Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
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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
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 - – there is backlash against globalization, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, etc
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.
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
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 -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Walter Reed 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
– 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Walter Reed digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Walter Reed 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed 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.
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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Walter Reed 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Walter Reed 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 Walter Reed in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
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.
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.
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.
Organizational Resilience of Walter Reed
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Walter Reed does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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.
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 -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed HBR case study mentions - Walter Reed 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.
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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Walter Reed 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.
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.
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.
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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Walter Reed 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Walter Reed, firm in the HBR case study Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (B): Integrating Army and Navy Cultures at the New Walter Reed needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Walter Reed 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Walter Reed 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Walter Reed 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Walter Reed 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Walter Reed with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Walter Reed 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.
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.
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.
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.
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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