Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit
The Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network needed to gain a better understanding of its unit-of-service costs, which had been rising at a rate of 10% per year. The network's step-down costing system gave only aggregate costing information, and there was some concern that it might be inaccurately representing the true cost of the intern and resident program, the interpretive services department, and the use of nurse practitioners. So the Primary Care Unit (PCU) initiated a pilot activity-based costing program. The case provides detailed exhibits on the methods of allocating costs using activity-based drivers.
Swot Analysis of "Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit" written by V.G. Narayanan, Ryan Moore, Lisa Brem includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Costing Unit facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Costs and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Costing Unit, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Costing Unit 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 Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Costing Unit
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Costing Unit
Strengths Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Costing Unit in Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Costing Unit in the sector have low bargaining power. Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Costing Unit to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Costing Unit 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 Costing Unit in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Costing Unit is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Costing Unit 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 Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Costing Unit 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 Costing Unit is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Costing Unit has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Costing Unit to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Costing Unit 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 Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Costing Unit is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit 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
– Costing Unit has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Costing Unit 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.
Analytics focus
– Costing Unit 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 V.G. Narayanan, Ryan Moore, Lisa Brem 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.
Weaknesses Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Costing Unit is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Costing Unit needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Costing Unit to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Costing Unit 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Costing Unit has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Costing Unit even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
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 Costing Unit supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Costing Unit vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Costing Unit, firm in the HBR case study Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Costing Unit 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Costing Unit 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 - Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Costing Unit products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Costing Unit needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit 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 Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Costing Unit is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit, is just above the industry average. Costing Unit 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.
Opportunities Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit | 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 Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Costing Unit 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 Finance & Accounting segment.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Costing Unit 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Costing Unit can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Costing Unit can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Costing Unit 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Costing Unit can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Costing Unit 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Costing Unit to increase its market reach. Costing Unit 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Costing Unit can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Costing Unit can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Costing Unit has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Costing Unit to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit case study. Costing Unit can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Costing Unit is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Costing Unit 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 Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Costing Unit to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Costing Unit 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Costing Unit 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Costing Unit 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Costing Unit is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Costing Unit has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Costing Unit needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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 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. Costing Unit needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Costing Unit in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Costing Unit.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Costing Unit in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit, Costing Unit may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Costing Unit can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit 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 Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit 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 Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit 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 Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit 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 Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network: The Primary Care Unit 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 Costing Unit needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
