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, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, increasing commodity prices,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, 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 -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ambulance Ontario's 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.
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.
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.
Innovation driven organization
– Ambulance Ontario's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Learning organization
- Ambulance Ontario's 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 Ambulance Ontario's is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Ambulance Ontario's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Ambulance Ontario's has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Weaknesses 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 -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service, is just above the industry average. Ambulance Ontario's needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Ambulance Ontario's 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service, it seems that the employees of Ambulance Ontario's 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.
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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service, in the dynamic environment Ambulance Ontario's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ambulance Ontario's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Ambulance Ontario's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ambulance Ontario's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ambulance Ontario's 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 - ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service 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 ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ambulance Ontario's is planning to shift buying processes online.
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.
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.
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 -
Buying journey improvements
– Ambulance Ontario's can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Ambulance Ontario's 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.
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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ambulance Ontario's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ambulance Ontario's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service case study. Ambulance Ontario's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Ambulance Ontario's can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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.
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 Ambulance Ontario's in the consumer business. Now Ambulance Ontario's can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Ambulance Ontario's can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ambulance Ontario's 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, ORNGE: A Crisis at Ontario's Air Ambulance Service, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ambulance Ontario's to increase its market reach. Ambulance Ontario's 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.
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 -
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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ambulance Ontario's 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.
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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ambulance Ontario's 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 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 .
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 wage structure of Ambulance Ontario's
– 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 Ambulance Ontario's.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ambulance Ontario's 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.
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.
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. Ambulance Ontario's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Ambulance Ontario's 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 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.