Strategic Analysis of Children's Mercy Hospital, Free Paper Example

This report provides an insight into the Strategic Analysis of Children's Mercy Hospital. The strategic option that this hospital can use to achieve its corporate objective was reached after proper analysis of both internal and external environmental and completive analysis. The result of the investigation shows that there are political, legal, and technological factors that affect the operation of every business operating in a given business environment. The result also shows that S Children's Mercy Hospital work in a competitive business environment and therefore it must use positioning strategies such as differentiation, cost leadership, and market segmentation to meet its corporate missions.

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Table of Contents

Introduction................................................................................................3

1.2 Corporate mission.........................................................................................4

1.3 The culture and the community.........................................................................5

2. Environmental Analysis...................................................................................6

2.1 Political factors............................................................................................7

2.2 Economic Factors..........................................................................................7

2.3 Socio-cultural factors.....................................................................................8

2.4 Environmental Factors....................................................................................8

2.5 Legal Factors...............................................................................................9

3. Competitive analysis......................................................................................10

3.1 Threat of Entrants.......................................................................................10

3.1 Bargaining power of Suppliers........................................................................10

3.3 Bargaining Power of Customers. .....................................................................12

3.4 Threat of Substitutes....................................................................................10

3.5 Bargaining Power of Competitors.....................................................................10

4. Strategic Option of Children's Mercy hospital........................................................11

4.1New Product Development.............................................................................11

4.2 Market Development....................................................................................11

4.2 Segmentation strategy..................................................................................11

4.3 Targeting Strategy.......................................................................................12

4.4 Positioning strategy.....................................................................................12

5. Conclusion and Recommendation.....................................................................12

5.1 Conclusion................................................................................................13

5.2 Recommendation........................................................................................13

1.0 Introduction

Healthcare sector forms a significant industry in the World that employ different people and also improves the health of the people. Recently there has been scrutiny on the way global healthcare handle patients and provided healthcare services to the people, yet strategic development is an integral part of the success of every hospital in the World. This report provides an insight into the hospital, Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City with the focus on environmental analysis and hospital analysis of resources, competence and culture. In this report, there are only two strategic options which this hospital can apply to achieve its corporate mission.

Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, is a huge hospital operating in different cities. It employs different health professionals ranging from nurses to physicians. Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City offers quality healthcare services to people from different economic backgrounds (Fitzgerald, 2000). This is a World class medical center and a destination for multifarious care and examination. In this hospital patients with serious health conditions are offered option due to a high level of expertise and leadership thus making patients receive quality care and diagnosis which cannot be received from any other hospital in the City.

1.2 Corporate mission

The corporate mission of Children's Mercy Hospital is to give devoted occupational health services to all the communities in Kansas City by ensuring that patients receive comprehensive, coordinated care to allow it meet goal-oriented results. This hospital has the largest number of healthcare professionals with more than 700 physicians and 3000 associates. It also receives 20,000 inpatients and 200000 outpatients after every year. The mission of Children's Mercy Hospital is to ensure that patients receive comprehensive quality healthcare. It is also committed to the health and well being of the general communities living in Kansas City and beyond. Although there are very many hospitals in Kansas City that patients can go to, Children's Mercy hospital provide the most recent and valuable treatments in a friendly, specialized and compassionate environment.

1.3 The culture and the community

Children's Mercy Hospital is also committed to patient rights. It usually respects the decision about care for the patient. This makes it provide care in a way that is insightful to cultural, ethnic and spiritual and offer differences. Usually, there is no racial or ethnic discrimination in this hospital, it offers healthcare services based on the nature of patient but not on race, sex, gender physical disability or skin color (Okumus, 2003). This hospital usually responds to reasonable requests of its patients relating to treatment and other healthcare needs depending on the level of agency and situation. The patients are encouraged to participate in decision making about their health and ensure that they play a key role in developing a healthcare plan to ensure that patients receive care related to their dignity, desire, and values.

2. Environmental Analysis

When assessing the competitiveness of Children's Mercy hospital, there are various forces that it this hospital has the obligation of responding to and hasa pressure on its macro-environment. These forces include factors such as social, political and technological factors. These factors must be evaluated for both domestic and international market to ensure that the company penetrates into the market successfully and acquiring a high competition position.

