SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Healthcare Integrated (United States)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Healthcare Integrated is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization, there is increasing trade war between United States & China,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Healthcare Integrated
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Healthcare Integrated can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Healthcare Integrated, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Healthcare Integrated 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 Healthcare Integrated can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Healthcare Integrated
2. Improving business portfolio management of Healthcare Integrated
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in United States
4. Making a Personal Services sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Healthcare Integrated
Strengths of Healthcare Integrated | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Healthcare Integrated are -
Innovation driven organization
– Healthcare Integrated is one of the most innovative firm in Personal Services sector.
Training and development
– Healthcare Integrated has one of the best training and development program in Services industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Healthcare Integrated has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Personal Services industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Healthcare Integrated have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Healthcare Integrated in the Services sector have low bargaining power. Healthcare Integrated has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Healthcare Integrated to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Learning organization
- Healthcare Integrated 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 Healthcare Integrated is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Healthcare Integrated emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Healthcare Integrated 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Healthcare Integrated is present in almost all the verticals within the Personal Services industry. This has provided Healthcare Integrated 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.
Digital Transformation in Personal Services industry
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Healthcare Integrated digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Healthcare Integrated 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Healthcare Integrated comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Personal Services 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.
Ability to lead change in Personal Services
– Healthcare Integrated is one of the leading players in the Personal Services industry in United States. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Personal Services industry in United States but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Healthcare Integrated in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Healthcare Integrated has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Healthcare Integrated to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management in the Personal Services industry
– Healthcare Integrated 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 of Healthcare Integrated | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Healthcare Integrated are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative at Healthcare Integrated, in the dynamic environment of Personal Services industry it has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Healthcare Integrated has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Employees’ less understanding of Healthcare Integrated strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Healthcare Integrated don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Healthcare Integrated is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Healthcare Integrated to provide better information regarding Personal Services products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee of Healthcare Integrated is just above the Personal Services industry average. It 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Healthcare Integrated products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Healthcare Integrated needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners in Personal Services industry
– because of the regulatory requirements in United States, Healthcare Integrated 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 Personal Services industry.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, Healthcare Integrated has high operating costs in the Personal Services industry. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Healthcare Integrated lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Healthcare Integrated is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Personal Services industry, but Healthcare Integrated needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Healthcare Integrated to focus more on services in the Personal Services industry rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– From the outside it seems that Healthcare Integrated needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the Personal Services industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department at Healthcare Integrated can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Healthcare Integrated is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Healthcare Integrated supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Healthcare Integrated is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Healthcare Integrated vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Personal Services industry, Healthcare Integrated needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Healthcare Integrated Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Healthcare Integrated are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Healthcare Integrated can develop new processes and procedures in Personal Services 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Healthcare Integrated can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Healthcare Integrated operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Personal Services sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Healthcare Integrated 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 Personal Services industry.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Healthcare Integrated in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Personal Services industry, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Healthcare Integrated is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Healthcare Integrated can utilize new technology in the field of Personal Services industry 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 Healthcare Integrated to increase its market reach. Healthcare Integrated 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
– Healthcare Integrated can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Personal Services industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. It 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Personal Services industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Healthcare Integrated in the Personal Services industry. Now Healthcare Integrated can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Personal Services industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Healthcare Integrated 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. Healthcare Integrated 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Healthcare Integrated 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Healthcare Integrated 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.
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. Healthcare Integrated can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Healthcare Integrated 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.
Threats Healthcare Integrated External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Healthcare Integrated are -
Environmental challenges
– Healthcare Integrated 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. Healthcare Integrated can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Personal Services industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Healthcare Integrated in Personal Services industry. The Personal Services 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Healthcare Integrated is facing in Personal Services sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Healthcare Integrated
– 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 Healthcare Integrated.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Healthcare Integrated 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Healthcare Integrated 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 Personal Services industry regulations.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Healthcare Integrated 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 Personal Services industry and other sectors.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Personal Services industry will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Healthcare Integrated can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Healthcare Integrated 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, Healthcare Integrated may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Personal Services sector.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry to Personal Services industry are lowering. It can presents Healthcare Integrated with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the Personal Services sector.
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 Healthcare Integrated in the Personal Services sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Healthcare Integrated Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Healthcare Integrated 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 Healthcare Integrated 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 Healthcare Integrated 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 Healthcare Integrated 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 Healthcare Integrated needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.