Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department
In 2007, the emergency department at Kaiser Permanente's South Sacramento Medical Center was experiencing extremely long patient wait times, and it became clear that a new and better way of doing business was needed. The chief of the emergency department was inspired to change things and became the leader of the lean program-a system of management methods and tools widely used for over 25 years in the manufacturing sector. Changes were made over a six-year period to significantly improve key performance measures of the department. The goal was to create capacity and continuous flow in a health-care setting without negative implications to the emergency department and patients. Edward D. Arnheiter is affiliated with University of the Pacific.
Swot Analysis of "Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department" written by Edward D. Arnheiter includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Emergency Department facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Operations management, Performance measurement and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, technology disruption, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Emergency Department, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Emergency Department 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 Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Emergency Department
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 Emergency Department
Strengths Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Emergency Department in Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Emergency Department 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Emergency Department in the sector have low bargaining power. Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Emergency Department to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Emergency Department 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 Emergency Department is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Emergency Department
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Emergency Department does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Emergency Department has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Emergency Department 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Emergency Department 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 Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Emergency Department is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Emergency Department in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Emergency Department has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Emergency Department to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Emergency Department are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Emergency Department is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Emergency Department 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 Emergency Department in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Emergency Department 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 - Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department, it seems that the employees of Emergency Department 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department 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 Emergency Department 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Emergency Department 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Emergency Department 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Emergency Department 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Emergency Department is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Emergency Department is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Emergency Department needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Emergency Department to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Edward D. Arnheiter suggests that, Emergency Department 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department 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 Emergency Department has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Emergency Department 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 Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department | 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 Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Emergency Department to increase its market reach. Emergency Department 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Emergency Department 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Emergency Department 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, Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Emergency Department 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. Emergency Department 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Emergency Department 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 Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Emergency Department to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Emergency Department 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Emergency Department 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 Emergency Department to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Emergency Department can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department 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.
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 Emergency Department 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.
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 Emergency Department in the consumer business. Now Emergency Department can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Emergency Department 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 Emergency Department 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Emergency Department 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.
Threats Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department are -
Increasing wage structure of Emergency Department
– 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 Emergency Department.
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. Emergency Department 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Emergency Department 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 Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Emergency Department 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 dependence on third party suppliers
– Emergency Department 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.
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 Emergency Department.
Environmental challenges
– Emergency Department 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. Emergency Department can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Emergency Department has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Emergency Department 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Emergency Department 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.
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 Emergency Department in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Emergency Department can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Emergency Department needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department 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 Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department 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 Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department 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 Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department 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 Kaiser Permanente: Creating a No-Wait Emergency Department 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 Emergency Department needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
