Case Study Description of Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recently approved a drug-coated stent for use in angioplasty procedures. The stent is expected to reduce the rate of repeat procedures due to restenosis and to postpone the need for more invasive surgery, such as coronary bypass. However, the drug-coated stent costs three times as much as an uncoated stent, which will increase the cost of the medical procedure. Public demand for the stent is overwhelming; however, because of the higher cost and huge demand, the cost of medical care could increase dramatically. Examines the trade-off between quality improvements and higher costs of medical treatment by looking at the impact on several stakeholders: patients, hospitals and insurers.
Swot Analysis of "Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents" written by David Currie, Mark Arundine includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Stent Drug facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Ethics, Technology and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, technology disruption, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Stent Drug, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Stent Drug 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 Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Stent Drug
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 Stent Drug
Strengths Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Stent Drug in Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Stent Drug is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents 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
– Stent Drug is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Stent Drug in the sector have low bargaining power. Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Stent Drug to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Stent Drug 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 Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Stent Drug is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Stent Drug digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Stent Drug 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Stent Drug 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Stent Drug is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Stent Drug has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Stent Drug 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Stent Drug to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Stent Drug to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Stent Drug has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Stent Drug 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 Stent Drug in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents HBR case study mentions - Stent Drug 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Stent Drug 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Stent Drug, firm in the HBR case study Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents, is just above the industry average. Stent Drug 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Stent Drug 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents 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 Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Stent Drug is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents, in the dynamic environment Stent Drug has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Stent Drug has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Stent Drug 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents 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 Stent Drug has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Stent Drug 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 - Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents | 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 Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents are -
Buying journey improvements
– Stent Drug can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents 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.
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. Stent Drug 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. Stent Drug can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Stent Drug can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Stent Drug 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Stent Drug 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Stent Drug has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Stent Drug to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents case study. Stent Drug can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Stent Drug 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Stent Drug to increase its market reach. Stent Drug 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Stent Drug is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Stent Drug 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 Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Stent Drug to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Stent Drug 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Stent Drug 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.
Threats Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Stent Drug has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Stent Drug 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Stent Drug 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.
Environmental challenges
– Stent Drug 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. Stent Drug 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 Stent Drug 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.
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 Stent Drug.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Stent Drug is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Stent Drug needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Stent Drug 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.
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 Stent Drug in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Stent Drug 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents, Stent Drug 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 .
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. Stent Drug can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Stent Drug 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents 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 Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents 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 Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents 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 Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents 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 Medicare and Drug-Eluting Stents 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 Stent Drug needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
