What competitor information categories are useful in competitor analysis? Are these categories appropriate for health care organizations? How can these information categories provide a focus for information gathering and strategic decision making?
Based on reading "What is strategic Planning" and "How to develop competitive advantage?"
SWOT ANALYSIS
Respond to 2 students 250 words each and 1 reference each
STUDENT 1
The article of Chen, (2014) shows that for a business to succeed, it must have both a deliberate and emerging strategy. a deliberate strategy is drafted upon both internal and external analysis such as a SWOT, 5Ps, Forcefield Analysis, and Competitor Analysis (Azzopardi & Nash, 2013). An Emerging Strategy is created upon trends that poses both threats and opportunities for the organization, it may change the course and means of the business delivery to some degree (onsite to online) and may change the place and people served, but the essential value and mission of the strategy remains the same. Both strategies are affected by longstanding PESTLE factors and Trends, most of the influence that changes strategies are deliberately influenced by competition. This is why Competitor Analysis is vital for organizations that functions in a competitive and saturated environment (Chen, 2014). Competitor analysis allows a strategic manager to
Important competitor information categories that can be used to understand with 1. which competitors to compete, and which to cooperate and partner (if necessary).2. What are the competitor's strategies and patterns of actions when marketing, sales, and providing, who are they affiliated with (Chen, 2014). This simple analysis allows the organization at hand to predict with high accuracy 3. how competitors would react to their actions and how to directly and indirectly 4. Influence the competition towards the organization's advantage (Azzopardi & Nash, 2013). The framework simply goes as Objectives, Strategy, Assumptions, and Resources
In a healthcare setting, it is still important to know about competitor analysis despite the emerging governmental policies that tries to reduce competition among organizations and eliminate a supply-based care delivery system, towards a value-adding orientation. PPACA would require healthcare organizations to consolidate their EHR and EMR data, require personnel and experts working under different organizations to consolidate under one major HIE (healthcare Information Exchange) to allow referrals of patients with special needs and care to the right person at the right location (Azzopardi & Nash, 2013). Under the PPACA healthcare monopolies are trying to be eliminated as well, mergers and acquisition with all the competitive advantage to dictate price can unconsciously influence healthcare quality, delivery, and cost (Sheng, Chang, Teo, & Lin, 2013). Merging was an ideal strategy before, but under PPACA and the new socio-cultural trends were in the customer is more engaged and informed via social media platforms, information that revolves around the internet. It seems the best competition strategy for hospitals is to allow their individual experts to create value for the customers they engage in, allow technological platforms to inform patients about diagnostic, procedural, and proactive ways to reduce complication.
A perfect example of how a smaller organization can use competitor analysis is how smaller ambulatory care centers competed with larger healthcare conglomerates. It was the same value-adding model that allowed smaller sites to dominate and hold a large market share during 2010-2014. Smaller ambulatory care centers that operates at a smaller site initially were design to cater to regions underserved, provide immediate and seamless services, and cater to the spillover of patients the larger organizations, their strategy was simple, not to directly compete with the larger organizations but to provide a type of care that is fast, accessible, and high-tech. the way they did this was to use integral EHR data for creating "prescriptions" for procedures, used a systematic matrix in diagnosis to reduce the need for redundant screening and communicated with the patient they served via social media platforms in order to ensure that the complication would not happen again (Sheng, Chang, Teo, & Lin, 2013). Again, despite the PPACA trying to reduce competition and merges among hospitals, there is still room for competitive advantage that would separate an organization, an individual from the rest of the pack, and if value is in high demand, then adding value to service is the best way to move up in the competition
Student 2
The healthcare industry is one that will always be a necessity. It is continuously growing and evolving. This growth and evolution is not only due to changes in medicine or medical findings, but also because there is a demand. But medicine does not follow the supply and demand business model as most of the other private sector does. The demand is encompassed by many facets of the field. Medical care is a necessity, therefore the demand for healthcare is a constant. What has the most impact on profitability is a demand for revolutionary patient care, medical devices, and medical techniques (practices). The medical facilities who supply these and therefore satiate the demand for these 'products' are those who will thrive and continue to grow.
A Business is described as "a usually commercial or mercantile activity engaged in as a means of livelihood; a commercial or sometimes an industrial enterprise; dealings or transactions especially of an economic nature"(n.d.). While the healthcare industry is a necessity and is governed by certain federal regulations, it is still for all intensive purposes, and by definition, a business.
It is not only important but a necessity for any business to remain on the cutting edge in order to gain a competitive advantage. This competitive advantage will allow business to differentiate themselves from their competition. The best way to ensure that a business remains current is to perform a competitive analysis. According to Volume 58 of GeoScience Engineering, "Strategic management is an integral part of top management. By formulating the right strategy and its subsequent implementation, a managed organization can attract and retain a comparative advantage. In order to fulfil this expectation, the strategy also has to be supported with relevant findings of performed strategic analysis. The best known and probably the most common of these is a SWOT analysis" (Michal VANEK, Milan MIKOLÁŠ, Katerina ŽVÁKOVÁ, 2014). A SWOT analysis refers to reviewing the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of a business or the market as a whole (Kurian, 2013).
This analysis can be used to understand the internal SWOT of a business as well as the SWOT of competitors and the market. In the article SWOT report on a medical company written by Dale J. Hlavka, he analyzes and reports on a Minnesota medical company. Examples from the analysis for the 'Streangths' are the benefits of the products sold, length of time to company has been in business, as well as the expertise of the medical professionals in the business. While the weaknesses focus more on the lack of customer service. Therefore the opportunities are stated as better customer care, operational organization, and quality of products produced. This analysis further proves that the healthcare industry is no different than any other retail or business industry in the private sector (Hlavka, 1999).
The most important aspect of the analysis is the Threats section. There is competition in all lines of business. While the flaws of the Minnesota medical company are correctable, if the competition is just slightly better then it could cause huge loss in trust, respect and therefore profitability and success of the business (Hlavka, 1999).
The healthcare industry is one of the most important (if not the most important) industries in the U.S. Patients are consumers and are in search for a company who supplies their demands of goods, products, services, and innovation. It is those who provide and master these services as well as understand their opportunities of growth and improvement in comparison with the competition that will survive. The SWOT analysis gives an understanding of these areas and gives an insight on how they can be corrected and improved.