1 Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic is one of the world’s largest and oldest healthcare organizations that offers multispecialty and integrated care. It combines education, clinical practice, and research to help people with complex and routine healthcare needs. Like other organizations, Mayo Clinic has numerous strengths and weaknesses and faces some threats and opportunities in its environment. The company can utilize its strengths to its advantage, eliminate its weaknesses, leverage the available opportunities, and mitigate the threats that undermine its operations. Although Mayo Clinic is an established healthcare organization with various strengths in terms of resources and capabilities that set it apart from its competitors and opportunities that it can leverage to increase its market share, it also faces numerous weaknesses and threats that could adversely affect its survival in the market.
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2 History of Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic’s history began in 1883 when Dr. William Worrall Mayo and Mother Alfred Moes came together to start a hospital named St, Mary’s Hospital after a tornado hit Rochester. After the two retired, Sister Joseph Dempsey and Mayo’s two sons Dr. Charlie and Dr. Will and took over the running of the organization. The reputation of the hospital grew rapidly, and other doctors joined the organization. In 1919, the two brothers and their spouses started Mayo Clinic as a non-profit company committed to research, education, and excellent patient care (Mayo Clinic, 2021). Even after the death of the two brothers and sister Dempsey in 1938, Mayo Clinic continued to thrive and make significant breakthroughs such as cortisone discovery, real-time tumor analysis, and using a heart-lung bypass machine to perform successful surgeries. In 1986, St. Mary’s hospital merged with the Rochester Methodist hospital to form an integrated center of medicine. It also established medical centers in Arizona and Florida, a worldwide network of hospitals with similar values, a medical school, and a regional healthcare system (Mayo Clinic, 2021). The organization’s researchers are currently involved in numerous clinical trials and studies to increase the pace of therapies such as gene-based and stem cell treatments (Mayo Clinic, 2021). The company employs over 61,000 workers overall, with physicians and scientists being over 4,100. It has 23 hospitals and medical practices in approximately 77 communities (Berry & Seltman, 2014). Its values include putting the patients’ needs first, integrity, innovation, healing, stewardship, teamwork, compassion, excellence, and respect. The value of prioritizing the patients’ needs has been incorporated into the culture of the organization (Berry & Seltman, 2008). This and other values are emphasized in employee orientation programs for new workers and later orientation programs at three, four, and twelve months after employment.
3 The company serves approximately 520,000 patients annually from the US and worldwide (McCarthy et al., 2009). Its team of researchers and physicians represent nearly all the medical disciplines. The company offers comprehensive outpatient and inpatient care in its various facilities. Mayo Clinic considers education and research essential to providing the highest quality care through ongoing dissemination of expertise and formal educational programs (McCarthy et al., 2009). Formal education is provided in five schools, including the Mayo Schools of Medicine, Continuing Medical Education, the Mayo Graduate School, Health Sciences, and Graduate Medical Education. SWOT Analysis of Mayo Clinic Strengths Mayo Clinic’s strengths refer to the resources and capabilities that the organization can leverage to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. One of the company’s strengths is superior service quality. The staff provides the highest-quality care to the patients with trust and compassion (McCarthy et al., 2009). As a result, the company has a very loyal customer base, and this strength can help it in increasing its market share further. Providing quality services and products enables the company to compete with other firms in the global market (Herzlinger et al., 2014). The company enhances quality and safety through fully integrated outpatient and hospital care clinics, closed medical workers, and an integrated medical record. The organization also promotes workplace behaviors such as supporting each other, being attentive to detail, having a receptive and questioning attitude, communicating clearly, and handing off shifts effectively to promote safety and quality (Olsen & Dacy, 2014). Physician compensation at the clinic is also based on quality rather than quantity.
4 Another strength of the company is its successful track record in launching innovative products in the local market and serving various markets based on the local customers’ insights. The company has tested numerous concepts in various markets and developed successful solutions for managing people and leadership (Herzlinger et al., 2014). Mayo Clinic has made numerous contributions to medicine, including intraoperative diagnosis using tissue specimens’ frozen parts, psoriasis Goeckerman treatment, the first postgraduate medical education in the world, first hospital-based blood-bank in the US, and reliable laboratory procedures to establish basal metabolic rate (Olsen & Dacy, 2014). Other contributions include Broders index for conducting tumor staging, early development of the ICU and radial nursing unit, test for rapid anthrax poisoning diagnosis, introducing computed tomography in the US, introducing postanesthesia recovery room in civilian hospitals, and pioneering the utilization of streptomycin in treating tuberculosis. The organization also advocated for flour to be nutritionally enriched and performed the first artificial hip joint replacement approved by the Food and Drug Administration (Olsen & Dacy, 2014). The company is still involved in continuous innovation to enhance its processes and systems to continue offering effective and efficient care. It has developed a Center for Translational Science Activities to create innovative systems for providing benefits of research discoveries in medical practice. It has also built an electronic learning system to spread medical knowledge (McCarthy et al., 2009). It has also put in place consultative resources for the improvement of systems such as minimizing discrepancies in medication documentation and improving heart attack treatment timelines. Mayo Clinic’s other strength is the ability of the organization to execute team medicine. Mayo Clinic serves its patients’ needs by pooling a team of medical talent together to cater to individuals who need the expertise of numerous medical specialties (Berry & Seltman, 2014).
