Strategic Management and Challenges: A Case Study of Marie Curie

This report provides a strategic analysis of the Marie Curie Foundation, a UK-based charitable trust focused on providing health treatment and care. It identifies both internal and external challenges faced by the organization, including financial sustainability, cybersecurity risks, lack of strategic direction, and difficulties in digital adoption and transformation. The report also addresses the impact of Brexit on the foundation's operations, such as food shortages and reduced donations. Key challenges are examined in detail, leading to the development of potential solutions aimed at improving the foundation's strategic management and overall effectiveness. The analysis incorporates frameworks like SWOT and TOWS matrices to evaluate the organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, ultimately offering recommendations to enhance Marie Curie's ability to fulfill its mission of providing quality healthcare services.

Major Project –
Integrated Case Study
(Distinction Criteria)

SUMMARY
The report aims to analyse the strategic management approach. Strategic management is
the important process for the business. These strategies will help in growing effectively by
working on set rules and regulations. Strategies are all about planning objectives, missions and
the process to achieve it. This involves use of resources, manpower and assets into fuller
utilisation. Therefore, this report is going to talk about the Marie Curie foundation. The company
is a charitable trust of UK which provides health treatment and care for families and individuals.
The company is mainly known for providing nursing facilities through using charitable funds
and contribute in giving healthy life to the society. They serve required essentials like beds, food,
oxygen cylinders, medicines across the country. This report will discuss about the strategic
challenges faced by the company based on the analysing of internal and external factors. Also,
all the challenges would be identified and relevant solutions would be encounter.

Contents
SUMMARY.....................................................................................................................................2
Contents...........................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
Strategic analysis of external, internal, competitive and practice factors....................................1
Strategic Issues............................................................................................................................2
Challenge.....................................................................................................................................4
Development of solutions to those challenges.............................................................................7
Implementation of one of those solutions....................................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
RECOMMENDATIONS...............................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

MAIN BODY
Strategic analysis of external, internal, competitive and practice factors
Strategic analysis is all about getting insight of companies resources, functions and
policies. This analysis is helpful to serve the impact of internal and external business
environment and look for the need of improvement (Zhang, Oo and Lim, 2019). It helps in
research about the business environment in which a business operates. So that, the employees
and manager get assure about performance results and be ready to cope up with organisation
issue. With the help of analysing the strength weakness, opportunity, and threats. These are the
factors that showcase companies’ potential in order to establish their position into the society. As
being a charitable institution, Marie curie foundation has their strength of effective strategies at
workplace. This helps the company to carry on systematic procedure in order to achieve their
goals of providing health services to end number of people. Their main motto is to give a healthy
life to the people who could not invest and pay for health treatments and losses their life in
private hospitals. So that, this organisation runs for charity purpose which undertakes support
from government and other collaborations.
The company has social benefits which helps in driving benefits into society (Marie
Curie Foundation, 2021). It has analysed that the organisation which are engaged in social
contribution gains much significance into market. They work as the saviour for the people who
are vulnerable and could not be able to live healthy lifestyle. So that, this social benefits helps in
brand image. From this analysis, it has seen that Marie curie is charitable institution but also
faces a lot of challenges in fulfilling every society demands. Sometimes, they become unable to
provide a valuable care and treatments due to insufficient resources, monetary funds and staff.
As these kinds of firm’s does not recruit employees of fixed salary basis. They provide
incentives on the basis of funds gets collected from outside sources. One of the major weakness
identified in the strategic analysis is that Marie curie does not have proper technological
resources. less technology means less potential growth among society. They are not able to
provide convenient facilities as people still have to wait in queues to get appointments.
Also, it impacts on the workforce functioning as they are not able to complete the tasks
regularly. This impact on achieving the goals of organisation in the contemporary business
environment (Sharp, 2018). As in the charitable institution, internal disputes are much common
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due to working with different background people. Also, employees do not have motivation factor
apart from working out of humanity for social welfare. Ineffective communication is the major
weakness in the strategic analysis of business that shows poor management. Opportunities are
involving in the Marie Curie in terms of technology and change in the demand of social market.
Also, in recent situation of Covid-19, the company could enable their brand name by helping
people in this drastic situation.
