Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy
This case explores the experiences of three Manhattan-based hospitals during Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Beginning with an overview of how the hospitals prepared in the months and days leading up to the storm, it focuses primarily on decisions made by each institution, as Sandy approached, about whether to shelter-in-place or evacuate hundreds of medically fragile patients -- the former strategy running the risk of exposing individuals to dangerous and life-threatening conditions, the latter being an especially complex and difficult process, not without its own dangers. Ultimately, each of the three hospitals profiled in the case took a different approach, informed by their differing perceptions of risk and other unique circumstances. The case illustrates the very difficult trade-offs hospital administrators and local and state public health authorities grappled with as Sandy bore down on New York and vividly depicts the ramifications of these decisions, with the storm ultimately inflicting serious damage on Manhattan and across much of the surrounding region.
Swot Analysis of "Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy" written by David Giles, Arnold Howitt includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Sandy Hospitals facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Government, Leadership and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Sandy Hospitals, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Sandy Hospitals 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 Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Sandy Hospitals
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 Sandy Hospitals
Strengths Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Sandy Hospitals in Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Sandy Hospitals 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.
Training and development
– Sandy Hospitals has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Sandy Hospitals is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Sandy Hospitals
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Sandy Hospitals does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Sandy Hospitals in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Sandy Hospitals is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Sandy Hospitals to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Sandy Hospitals to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Sandy Hospitals 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 Sandy Hospitals is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Sandy Hospitals 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 Sandy Hospitals in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Sandy Hospitals 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Sandy Hospitals has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Sandy Hospitals 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Sandy Hospitals digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Sandy Hospitals 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.
Weaknesses Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy are -
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy, 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy HBR case study mentions - Sandy Hospitals 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Sandy Hospitals 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Sandy Hospitals products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Sandy Hospitals needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy 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 Sandy Hospitals has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Sandy Hospitals, firm in the HBR case study Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Sandy Hospitals 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. Sandy Hospitals 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Sandy Hospitals 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy, in the dynamic environment Sandy Hospitals has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Sandy Hospitals has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Sandy Hospitals 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy, is just above the industry average. Sandy Hospitals 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 Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy | 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 Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy are -
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. Sandy Hospitals can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Sandy Hospitals 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Sandy Hospitals has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Sandy Hospitals to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy case study. Sandy Hospitals can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Sandy Hospitals 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, Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Sandy Hospitals can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Sandy Hospitals 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 Sandy Hospitals to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Sandy Hospitals 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Sandy Hospitals can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Sandy Hospitals is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Sandy Hospitals to increase its market reach. Sandy Hospitals 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Sandy Hospitals 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 Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Sandy Hospitals to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Sandy Hospitals 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. Sandy Hospitals 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Sandy Hospitals 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.
Threats Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy are -
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 Sandy Hospitals.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Sandy Hospitals 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.
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. Sandy Hospitals can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Sandy Hospitals has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Sandy Hospitals 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
– Sandy Hospitals 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Sandy Hospitals 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 Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy .
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Sandy Hospitals demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy, Sandy Hospitals 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 .
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 Sandy Hospitals in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline 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. Sandy Hospitals 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.
Increasing wage structure of Sandy Hospitals
– 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 Sandy Hospitals.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy 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 Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy 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 Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy 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 Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy 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 Surviving the Surge: New York City Hospitals Respond to Superstorm Sandy 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 Sandy Hospitals needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