5 Clinicians teach each other continually by contributing their treatment notes and assessments to the communal record of the patients used by all the medical care team members. The organization has nurtured a culture of collaboration and teamwork among its workers since its inception. The tradition of teamwork is preserved in the company through a rigorous process of hiring and enculturation (McCarthy et al., 2009). Clinicians use the shared clinical record to offer each other feedback that enhances group accountability for excellence. Moreover, using a paging system promotes consultations among the physicians. Mayo Clinic’s electronic health record (EHR) system holds millions of records of the organization’s patients since 1907. This offers a cumulative account of their diagnoses, symptoms, treatment plans, tests, stored images, and procedures across diverse disciplines in outpatient and inpatient settings (McCarthy et al., 2009). The EHR alerts physicians to possible risks and reminds them about routine tests. The company also has the highest-quality employees who are mentored in the culture of the organization. Professional allied health staff also have unique expertise, a strong work ethic, and are devoted to the organization (McCarthy et al., 2009). The staff takes time to listen to the patients, and the physicians take personal responsibility for patient care direction. They respect the patients, their families, and local physicians and offer comprehensive evaluation and treatment. The organization also has good relationships with its suppliers and other players in the supply chain. Thus, it can leverage the skills of its supply chain partners and suppliers to increase its services and products (Herzlinger et al., 2014). Another strength is that the company operates in a robust domestic market which facilitates its innovation and growth (Herzlinger et al., 2014). Thus, the company can achieve increased growth in the local market without investing in innovation.
6 The company also has a strong financial statement and balance sheet, enabling it to invest in new projects to diversify its revenue stream further and achieve a higher return on sales (Herzlinger et al., 2014). The company’s annual revenue is over $500 million (IncFact, 2021). Companies with a strong financial position can invest in projects that their competitors cannot afford to fund, and this gives them an edge. Another strength is the company’s intellectual property rights, including numerous copyrights and patents that it has acquired through innovation and purchase from creators (Herzlinger et al., 2014). These can help the organization to beat its competitors in various industries. Weaknesses Mayo Clinic also faces various weaknesses, referring to the skills and capabilities it lacks that limit its ability to develop a sustainable competitive advantage. One of the company’s weaknesses is the lack of workforce diversity because it primarily operates in the local market (Herzlinger et al., 2014). This weakness negatively affects the potential of the organization’s success in the global market. Another weakness is the dissatisfaction of the organization’s customers. Although the demand for its services is still high, there is a growing sense of discontent among the clients that is evident in their negative reviews on online platforms (Herzlinger et al., 2014). There are numerous negative reviews from disillusioned clients. The company also faces the weakness of an organizational culture characterized by turf wars in different divisions within the firm (Herzlinger et al., 2014). As a result, the managers do not like sharing information, which could block future growth as keeping the information in silos can make the company miss opportunities in the market.