Strategic Issues
Strategic issues are those issues that are not solvable by the establishment as situations for
them are not dependent on business actions (Lee and Blouin, 2019). In a company, managers are
required to identify strategic issues in order to react towards effects. In context to Marie Curie
Foundation, some of strategic issues are as follows:
Lack of financial sustainability- Managers of Marie Curie foundation faces challenges in
generating income. They face problems in maintaining financial sustainability in their business
as it is not easy for charitable institutions to generate income constantly. At the time of global
lockdown, donors are not in position of paying donations as they were facing issue of
unemployment (Annual report 2020-21 of Marie Curie, 2021). They are not in position of giving
donations. Managers of Marie Curie foundation faces problems in funding their business
operations. Government funding are not a reliable source for managers as they frequently change
their laws in accordance to charitable institutions. Managers of Marie Curie foundation cannot
rely on government subsidies and people's donations. They need to build and maintain
relationships with other non-profit organisations, private establishments and trusts in order to
avoid any sort of financial emergency.
Cyber security- One of the biggest challenge that is faced by managers of Marie Curie
foundation is lack of cyber security. They do not have implemented any software which help to
protect their internal data from cyber hackers (Salim, Ab Rahman and Abd Wahab, 2019).
Managers are not in a position to keep confidentiality in personal data of their donors and
employees. Hackers can hack the system of Marie Curie foundation in order to outsource their
personal data. These can be used by competitors and third parties in order to influence them to
make a purchase with their advertisements. Any cyber-attack can leak confidential data of
charitable institution which can deteriorate its public image.
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Trust and transparency- Another challenge which is faced by Marie Curie foundation is to
maintain trust of donors and transparency in their business operations. It is not an easy task for
charitable institutions to persuade people's trust in them so that they can donate. Not only
individual small donors but also wealthiest and effluent ones do not trust in donating for Marie
Curie foundation. They need to market their business operations through varied campaigns in
order to bring their trust in them (Gupta and Bose, 2019). Managers of Marie Curie foundation
have to show their audit books publicly as per the orders of government.
Lack of strategic direction: One of the biggest challenged faced by the Marie Curie
foundation is lack of strategic directions It refers to the strategies and plan of the company which
need to be enforced or implemented for achieving its goal and reach its vision of growth. It is
affective for the organisation for identifying the opportunities and threats, to set business
priorities or goals, determine the competitors or market trends and review the vision and mission
organisation. Also it helps the organisation to increase profitability and market share, enhance
efficiency of operation, it helps business to become more durable, and it provide set of direction
to the employees of organisation (Johnson and Whittington, 2020). Marie Curie foundation fails
to maintain and create good strategic direction because they have lack of knowledge, insufficient
fund and their employees do not have proper direction about their task. The organisation not used
proper method or data to form strategies for the smooth functioning. Also they did not give
proper details about the purpose and goal of the business to their employees. As a result, the
organisation faced many problems such as unclear information about their patients,
miscommunication and overlapping of work between employees, delay in their working process
and decision making related to serious case. There is lack of knowledge about various diseases
and sometimes they do not decide their priority sector which need urgent direction.
Digital adoption- Another biggest challenge which is facing by Marie Curie foundation is
digital adoption in business operation and implementation of general data protection act in
nation. As per general data protection regulation, all the businesses are required to maintain
privacy of information of their employees as well as customers. They are prohibited to outsource
any personal information to third parties (Gazley and Nicholson-Crotty, 2018). Application of
this regulation poses an issue for Marie Curie Foundation as managers are not technology driven
and efficient. It is risky for donors to circulate their personal information to foundation. As they
do not use any sort of practice or software that helps in securing personal data of donors,
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employees and ailing people. It will create problems for managers of the Marie Curie foundation
as in the world of digitalisation, every person wants digital services. By adopting digitalisation in
their operations, they can reach to ailing patients in short span of time. At the same time, it will
be easier for people to communicate directly with foundation's volunteers for help.
Digital transformation of activities: It is another challenge which is faced by Marie Curie
foundation is digital transformation of activities in the organisation. It refers to the activity of
using digital technologies to modify current business culture, processes, policies, and meet the
opportunities and changes related to customers and market needs. It is beneficial for organisation
to increase their data collection, increase profits, improve productivity, enhance their customer
base, stronger resource management, support digital culture and to forecast about future trends
and growth. The four main element of digital transformation is data, technology, process and
organisational change (Gratton, 2018). The strategies of digital transformation is make small
strategies, collect data of customer experiences, use technology for fast and efficient work,
digital business, network development. It Marie Curie foundation is used to run and manage
every factor of a organisation from operation to management. In Marie Curie foundation they fail
to maintain and form the digital transformation of their activities. As they have lack of proper
data about their customers, they do not have proper policies and process of their finance and
management work. The employees of the organisation not know about the recent market
requirements and change in technology. The organisation works with old methods, policies and
technology. As a result of all these they faced many problems regarding delay in decisions and
working process.
