Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions
The Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions case details a failed product launch experiment by Intuit, an innovative software company. The case first delves into Intuit's history and competitive position. Then, the case discusses Intuit's "customer development" and product launch processes. The company diligently researched its most promising potential product opportunities, and ultimately held a very successful trial for a health insurance platform. But when the platform was piloted, it failed terribly. What happened?
Authors :: Russell Siegelman, Austin Kiessig, Leva Jonathan
Swot Analysis of "Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions" written by Russell Siegelman, Austin Kiessig, Leva Jonathan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Intuit's Insurance facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions 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 Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Intuit's Insurance, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Intuit's Insurance 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 Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Intuit's Insurance
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 Intuit's Insurance
Strengths Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Intuit's Insurance in Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Intuit's Insurance 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.
Organizational Resilience of Intuit's Insurance
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Intuit's Insurance does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Intuit's Insurance is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Intuit's Insurance 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 Intuit's Insurance in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Intuit's Insurance 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 Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions - 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
- Intuit's Insurance 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 Intuit's Insurance is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Intuit's Insurance has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Intuit's Insurance is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions 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 Intuit's Insurance in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Intuit's Insurance is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Intuit's Insurance to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Intuit's Insurance to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Intuit's Insurance has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Intuit's Insurance 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 Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions are -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions, is just above the industry average. Intuit's Insurance 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions 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 Intuit's Insurance has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Intuit's Insurance supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Intuit's Insurance vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Intuit's Insurance 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Intuit's Insurance 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Intuit's Insurance is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Intuit's Insurance needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Intuit's Insurance to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Intuit's Insurance 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Russell Siegelman, Austin Kiessig, Leva Jonathan suggests that, Intuit's Insurance 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Intuit's Insurance, firm in the HBR case study Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions 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 Intuit's Insurance 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions HBR case study mentions - Intuit's Insurance 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.
Opportunities Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions | 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 Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Intuit's Insurance has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Intuit's Insurance to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions case study. Intuit's Insurance can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Intuit's Insurance 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Intuit's Insurance 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Intuit's Insurance can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Intuit's Insurance 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Intuit's Insurance 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, Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Intuit's Insurance 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Intuit's Insurance 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Intuit's Insurance to increase its market reach. Intuit's Insurance 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Intuit's Insurance can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Intuit's Insurance in the consumer business. Now Intuit's Insurance can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Intuit's Insurance 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 Intuit's Insurance to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Intuit's Insurance 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. Intuit's Insurance 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.
Threats Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions are -
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. Intuit's Insurance needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Intuit's Insurance can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Intuit's Insurance 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Intuit's Insurance 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 Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions, Intuit's Insurance 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
– Intuit's Insurance 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. Intuit's Insurance 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 Intuit's Insurance 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.
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.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Intuit's Insurance business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Intuit's Insurance 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 Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Intuit's Insurance is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Intuit's Insurance can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions 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 Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions 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 Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions 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 Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions 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 Intuit's Small Business Health Insurance Solutions 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 Intuit's Insurance needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