7 Another weakness is that the company’s project management is increasingly focused on internal delivery while ignoring external stakeholders (Herzlinger et al., 2014). Such an approach can result in poor public relations and backlash from clients. The company also lacks critical talent in digital transformation and technology (Herzlinger et al., 2014). It is facing challenges in restructuring its processes in response to developments in machine learning and artificial intelligence. Opportunities Opportunities refer to external factors that the company can leverage to expand further or consolidate the current market position. One of Mayo Clinic’s opportunities is the increasing consumer disposable income that the company can use to develop a new business model in which clients pay progressively for its services (Herzlinger et al., 2014). Using this trend can enable the organization to expand in neighboring areas. The changing technology landscape is another opportunity for Mayo Clinic. The organization can take advantage of developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning to transform its processes, improve efficiencies, and reduce costs (Herzlinger et al., 2014). It can utilize developments in artificial intelligence to improve its prediction of consumer demand and serve niche segments. Another opportunity is the emergence of social media and e-commerce business models which can help the organization to connect with logistics providers and suppliers in international markets. The company can use social media to minimize the costs of entering new markets and use a lower marketing budget to reach new customers. These business models can also help the firm to crowd-source services and engage in consumer-oriented marketing using the clients’ purchase behaviors and data (Herzlinger et al., 2014). The interconnectedness of the world,
8 which allows people to access information and services across different geographic locations, offers opportunities for the organization to serve millions of people worldwide via digital technology. The company can develop innovative digital platforms to enable patients to access its services without traveling to the company’s site, except when necessary. Such digital innovations include telemedicine, remote monitoring, and the expansion of social media platforms (Noseworthy, 2014). They will enable patients across the world to access the company’s expertise from their local care facilities and homes. Another opportunity is access to the international talent market. Currently, the company is facing the challenge of the lack of access to quality talent in the local market. If it expands into the international market, the company can access talent from different parts of the globe (Herzlinger et al., 2014). International expansion can also help the company to expand into new areas and bring global talent into the domestic market. Mayo Clinic can also take advantage of lucrative opportunities available in international markets due to globalization. The company can tap into these opportunities and improve its market share (Herzlinger et al., 2014). Entering the international markets can also help the company to diversify its risk as it will not be wholly dependent on the local market for revenue. Threats Threats refer to external factors that can derail Mayo Clinic’s business model. One of the threats facing the organization is international geopolitical factors (Herzlinger et al., 2014). For example, the factors affecting the international business environment include increasing protectionism, Russian sanctions, and lower oil prices. Another threat is the competitors. Mayo Clinic’s major competitors by revenue include Magellan Healthcare, Permanente Medical Group, Marshfield Clinic, West Virginia University
9 Hospitals, Autism Learning Partners, and Healthcare Partners Institute for Applied Research and Education (IncFact, 2021). Other nearby competitors that may compete with the organization for skilled workers and customers include Associates in Psychiatry and Psychology, Jacobson Plastic Surgery, and Vein Doctor Medical Group. Another threat is the company’s overdependence on debt for expansion. The period of easy access to credit may end at any time, leading to high-interest costs for the organization. The company also faces the threat of changing government regulations in labor and environmental aspects caused by the increasing pressure from nongovernmental organizations and protest groups (Herzlinger et al., 2014). Thus, the company should be careful in its operations to avoid incurring costs due to the failure to adhere to government regulations. Mayo Clinic is also facing the threat of new companies entering the market due to increasing efficiencies and reducing costs (Herzlinger et al., 2014). International and local competitors can take advantage of the low cost of reaching consumers through e-commerce and social media. In the same way that Mayo Clinic finds it easy to reach new markets through ecommerce and social media, new companies can take advantage of these aspects. Conclusion Mayo Clinic is a multispecialty healthcare organization that can take advantage of various internal strengths and external opportunities in its environment but also needs to eliminate numerous weaknesses and threats that could adversely affect its survival in the market. Some of its strengths include superior service quality, a successful track record in innovation, the ability to execute team medicine, high-quality employees, good relationships with suppliers and other players in the supply chain, a robust domestic market, a strong financial statement and balance sheet, and intellectual property rights. Its weaknesses include lack of workforce
10 diversity, the dissatisfaction of its customers, turf wars in different divisions, increased focus on internal delivery while ignoring external stakeholders, and the lack of critical talent in digital transformation and technology. The opportunities that the organization can leverage include increasing consumer disposable income, the changing technology landscape, the emergence of social media and e-commerce business models, access to the international talent market, and the opportunities available in international markets due to globalization. Lastly, the company needs to mitigate several threats, including global geopolitical factors, existing competitors, overdependence on debt for expansion, changing government regulations, and new companies entering the market due to increasing efficiencies and reducing costs.
11 References Berry, L. L. & Seltman, K. D. (2008). Management lessons from Mayo Clinic: Inside one of the world’s most admired service organizations. McGraw-Hill. Berry, L. L., & Seltman, K. D. (2014). The enduring culture of Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 89(2), 144-147. Herzlinger, R. E., Huckman, R. S., & Lesser, J. (2014). Mayo Clinic: The 2020 initiative. Harvard Business Review. IncFact. (2021). Mayo Clinic revenue, growth, & competitor profile. https://incfact.com/company/mayoclinic-rochester-mn/ Mayo Clinic. (2021). Mayo Clinic timeline. https://history.mayoclinic.org/timelines/historytimeline.php McCarthy, D., Mueller, K., & Wrenn, J. (2009). Mayo Clinic: Multidisciplinary teamwork, physician-led governance, and patient-centered culture drive world-class health care. The Commonwealth Fund. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/sites/default/files/documents/___media_files_public ations_case_study_2009_aug_1306_mccarthy_mayo_case_study.pdf Noseworthy, J. H. (2014, April). What is ahead for Mayo Clinic?. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 89(4), 440-443. Olsen, K. D., & Dacy, M. D. (2014). Mayo Clinic—150 years of serving humanity through hope and healing. Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 89(1), 8-15.