Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare
This case describes in rich detail the change challenge the director of pharmacy services at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) faces in September 2011. She is responsible for implementing project HUGO, an acronym for Health Care UnderGoing Optimization. HUGO is a computerized system that requires a switch from paper and pencil to fully electronic patient records. This project is the most complex and comprehensive one that London area hospitals have ever undergone: the project includes a total of 11 healthcare organizations in London and surrounding region, with expected project costs in excess of $25 million. Implementing HUGO has the potential to save lives in the hospital, where critical errors are often linked to manual processes that involve multiple steps and people. Despite the strong reasons for implementing this project, the director expects significant resistance from nurses, doctors and staff who are used to their way of operating. It is clear that this change challenge involves not just the adoption of new technology but a significant cultural change.
Swot Analysis of "Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare" written by Cara Maurer includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Hugo Project facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Organizational culture, Strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare casestudy better are - – technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing energy prices, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hugo Project, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hugo Project 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 Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hugo Project
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 Hugo Project
Strengths Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Hugo Project in Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare Harvard Business Review case study are -
Organizational Resilience of Hugo Project
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Hugo Project does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Hugo Project to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Hugo Project to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare 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.
Learning organization
- Hugo Project 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 Hugo Project is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Hugo Project is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Hugo Project 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 Hugo Project in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Hugo Project in the sector have low bargaining power. Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Hugo Project to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Hugo Project 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 Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Hugo Project 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 Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare - 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 Hugo Project 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.
Training and development
– Hugo Project has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare 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
– Hugo Project is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Hugo Project 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Hugo Project is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Hugo Project 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Hugo Project products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Hugo Project needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Hugo Project 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. Hugo Project 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare 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 Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Hugo Project is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Hugo Project, firm in the HBR case study Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Hugo Project 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Hugo Project has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare, in the dynamic environment Hugo Project has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Hugo Project has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Hugo Project is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Hugo Project needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Hugo Project to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare | 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 Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare are -
Loyalty marketing
– Hugo Project 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Hugo Project 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 Hugo Project 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Hugo Project can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Hugo Project operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Hugo Project 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Hugo Project 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 Hugo Project to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Hugo Project has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Hugo Project to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare case study. Hugo Project 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, Hugo Project 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, Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Hugo Project to increase its market reach. Hugo Project 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Hugo Project 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Hugo Project 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Hugo Project 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Hugo Project can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare 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.
Threats Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare are -
Regulatory challenges
– Hugo Project 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 wage structure of Hugo Project
– 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 Hugo Project.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Hugo Project 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 Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare .
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. Hugo Project can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Hugo Project business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Hugo Project 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Hugo Project with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Hugo Project 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.
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. Hugo Project needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Hugo Project 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 Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare, Hugo Project 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 .
Environmental challenges
– Hugo Project 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. Hugo Project can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Hugo Project 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare 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 Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare 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 Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare 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 Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare 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 Project HUGO at LHSC: Leading Urgent Change in Healthcare 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 Hugo Project needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.