Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners
This case explores the transformation of Umbra Health Partners (Umbra), a privately owned Canadian healthcare organization, as it undergoes an extensive restructuring, through the perspective of the branch manager, who is a recent graduate of a master of business administration program in health services administration. The first part of the case examines the branch manager's role and the last part of the case examines his new role in the corporate office. When he is first hired at Umbra, he assesses the organizational problems inherent in the branch office and in the organization as a whole. As branch manager, he attempts to find solutions to those problems and improve the reliability of his branch. Later, he is promoted to a position in the corporate office, where he addresses the organizational problems at the corporate level (some of which mirror those at the branch office), such as a lack of interdependence and a vague sense of the direction in which the organization is headed. Taken together, the case offers a host of material to discuss the complexities of organizational change.
Swot Analysis of "Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners" written by Claus Rerup, Jim Tuan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Umbra Branch facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Operations management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Umbra Branch, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Umbra Branch 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Umbra Branch
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 Umbra Branch
Strengths Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Umbra Branch in Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Umbra Branch has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Umbra Branch 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Umbra Branch in the sector have low bargaining power. Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Umbra Branch to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Umbra Branch in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Diverse revenue streams
– Umbra Branch is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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
– Umbra Branch is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Umbra Branch 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Umbra Branch has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Organizational Resilience of Umbra Branch
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Umbra Branch does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Learning organization
- Umbra Branch 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 Umbra Branch is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Umbra Branch 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Umbra Branch 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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.
Weaknesses Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners HBR case study mentions - Umbra Branch 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners, it seems that the employees of Umbra Branch 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Umbra Branch is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Umbra Branch 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Umbra Branch 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Umbra Branch products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Umbra Branch needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Umbra Branch 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 - Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners, 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Umbra Branch, firm in the HBR case study Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners, is just above the industry average. Umbra Branch needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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 Umbra Branch has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners | 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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 Umbra Branch in the consumer business. Now Umbra Branch can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Umbra Branch 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 Umbra Branch to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Umbra Branch 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Umbra Branch is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, 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 Umbra Branch 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Umbra Branch 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Umbra Branch has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Umbra Branch to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners case study. Umbra Branch 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 Umbra Branch to increase its market reach. Umbra Branch 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Umbra Branch 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Umbra Branch 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.
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. Umbra Branch can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Umbra Branch 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, Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Umbra Branch 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.
Threats Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners are -
Environmental challenges
– Umbra Branch 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. Umbra Branch can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Umbra Branch 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Umbra Branch 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners, Umbra Branch 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 .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Umbra Branch has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Umbra Branch 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Umbra Branch 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.
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. Umbra Branch can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Umbra Branch 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 Umbra Branch.
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 Umbra Branch 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, Umbra Branch 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners .
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. Umbra Branch 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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 Surgery With Blunt Tools: Restructuring and Ambiguity at Umbra Health Partners 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 Umbra Branch needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
