Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A)
This case chronicles three major challenges faced by the Niagara Health System, a seven-hospital network in the Niagara region in the province of Ontario, Canada. An interim chief communications officer has joined the Niagara Health System team on secondment to help with communications issues during a C. difficile outbreak. He soon realizes that the public communication issues were not isolated to this outbreak, but rather continued a trend of poor relationships with local media and the public. The case examines the field of hospital communications in Ontario, including trends and best practices, a history of communications struggles at the Niagara Health System, strategy options and considerations to manage the C. difficile outbreak and strategies to improve trust and reputation.
Authors :: Anne Snowdon, Alexander Smith, Andrew Scarffe
Swot Analysis of "Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A)" written by Anne Snowdon, Alexander Smith, Andrew Scarffe includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Niagara Communications facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Public relations and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, geopolitical disruptions, technology disruption, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Niagara Communications, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Niagara Communications 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 Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Niagara Communications
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 Niagara Communications
Strengths Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Niagara Communications in Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Niagara Communications 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Niagara Communications to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Niagara Communications to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Niagara Communications is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Niagara Communications has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Niagara Communications 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 Niagara Communications in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Niagara Communications 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 Niagara Communications in the sector have low bargaining power. Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Niagara Communications to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Niagara Communications 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 Anne Snowdon, Alexander Smith, Andrew Scarffe 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 recruit top talent
– Niagara Communications is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Niagara Communications is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) 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.
High brand equity
– Niagara Communications has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Niagara Communications to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Niagara Communications 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 Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Anne Snowdon, Alexander Smith, Andrew Scarffe suggests that, Niagara Communications 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Niagara Communications 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Niagara Communications 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) 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 Niagara Communications 's lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) 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 Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Niagara Communications is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) 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 Niagara Communications has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A), is just above the industry average. Niagara Communications 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A), 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Niagara Communications 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 - Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Niagara Communications 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Niagara Communications products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Niagara Communications needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) | 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 Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Niagara Communications 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.
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 Niagara Communications 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Niagara Communications 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 Niagara Communications to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Niagara Communications can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Niagara Communications operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Niagara Communications to increase its market reach. Niagara Communications 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Niagara Communications 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Niagara Communications is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Niagara Communications 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
– Niagara Communications 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Niagara Communications 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 Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Niagara Communications to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Niagara Communications can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) 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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Niagara Communications can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Niagara Communications has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Niagara Communications to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) case study. Niagara Communications can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Niagara Communications 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Niagara Communications 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Niagara Communications with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Niagara Communications has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Niagara Communications 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Niagara Communications 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.
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. Niagara Communications needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Niagara Communications 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Niagara Communications 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.
Environmental challenges
– Niagara Communications 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. Niagara Communications can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A), Niagara Communications 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 .
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 Niagara Communications.
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.
Increasing wage structure of Niagara Communications
– 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 Niagara Communications.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) 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 Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) 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 Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) 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 Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) 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 Niagara Health System: An Innovative Communications Strategy (A) 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 Niagara Communications needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
