Market Analysis

Grading Rubric Must Be Followed

Create 3–5-page executive summary of a market analysis that identifies the critical success factors of a labor and delivery service line in a targeted marketplace. This assessment uses scenarios and data from St. Anthony Medical Center, a virtual health care organization set in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Questions to Consider:

External Assessment

Consider these questions:

• What statistics (such as demographics, health outcomes, et cetera) are related to the service being studied?
• How are excellent providers designated?
• What do potential consumers of the service expect from their care providers?
• What are the typical payer source composition and reimbursement rates related to the service nationally and locally?

Internal Assessment

Consider these questions:

• What is the general image or culture projected by the organization?
• Does the service line within the specific organization under investigation meet, exceed, or fall short of patient expectations?
• Is there information available related to licensure, accreditation, and commendation status?
• Are there any special issues in the news related to either the organization or the type of health service offered?

Scenario

You have been selected to serve as the health care administration intern to the vice president of operations at St. Anthony Medical Center, a health care organization that is part of the virtual Vila Health Care system. St. Anthony operates at a minus 1-percent or break-even status with respect to profitability. The board of directors is wondering if this is a service line worth continuing, given that it does not appear to directly contribute to the bottom line: profit.

Your first task as an intern will be to examine St. Anthony Medical Center’s current labor and delivery service line, describe how this service is marketed to the public, and share observations or insights as they relate to the health care labor and delivery marketplace in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Step One: Preparation

Use the Internet, the Capella University Library, and suggested resources to ensure you have surveyed the field of market assessment and planning tools. You should be familiar with the following topics before beginning this assessment:

• PEST (PESTLE) analysis.
• SWOT analysis.
• Porter’s five forces model.
• Philip Kotler’s marketing plan. (Kotler’s format has been widely adopted across industries).

You must also know how to write an executive summary.

Step Two: Internal and External Market Analyses

Complete the following:

• External Assessment: Use the Internet to conduct an external environmental assessment of the health care labor and delivery marketplace in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Use at least one situational or environmental assessment tool from your studies or research.
  • Note: Capture screenshots of the websites of the health care organisations you visit that are located within the Greater Minneapolis metro marketplace. These screenshots will make it easier to compare and contrast what you find on the Internet with information presented inside the virtual world of St. Anthony Medical Center.
• Internal Assessment: Using an internal assessment tool (such as SWOT), analyze St. Anthony Medical Center’s labor and delivery service.
  • Gather information by visiting the virtual website (located inside the Vila Health Challenge multimedia).
  • Examine various facets of the operation (for example, prenatal consumer service offerings, innovations, differentiating competitive advantages, the use of social media, and so forth).

Step Three: Executive Summary

In a 3–5-page executive summary, include the following information:

• Integrate the external environmental and internal organizational analyses and summarize the key points discovered in your market analysis.
• Propose a list of relevant health care marketing issues that the organization could focus on to improve the service offering.
• Share any insights regarding critical success factors, return on investment, and organizational viability. Support your ideas with relevant and authoritative sources.

RESOURCES:

Sanity in Graduate School

This article helps you manage your learning as well as emotional ups and downs during your time in graduate school:

• How to Keep Your Sanity in Graduate School [PDF].

Social Media and Social Marketing

Topic Overview

Review the following:

• Brooks, G., Heffner, A., & Henderson, D. (2014). A SWOT analysis of competitive knowledge from social media for a small start-up business [PDF]. The Review of Business Information Systems, 18(1), 23–34.
• Buccoliero, L., Bellio, E., Mazzola, M., & Solinas, E. (2016). A marketing perspective to “delight” the “patient 2.0”: New and challenging expectations for the healthcare provider [PDF]. BMC Health Services Research, 16(47), 1–12.
• Killian, G., & McManus, K. (2015). A marketing communications approach for the digital era: Managerial guidelines for social media integration. Business Horizons, 58(5), 539–549.
• Kim, W. C., & Mauborgne, R. (2015, February 5). Closing the gap between blue ocean strategy and execution. Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 2–8.
• Mount, M., & Martinez, M. G. (2014). Social Media: A tool for open innovation. California Management Review, 56(4), 124–143.
• Roberts, D. L., & Piller, F. T. (2016). Finding the right role for social media in innovation [PDF]. MIT Sloan Management Review, 57(3), 41–47.
• Russell-Bennett, R., Wood, M., & Previte, J. (2013). Fresh ideas: Services thinking for social marketing. Journal of Social Marketing, 3(3), 223–238.

Patient Connection and Engagement

Review the following:

• Huang, E., & Dunbar, C. L. (2013). Connecting to patients via social media: A hype or a reality? [PDF]. Journal of Medical Marketing, 13(1), 14–23.
• Koumpouros, Y., Toulias, T. L., & Koumpouros, N. (2015). The importance of patient engagement and the use of social media marketing in healthcare. Technology & Health Care, 23(4), 495–507.
• Milewicz, C., & Saxby, C. (2013). Leaders’ social media usage intentions for in-bound customer communications. Management Research Review, 36(9), 849–867.

