Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed

This case is part of a four part series that examines the merger of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Military Center at Bethesda - the most expensive, controversial and largest hospital merger in US history. The series includes: A case + A teaching note (Leadership of VADM Mateczun); B case + B teaching note (Army/Navy cultural issues); Epilogue (short conclusion); Film - award winning short documentary. The A case focuses on the leadership of Vice Admiral Dr. John Mateczun, a three-star Navy admiral who led the merger. Mateczun achieved what many considered to be a minor miracle - integrating Walter Reed and Bethesda Naval in the face of fierce institutional resistance. But in his drive to see the plan through, Mateczun stretched the limit of military authority, expended his political capital and alienated friends and colleagues. The case allows discussion of leadership styles and the importance of persuasion, negotiation, communication issues, and personal character. There are two companion cases and a 17-minute film. The film shows a brief history of the hospitals, explains the BRAC (Base Closure Commission), and shows the intensity and urgency of the medical needs of patients being cared for at Walter Reed during the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The B Case focuses on the difficulties of merging organizations with significant cultural differences. It may be taught together with the (A) case or on its own with the video. The short Epilogue looks at the outcome in 2014, 3 years after the merger. Case number 2035.0

Authors :: Linda Bilmes, Matt Mabe

Topics :: Leadership & Managing People

Tags :: Government, Leadership, Mergers & acquisitions, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed" written by Linda Bilmes, Matt Mabe includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Walter Reed facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Government, Leadership, Mergers & acquisitions and Leadership & Managing People.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed casestudy better are - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing commodity prices, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Walter Reed, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Walter Reed 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Walter Reed
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 Walter Reed

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Strengths Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Walter Reed in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed Harvard Business Review case study are -

Innovation driven organization

– Walter Reed is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Walter Reed is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Walter Reed 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.

Learning organization

- Walter Reed 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 Walter Reed is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Walter Reed 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 Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

High brand equity

– Walter Reed has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Walter Reed to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

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

– Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Walter Reed to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Walter Reed to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Walter Reed 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 Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Analytics focus

– Walter Reed 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 Linda Bilmes, Matt Mabe 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Walter Reed is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Diverse revenue streams

– Walter Reed is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed 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 Walter Reed in the sector have low bargaining power. Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Walter Reed to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

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Weaknesses Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed are -

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed, in the dynamic environment Walter Reed has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Walter Reed has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Need for greater diversity

– Walter Reed 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 Walter Reed is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Walter Reed needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Walter Reed to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed, it seems that the employees of Walter Reed 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Walter Reed products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Walter Reed needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Walter Reed 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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Walter Reed is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed, 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.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Walter Reed 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.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Walter Reed 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. Walter Reed 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.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed, is just above the industry average. Walter Reed 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.

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Opportunities Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed | 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 Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed are -

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 Walter Reed in the consumer business. Now Walter Reed can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

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. Walter Reed 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

– Walter Reed 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

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

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. Walter Reed can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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 Walter Reed 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Walter Reed 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, Walter Reed 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, Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Walter Reed 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Walter Reed 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 Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Walter Reed to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

Buying journey improvements

– Walter Reed can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed 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. Walter Reed 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. Walter Reed 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.

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Threats Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed are -

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 Walter Reed 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, Walter Reed 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 Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed .

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Walter Reed has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Walter Reed 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.

Shortening product life cycle

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

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. Walter Reed 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.

Regulatory challenges

– Walter Reed 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.

Environmental challenges

– Walter Reed 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. Walter Reed can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.

Increasing wage structure of Walter Reed

– 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 Walter Reed.

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.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Walter Reed 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.

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 Walter Reed.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Walter Reed 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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Walter Reed 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.

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed 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 Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed 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 Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed 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 Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed 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 Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed 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 Walter Reed needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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