Challenge
Challenges are more detailed examination of elements of strategic overview (Hornstein
and Zhao, 2018). In a company, challenges provide diagnosis of problem which managers or
professionals work for solving later. Organisational challenges could be solved as they affect
situations which results in their occurrences. In relevance to Marie Curie Foundation, some of
challenges are as mentioned;
Brexit impact-
Brexit marks the exit of United Kingdom from the European Council which adversely
impacted various businesses. As it means cut from European Union which curb transactions
among each other. Marie Curie foundation has also faced many challenges from Brexit impact as
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it results in food shortages and expensive medicines for ailing patients. Large donations which
were came from people of European Union get minimized. The challenge plays important role
for Marie Curie Foundation as it brings huge opportunities for the establishment
(Issarawornrawanich and Wuttichindanon, 2019). It is external challenge with long term effects
on company. Apart from this, workers and employees of European Union can take job in any
company in UK. Due to this situation, managers of Marie Curie foundation are unable to pool
employees and medicines from European Union. Even experienced doctors who belongs to
European Union cannot practice in UK which creates more problems for Marie Curie
Foundation. As they have collaborated with those doctors to provide treatment for free ailing
patients which come in contact with Marie Curie foundation.
In aspect to Marie Curie Foundation, effects of Brexit are analysed through application of
TOWS Matrix. It is a framework for creating, comparing, deciding along with accessing
strategies of company. TOWS Matrix for Marie Curie Foundation are as follows:
External factors
Internal factors
Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities Strengths-Opportunities Weaknesses-Opportunities
Threats Strengths-Threats Weaknesses- Threats
Strengths-Opportunities: In relevance to Marie Curie Foundation, it can be said that
impacts of Brexit results in huge strength for the company as with close down of hospice and
stores a European Union, the company opened its stores in other nations. At same time, the
company has opportunity to harness digital for fundraising strategies (López-Arceiz, Pérezgrueso
and Torres, 2017).
Weaknesses-Opportunities: Occurrence of Brexit impacted business operations that
resulted in internal disputes among functional units as shortage of manpower in different
functional units shopped completion of range of activities. However, Brexit brought opportunity
for Marie Curie Foundation to making technology a core part of their fundraising operations and
stay atop of government-backed support schemes.
Strengths-Threats: Brexit effects improves organisational ability to retain its talent
belonging to UK (Blouin, Lee and Erickson, 2018). In association to Marie Curie Foundation,
talents or volunteers belonging to UK with high skill sets are strengths for the establishment.
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However, competition arising among charitable companies in UK is threat for Marie Curie
Foundation.
Weaknesses- Threats: For Marie Curie Foundation, shortage of manpower because of
withdrawal of UK from EU is a weakness. Similarly, raising competitors because of restrictions
to perform in boundaries of EU is a threat for the company that arise due to Brexit.
Competition
There are various businesses in voluntary sector performs similar working as of Marie
Curie Foundation. The challenge is important for Marie Curie foundation as it creates capacity
through bringing more people to table. It is a direct challenge for Marie Curie Foundation as with
this, practitioners of establishment are able to identify companies with which it can develop
mutual beneficial relationship and reinforce services to drive more social impacts (Striebing,
2017). The challenge is long term as it takes years to a company to achieve competitive positions
in a business environment. In Marie Curie, competition leads to causing related marketing
contracts with commercial organisations addition to sponsorship deals together with bid
competitively for government grants.
For Marie Curie Foundation, Porter’s Five Force Model is used to analyse level and
attractiveness in the voluntary industry. Porter five forces is used by business to make strategies
and to enhance long term profitability by evaluating several external forces of the market.
Explanation of Porter's five forces in context of Marie Curie Foundation is discussed below:
Competitive Rivalry- Charitable trusts with more alternatives and early leads having
better resources, planning ability and marketing skills proves to be the biggest competition for
Marie Curie Foundation. Some of competitors of Marie Curie Foundation are Macmillan Cancer
Support Charity, JourneyCare, AmberCare, Care Dimensions and hence forth. The firm can
outgrow the competition by reaching and providing services to more users (Yen and Yang,
2018).
