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Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Karolinska Sjukhuset (A)


The case describes the major transformation that took place in one of the largest university hospitals in Sweden. Changes involved refocusing on the patient as final customer, improving quality and reducing costs. They were achieved through a total quality improvement scheme combined with process re-engineering. Organisational changes helped implement these changes.

Authors :: Tabet Joe, James Teboul

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Product development, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Karolinska Sjukhuset (A)" written by Tabet Joe, James Teboul includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Karolinska Sjukhuset facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Product development and Leadership & Managing People.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Karolinska Sjukhuset (A)


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Karolinska Sjukhuset, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Karolinska Sjukhuset 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 Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Karolinska Sjukhuset
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 Karolinska Sjukhuset




Strengths Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Karolinska Sjukhuset in Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -

Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field

– Karolinska Sjukhuset 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 Karolinska Sjukhuset in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.

Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Karolinska Sjukhuset digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry

– Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Karolinska Sjukhuset to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Karolinska Sjukhuset to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Karolinska Sjukhuset in the sector have low bargaining power. Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Karolinska Sjukhuset to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Analytics focus

– Karolinska Sjukhuset 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 Tabet Joe, James Teboul 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.

Training and development

– Karolinska Sjukhuset has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Karolinska Sjukhuset 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 Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Karolinska Sjukhuset 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 Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Learning organization

- Karolinska Sjukhuset 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 Karolinska Sjukhuset is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Karolinska Sjukhuset has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Karolinska Sjukhuset has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.






Weaknesses Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) are -

High dependence on existing supply chain

– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Karolinska Sjukhuset supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Karolinska Sjukhuset (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Karolinska Sjukhuset vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Karolinska Sjukhuset is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Karolinska Sjukhuset (A), in the dynamic environment Karolinska Sjukhuset has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Karolinska Sjukhuset has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Tabet Joe, James Teboul suggests that, Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) HBR case study mentions - Karolinska Sjukhuset 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, Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Karolinska Sjukhuset (A), it seems that the employees of Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Karolinska Sjukhuset (A), 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Karolinska Sjukhuset, firm in the HBR case study Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.




Opportunities Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) | 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 Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) are -

Developing new processes and practices

– Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.

Buying journey improvements

– Karolinska Sjukhuset can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) 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.

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. Karolinska Sjukhuset 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. Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Karolinska Sjukhuset to increase its market reach. Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Karolinska Sjukhuset 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, Karolinska Sjukhuset (A), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Karolinska Sjukhuset 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 Karolinska Sjukhuset to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Manufacturing automation

– Karolinska Sjukhuset can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Karolinska Sjukhuset can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Karolinska Sjukhuset 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 Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Karolinska Sjukhuset can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.




Threats Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) are -

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 Karolinska Sjukhuset in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Karolinska Sjukhuset (A), Karolinska Sjukhuset 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 .

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Karolinska Sjukhuset is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.

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. Karolinska Sjukhuset 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. Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.

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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Karolinska Sjukhuset 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 Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) .

Increasing wage structure of Karolinska Sjukhuset

– 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 Karolinska Sjukhuset.

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.

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 Karolinska Sjukhuset.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Karolinska Sjukhuset 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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) 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 Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) 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 Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) 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 Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) 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 Karolinska Sjukhuset (A) 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 Karolinska Sjukhuset needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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