Strategic Planning

Review the following:

• Chanthinok, K., Ussahawanitichakit, P., & Jhundra-indra, P. (2015). Social media marketing strategy and marketing outcomes: A conceptual framework. Allied Academies International Conference – Academy of Marketing Studies Proceedings, 20(2), 35–52.
• Domegan, C., Collins, K., Stead, M., McHugh, P., & Hughes, T. (2013). Value co-creation in social marketing: Functional or fanciful?. Journal of Social Marketing, 3(3), 239–256.
• Gilfoil, D. M., Aukers, S. M., & Jobs, C. G. (2015). Developing and implementing a social media program while optimizing return on investment – An MBA program case study [PDF]. American Journal of Business Education, 8(1), 31–48.
• Kamin, T., & Anker, T. (2014). Cultural capital and strategic social marketing orientations. Journal of Social Marketing, 4(2), 94–110.
• Leonhardt, J. M. (2015). Tweets, hashtags and virality: Marketing the Affordable Care Act in social media. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 16(3), 172–180.
• McKay-Nesbitt, J., DeMoranville, C. W., & McNally, D. (2012). A strategy for advancing social marketing. Journal of Social Marketing, 2(1), 52–69.

Social Media Tools

Review the following:

• Google Search. (2016). Use of Twitter for marketing: Images. Retrieved from https://goo.gl/8Wld86
• Gotter, A. (2015, June 22). How to use Instagram to improve Facebook marketing [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://adespresso.com/academy/blog/how-to-use-ins…
• Flakes, S. (2014). Benefits of utilizing social media in the health care industry. Retrieved from https://getreferralmd.com/2014/02/benefits-utilizi…
• Gregory, S. (2016). How to use Twitter chats for marketing your business. Retrieved from http://freshsparks.com/twitter-chats-for-marketing…

Health Care Marketing

Read or view the following:

• Health Care Marketing Terminology | Transcript.
• Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2016). Principles of marketing (16th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Available from the bookstore.
  • Chapter 1, “Marketing: Creating Customer Value and Engagement,” pages 26–61.
  • Chapter 2, “Company and Marketing Strategy Partnering to Build Customer Engagement, Value, and Relationships,” pages 62–91.

Market Analysis

This article discusses approaches to the strategic planning of knowledge management:

• Bolisani, E., & Scarso, E. (2015). Strategic planning approaches to knowledge management: A taxonomy. Vine, 45(4), 495–508.

This article suggests using the opportunity assessment matrix to address strategic issues in the business environment today:

• Burns, D. J. (2014). Succeeding at new businesses: A matrix to measure flexibility. The Journal of Business Strategy, 35(5), 23–30.

This article discusses major concerns with SWOT analysis:

• Everett, R. F. (2014). A crack in the foundation: Why SWOT might be less than effective in market sensing analysis. Journal of Marketing and Management, 1(1), 58–78.

This study presents the process and outcomes of IT strategic planning at a pediatric hospital in Canada:

• Jaana, M., Teitelbaum, M., & Roffey, T. (2014). IT strategic planning in hospitals: From theory to practice. International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care, 30(3), 289–297.

This article takes an overview of challenges and opportunities in the Indian health care system:

• Tapas, P., & Dangre, R. (2014). Emerging trends in health care: Challenges and opportunities [PDF]. Indian Journal of Economics and Business, 13(1), 121–135.

Industry Analysis

Review the following:

• Americas pharma & healthcare insight – July 2015 [PDF]. (2015). Business Monitor International.
• US hospitals and outpatient care centers market report 2017. (2017, March 16). M2 Presswire.

Environmental Analysis

Review the following:

• Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2016). Principles of marketing (16th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Available from the Bookstore.
  • Chapter 3, “Analyzing the Marketing Environment,” pages 195–219.
• Smith, A. (2018). How to prepare a marketing environmental analysis. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/prepare-marketing-e…

Assessment Tools

Review the following:

• Dobbs, M. E. (2014). Guidelines for applying Porter’s five forces framework: A set of industry analysis templates. Competitiveness Review, 24(1), 32–45.
• Investopedia. (2018). What’s the difference between Porter’s 5 forces and PESTLE analysis?. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/041015/wha…
• MindTools. (n.d.). Strategy tools: Mapping out your best possible direction. Retrieved from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_STR.htm
• MarketingTeacher.com. (n.d.). SWOT analysis – POWER SWOT. Retrieved from http://www.marketingteacher.com/swot-analysis-powe…
• Post, J. (2017). What is a PEST analysis?. Retrieved from https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5512-pest-analys…

Suggested Resources for Additional Exploration

Review the following:

• Buzzle. (n.d.). Executive summary report example. Retrieved from https://www.buzzle.com/articles/executive-summary-…

This article discusses the use of Twitter to measure patient quality of care:

• Hawkins, J. B., Brownstein, J. S., Tuli, G., Runels, T., Broecker, K., Nsoesie, E. O., . . . Greaves, F. (2016). Measuring patient-perceived quality of care in US hospitals using Twitter. BMJ Quality & Safety, 25(6), 404.