Case Study Description of Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease
This is a Darden case study.The case asks students to develop a method for identifying individuals at risk of having chronic kidney disease. A 6,000 subject training set containing 34 potential predictor variables is provided along with a 2,819 subject validation set the instructor uses to evaluate student predictions. The case is based on an actual study which resulted in a simple nine-question survey that instrument health professionals use to help patients decide whether to be tested for chronic kidney disease.
Swot Analysis of "Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease" written by Phillip E. Pfeifer, Heejung Bang includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Kidney Chronic facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kidney Chronic, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Kidney Chronic 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 Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Kidney Chronic
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 Kidney Chronic
Strengths Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Kidney Chronic in Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Kidney Chronic digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Kidney Chronic 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Kidney Chronic is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Kidney Chronic is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Kidney Chronic is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Kidney Chronic 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 Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease - 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
- Kidney Chronic 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 Kidney Chronic is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Kidney Chronic in the sector have low bargaining power. Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Kidney Chronic to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Kidney Chronic 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 Phillip E. Pfeifer, Heejung Bang 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Kidney Chronic 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 Kidney Chronic in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Kidney Chronic to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Kidney Chronic to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Kidney Chronic 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.
Weaknesses Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Kidney Chronic products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Kidney Chronic needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Kidney Chronic, firm in the HBR case study Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease, in the dynamic environment Kidney Chronic has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Kidney Chronic 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
– Kidney Chronic 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Kidney Chronic 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 - Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Kidney Chronic is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease 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 Kidney Chronic 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Kidney Chronic is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Kidney Chronic needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Kidney Chronic to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Kidney Chronic 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.
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 Kidney Chronic supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Kidney Chronic vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Kidney Chronic is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease | 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 Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Kidney Chronic 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
– Kidney Chronic 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Kidney Chronic can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Kidney Chronic 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 Kidney Chronic to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Kidney Chronic can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Kidney Chronic 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, Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Kidney Chronic 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Kidney Chronic 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 Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Kidney Chronic to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Kidney Chronic has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Kidney Chronic to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease case study. Kidney Chronic can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Kidney Chronic to increase its market reach. Kidney Chronic 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 Kidney Chronic can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Kidney Chronic 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. Kidney Chronic 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Kidney Chronic 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.
Threats Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease are -
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. Kidney Chronic 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Kidney Chronic 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.
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 Kidney Chronic.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Kidney Chronic 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.
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.
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, Kidney Chronic 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 Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Kidney Chronic 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
– Kidney Chronic 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Kidney Chronic is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease, Kidney Chronic 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 .
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. Kidney Chronic needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Kidney Chronic business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease 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 Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease 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 Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease 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 Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease 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 Screening for Chronic Kidney Disease 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 Kidney Chronic needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.