2.1 Political factors

Since Children's Mercy hospital operates in different parts of the World, its performance is affected by the political condition of different countries including home country. Different countries have their political standing different from others. In most cases, Children's Mercy hospital operates in countries with political stability although there is some form of corruption. This offers it with a good environment to offer healthcare services. The Government of the domestic market always encourages private hospitals to provide different health care services which make it earn high-profit margin at the end of every financial year.

2.2 Economic Factors

Economic factors also affect the performance of any business or healthcare organization. It influences demand, cost, and prices of services offered by the healthcare organizations. Since the whole global market has experienced a decline in economic condition, it has not been easy to meet hospital expenses by most people. Patients cannot receive high-quality care because they have little resources to meet their hospital bills and also to buy prescribed drugs. Although the inflation rate has dropped, showing that the value of money has increased, people still face challenges of having a high disposable income to receive quality health. Because this hospital has other branches in other countries, it is not heavily affected by economic factors such as inflation and therefore its profitability does not change throughout the year.

2.3 Socio-cultural factors

It is important to realize that the market is made up of people from different social and demographic class. The growth of the market is a significant factor that affects the income of any business. The increase in the population provides a market for healthcare services by providing a potential market for different healthcare services (Balchin, 1994). The increase in population increases the number of people requiring medical care, and since this hospital offers these services, it will not miss to receive such people from the high population. Because most people have received formal education nowadays, there is a high level of customer awareness of the customer rights, and therefore they can only receive hospital services of high quality (Johnson and Scholes, 2002). In the USA, different ethnic groups have varied taste and cultures. 64% of Americans are whites while the rest are black and Indians, this company offers healthcare services that target whites and those that target blacks. Children's Mercy Hospital is also located in an urban center where most people can access it, and therefore it is an ideal healthcare center that can meet the needs of different patients due to its accessibility and availability of a range of healthcare professionals.

2.4 Environmental Factors

Currently, most countries encourage domestic companies to conserve the environment by employing different measures (Wrigley, 2000). This is because most pollutants are ejected from companies. To ensure that there is proper environmental conservation, this hospital use licensed disposal services by disposing of waste products also and adequately teaches its employees the benefits of appropriate waste management.

2.5 Legal Factors

Most countries have competition regulations passed through the Act of parliament. These are usually influence the operation of different business organizations including healthcare settings (Ritz, 2005). To establish a hospital it is required to have a medical professional certificate and trading license. Every business must also comply with these legal policies set by the Government to operate in the country.

2.6 Technological factors

For customers to receive quality health service, it is important to use technology to support or improve service quality. Without technological advancement, customers will not be able to receive quality services. Children's Mercy hospital uses current and advanced medical equipments and facilities when providing healthcare services (Ritz, 2005). It uses computers to record health data, carry out diagnosis using powerful machines and equipments. These equipments increase the speed and efficiency at which healthcare services are offered by Children's Mercy Hospital

3. Competitive analysis

To effectively analyze the competitiveness of healthcare industry in Kansas City, it is important to use Porter's five forces.

3.1 Threat of Entrants

Kansas has both small and large healthcare settings which compete for fewer patients in the city. Most of the large hospitals have built their power by offering high quality healthcare services and high operating efficiency. This force they have acquired has an impact on small and private hospitals operating in the same region. It is likely to provide a strong barrier for new private hospitals that desire to enter into the healthcare market. Usually it is costly or difficult to source for sufficient capital to start a private hospital (Warnaby and Woodruffe, 1995). This also prevents private hospitals from expanding to different regions. Economies of scale and differentiation are also another barrier that prevents new entrants into healthcare industry. Children's Mercy hospital offer differentiated healthcare services and the way it conduct its promotional activities.

3.1 Bargaining power of Suppliers

Bargaining power of suppliers is a very important force that influences large healthcare settings and the anxiety of losing the business to other well established hospitals (Porter, 1980). Children's Mercy Hospital and other stable hospitals in Kansas City can request for better promotional prices from suppliers that small private hospitals cannot match. Suppliers in different countries also face challenge by the increase in the ability hospitals to buy hospital equipments and drugs from overseas at a lower cost. Such a relationship has an impact on the profit margin of hospital by reducing its profitability.

3.3 Bargaining Power of Customers

According to porter's theory, the more the standardized products, the more reduc...