ontario's 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 ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Ambulance Ontario's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ambulance Ontario's 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 ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service - 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 recruit top talent
– Ambulance Ontario's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Ambulance Ontario's 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 W. Glenn Rowe, Sharda Prashad 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Ambulance Ontario's in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ambulance Ontario's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ambulance Ontario's 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.
Weaknesses ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Ambulance Ontario's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Ambulance Ontario's 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, W. Glenn Rowe, Sharda Prashad suggests that, Ambulance Ontario's 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Ambulance Ontario's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service HBR case study mentions - Ambulance Ontario's 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ambulance Ontario's, firm in the HBR case study ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Ambulance Ontario's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ambulance Ontario's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Ambulance Ontario's 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 Ambulance Ontario's 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
– Ambulance Ontario's 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service 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 Ambulance Ontario's 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service | 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 ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Ambulance Ontario's 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. Ambulance Ontario's 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ambulance Ontario's 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ambulance Ontario's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service 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
– Ambulance Ontario's can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ambulance Ontario's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ambulance Ontario's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
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. Ambulance Ontario's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Ambulance Ontario's 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Ambulance Ontario's 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ambulance Ontario's 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ambulance Ontario's 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ambulance Ontario's 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Ambulance Ontario's 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 ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Ambulance Ontario's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Ambulance Ontario's 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.
Threats ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service are -
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ambulance Ontario's has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ambulance Ontario's 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Ambulance Ontario's 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Environmental challenges
– Ambulance Ontario's 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. Ambulance Ontario's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ambulance Ontario's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Ambulance Ontario's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Ambulance Ontario's in the Leadership & Managing People 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 Ambulance Ontario's.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service, Ambulance Ontario's may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ambulance Ontario's 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ambulance Ontario's is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ambulance Ontario's 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 ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service .
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. Ambulance Ontario's 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service 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 ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service 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 ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service 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 ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service 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 ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service 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 Ambulance Ontario's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.