Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners
This case explores the transformation of Umbra Health Partners (Umbra), a privately owned Canadian healthcare organization, as it undergoes an extensive restructuring, through the perspective of the branch manager, who is a recent graduate of a master of business administration program in health services administration. The first part of the case examines the branch manager's role and the last part of the case examines his new role in the corporate office. When he is first hired at Umbra, he assesses the organizational problems inherent in the branch office and in the organization as a whole. As branch manager, he attempts to find solutions to those problems and improve the reliability of his branch. Later, he is promoted to a position in the corporate office, where he addresses the organizational problems at the corporate level (some of which mirror those at the branch office), such as a lack of interdependence and a vague sense of the direction in which the organization is headed. Taken together, the case offers a host of material to discuss the complexities of organizational change.
Swot Analysis of "Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners" written by Claus Rerup, Jim Tuan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Umbra Branch facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Operations management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners casestudy better are - – technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization,
increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Umbra Branch, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Umbra Branch 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Umbra Branch
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 Umbra Branch
Strengths Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Umbra Branch in Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Umbra Branch 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 Umbra Branch in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Umbra Branch 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 Umbra Branch is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Umbra Branch has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Umbra Branch to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Umbra Branch 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners - 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
– Umbra Branch 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Umbra Branch 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Umbra Branch digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Umbra Branch 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Umbra Branch 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Umbra Branch is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Analytics focus
– Umbra Branch 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 Claus Rerup, Jim Tuan 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Umbra Branch is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Umbra Branch in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners, is just above the industry average. Umbra Branch 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Umbra Branch 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Umbra Branch 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Umbra Branch products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Umbra Branch 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, Umbra Branch is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Umbra Branch 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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 Umbra Branch has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Umbra Branch is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Umbra Branch needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Umbra Branch to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Umbra Branch is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Umbra Branch 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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 Umbra Branch 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners | 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Umbra Branch 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Umbra Branch has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Umbra Branch to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners case study. Umbra Branch can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Umbra Branch 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. Umbra Branch 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Umbra Branch 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Umbra Branch 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 Umbra Branch to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Umbra Branch 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, Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Umbra Branch to increase its market reach. Umbra Branch will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Umbra Branch can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Umbra Branch operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Umbra Branch 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Umbra Branch 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.
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. Umbra Branch can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Umbra Branch 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 Umbra Branch 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners are -
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. Umbra Branch can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners, Umbra Branch 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 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. Umbra Branch needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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
– Umbra Branch has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Umbra Branch 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Umbra Branch with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Umbra Branch in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Umbra Branch 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Umbra Branch 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.
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.
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. Umbra Branch 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 Umbra Branch.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Umbra Branch 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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 Umbra Branch needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.