Bargaining Power of Buyers- The beneficiaries of Marie Curie Foundation can put the
burden of extra donation and have the power to decrease the potential of the foundation to earn
sustainable profits. Local authorities supporting the cash to fund work of foundation also has
power to negotiate the contracts.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers- Minimum number othe f suppliers can make deals
which can affect fundraising for Marie Curie Foundation. Suppliers can extort high prices when
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their services become primary for the mission of the foundation. They can assess other
organisations working for the same cause and choose to invest in them if they are more profitable
Threat of New Entrants- Many firms try to get into the charity market to cater services
to the needy and with minimum barriers to entry, Marie Curie Foundation faces huge threat of
new entrants. But if the demand of the services provided by foundation is high then new trusts or
campaigns cannot be a problem for Marie Curie Foundation.
Threat of Substitution- This is a serious threat faced by Marie Curie Foundation
because there are several foundations rendering the same services. Switching cost of public is
generally low when the alternatives are rapidly improving their usability and accessibility
(Gürlek, Düzgün and Uygur, 2017). The foundations readily available and most convenient to
public takes place of Marie Curie Foundation.
Recruitment gaps-
Recruitment gap is said to difference between required talents and existing talents in a
company. For Marie Curie Foundation, recruitment gap is important as it brings awareness
among professionals about required and available skills addition to interest in jobs. It is an
internal challenge as it is based on organisational workforce that plays key role in performing job
responsibilities. The challenge is direct as it ensures that company has required workforce with
desired knowledge along with better equipped for performing specific occupations assigned to
them. Managers at Marie Curie Foundation face recruitment gaps in their operations. They are
failed in finding appropriate talents in for their foundation. As they need a lot of people to be
recruited their business operations are for a massive number of sick patients (Duff, 2017).
Managers at Marie Curie foundation are not capable enough to persuade candidates to apply for
job position at foundation. Due to failed attempt in recruitment foundation is not able to carry on
their operations smoothly. For conducting their social campaigns effectively, they tend to hire
volunteers and pay them on a daily or project basis. These cost high for company and it is not
easy to find volunteers easily who want to do social services.
Development of solutions to those challenges
As the strategic challenges are the key factors to look for the organisation. These
challenges must be resolves as soon as possible to drive best growth in the market. In Marie
Curie Foundation, the development of solutions for challenges is significant as it considers
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systems improvement that helps in achieving determined objectives. Some of solutions for
challenges faced by Marie Curie Foundation are as developed:
Induction process and improved working conditions: In Marie Curie Foundation,
induction process as well as improving working condition is a solution towards challenge of
recruitment gaps, competition and Brexit. With this solution, managers of the charitable
foundation can welcome new personnel to company as well as prepare workforce for new role.
At same time, induction process and improved working conditions helps to clearly communicate
the ways company works, explains exact responsibilities as well as familiarise personnel with
techniques to improve talents. With this, businesses allow personnel to feel more efficient,
productive together with motivated (Singh and Mittal, 2019). Moreover, making improvisation in
working conditions also develop positive atmosphere at workplace wherein manpower feel more
enthusiastic for completing responsibilities and providing care to vulnerable in charitable
establishment.
Opening new hospices and stores: Opening new hospice and stores can help Marie Curie
Foundation to eliminate the problems arising due to Brexit, requirement gap and digital
innovations. Due to this decisions Marie Curie Foundation have to close its hospices in European
Union and have to arrange for immediate travel arrangements for its staff members. With this,
the sources of funding from EU are also withdrawn resulting in heavy loses and burden on Marie
Curie Foundation. Business and recruitment industry is very uncertain and Brexit created the
problem of unemployment due to sudden closing of stores of Marie Curie Foundation in
European Union. This also arises the problem of shortage of talented and experience employees.
Huge unemployment leads to recruitment gap affecting the economy of UK. Free movement of
employees is also banned resulting in less workforce in Marie Curie Foundation. Recruitment
gap diminishes the reach of Marie Curie Foundation as it does not have proper workforce to cater
services on time.
Effective training practices: One of the main solution that Marie Curie Foundation is
required for implementation to create effective training practices. They need to come out with
the recruitment gap which laying decrease in the business functioning. It creates a systematic
management and the managers will have a specific insight about who to hire and maintain
equality and diversity within the company (Mendoza-Abarca and Gras, 2019). As it becomes
difficult to work with multi-cultural backgrounds that creates lack of communication, making
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