The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation
On June 28, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected legal challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as 'Obamacare,' by a vote of 5-4. In National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012), a majority of the justices affirmed Congress's power to expand Medicaid and impose an individual mandate requiring people to obtain health insurance or face increasing tax penalties. The Court's decision was widely condemned as a dramatic expansion of federal power that threatened state sovereignty and individual liberty. The Court was heavily criticized for betraying the principles of federalism and limited government in the U.S. Constitution. The harshest criticism was reserved for Chief Justice John Roberts, a Republican appointee who--though considered a conservative justice--authored the Court's opinion and cast the critical deciding vote to uphold the Act. In reality, far from dramatically expanding federal power, the Court's decision placed groundbreaking limits on Congress's power to regulate commerce and use federal funds to pressure states into doing its bidding. These aspects of the Court's decision received less attention in the popular media, but may actually prove to have a more significant impact on the scope of federal regulation in the future. This installment of Business Law & Ethics Corner explains how those aspects of the Court's decision place new limits on the nature and scope of federal regulation.
Swot Analysis of "The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation" written by Timothy A Lemper includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Court's Federal facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Court's Federal, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Court's Federal 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 The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Court's Federal
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 Court's Federal
Strengths The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Court's Federal in The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Court's Federal in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Court's Federal is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation 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.
Organizational Resilience of Court's Federal
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Court's Federal does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Court's Federal is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High brand equity
– Court's Federal has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Court's Federal to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Court's Federal 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 Court's Federal is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Court's Federal in the sector have low bargaining power. The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Court's Federal to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Court's Federal 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 The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Court's Federal 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 Timothy A Lemper 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Court's Federal digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Court's Federal 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.
Training and development
– Court's Federal has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Court's Federal are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Weaknesses The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Court's Federal is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation 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 Court's Federal 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 - The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Court's Federal has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Court's Federal even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Need for greater diversity
– Court's Federal has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation 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 The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Court's Federal is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Court's Federal 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 The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation 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 Court's Federal 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Timothy A Lemper suggests that, Court's Federal 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Court's Federal 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 The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation 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 Court's Federal has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Court's Federal 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.
Opportunities The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation | 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 The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation are -
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. Court's Federal can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Buying journey improvements
– Court's Federal can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Court's Federal 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Court's Federal 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, The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Court's Federal in the consumer business. Now Court's Federal can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Court's Federal 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 Court's Federal to increase its market reach. Court's Federal 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Court's Federal has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Court's Federal to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation case study. Court's Federal can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Court's Federal 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.
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 Court's Federal 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Court's Federal 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 Court's Federal to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Court's Federal can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Court's Federal can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Threats The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation are -
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 Court's Federal.
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. Court's Federal needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Court's Federal 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 The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Court's Federal 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Court's Federal 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Court's Federal is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Court's Federal with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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 Court's Federal in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Court's Federal 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation, Court's Federal 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Court's Federal 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. Court's Federal can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation 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 The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation 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 The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation 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 The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation 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 The Supreme Struggle: 'Obamacare' and the New Limits of Federal Regulation 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 Court's Federal needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.