Introduction
Establishing a medical care facility can double up as a business venture or an entity for the general well being of the society. Demand for quality medical care is on the rise as population takes an increasing trend; to be a successful business man in this sector, one requires being a professional in the sector.
In this paper we will consider how a budget of $100million can be utilized by a group of 20 medical practitioners as they establish a health care facility in a locality with a population of 500,000 people; it will be located 30miles down town, it will consider financial, legal, and alternative health care models reinforced by your knowledge of strategic planning and capital budgeting.
Project Management/ Starting Up a New Business
Before one decides to take a profit making venture in a certain area, he/she should interpolate probability of success in the business. This comes before looking for funds for the project and continues further. After one has realized that it is possible that the said business can be a success, the next step is to project manage the start up.
Business venture
The first thing before one sets out to start a business is the survey of the location that one wants to make an establishment. This is because; the success of the business is dependent on how well he is going to capture customers to buy from him. Different places require different set ups for their success.
In our case, it is a medical facility that is located 30miles from the main town; when it comes with the case of a hospital; the most important thing is the quality that patients are likely to get. The distance is crucial yes, but patients are willing to travel for longer distances if they will get quality medical attendance; with this the venture is not threatened by distance (Shane, 2003).
Project Management
Before undertaking a project, but after realizing that the business venture is likely to be a success, the next step is project management. This is the point that financial outlay is considered; there are different ways to consider if projects will be viable; they include;
The pay back method of analyzing projects has been interpolated as the most easy and straight forward method of project analysis. The method is simply looking at the period of time that a certain project is going to take to recoup the amount of money that the investor has invested. What this means is that the method recommends not to be interested by the benefits that a certain project is going to bring but the interest should be on how long will the project take for you to get the money that had been invested.
Initial outlay ($100million) = gains from the business X payback period.
The next method of evaluating the project is using net present value, this involves taking into account the duration that the project is likely to be in operation then discount the income using cost of capital, if the NPV is a positive number then a project is viable.
N.P.V. = (discounted outflows – initial capital)
= (discounted outflow – $100millions)
If NPV is positive, then the project is viable, if it is negative then the project should not be started.
Financial Consideration
Capital outlaw in a business is an important aspect to consider when starting up; the capital initially employed in the business should be recouped in a certain period of time. If the capital was financed from a loan then it must be repaid; so there is need to ensure that a business will do well enough to cater for its financial obligation.
This will be in consideration of business risk; business risk is the uncertainty on to whether the kind of business that one has engaged in will be of success. This is in both existing business when they want to extend their business to other areas of a start up business. When investing in some kind of a business there is the initial and subsequent running expenses. In a business environment the proceeds from the business should cover all this and there will remain a portion that is the profit of the investor.
This is not always the case as one may invest and then only losses are accruing from the investment; the risk that the firm will have to undertake is that of possibility that the business leads into a loss. On the other side, this is a normal situation that must be faced in business. The most important thing is to do a good study of the market situation before you invest.
In our case the target population is 500,000 people, what is important to note is the kind of medical care that the population requires. If there is an area that the current medical care fails to satisfy the population then it is important to focus in this area more than those that are highly populated by practitioners.
I would recommend for professional service like dentals, surgery, ENT’s, mortuary, and gynecology among others. Clinical services though an important and inevitable part in any hospital set up should not be emphasized a lot since patients can have alternatives in other hospitals.
An outlay of $100million is enough to lay good medical facilities. Sustainability is another important issue when managing a certain project. For example, all health care policies are projects that require a long-term use of money. They can only be successful if there is adequate flow of money throughout the life of the project. During the evaluation, it is the time that the real cost of the project be calculated. This is then weighed upon the desired results.
If a businessman enters in an area that he cannot survive he is putting himself in a financial risk. This is the risk that the business will not be able to meet the long term and medium term financial obligations. This obligation means the financed capital obligation, the shareholders interests, and the cost of capital.
If the business has taken a loan to be able to finance the various projects then there must be a way that the loan will have to be paid. These will be involving the principal and the interest parts of the payment. The business can only be able to do this if it is run at a gain.
The shareholders, debenture holders, and interest creditors also invested in the business with the expectation that they are going to get a gain from their investment. The business has this obligation to fulfill. The risk here is whether the amount of profit that is being derived from the business will be enough to cater for all these expenses? There is the exposure of a company’s strength as the company law provides that the financial statements of any company must be prepared.
They have some disclosures that they must give and thus if the business is not doing well it will hinder future decisions of potential investors. This has the possibility of limiting the level of growth in the future because it cannot access equity from the issue of shares. It can also lead to reduced confidence on the part of investor, which may have a negative effect to the business (Livingston, 2008).
Alternative Medical Care
Competition is a good element in the business arena since it ensures that quality of goods and services provided are good; it is the one that keeps the businessmen on their toes to ensure that they earn customer loyalty. In the medical practice, quality and professional service is crucial since it involves the health of human beings.
Health care is provided by the government at a subscribed rate as one of the functions of the government. The number of government hospitals in the location and the kind of services that they provide should be interpolated to ensure that there is a need that they are not satisfying the customers.
In many countries, government hospitals are not efficiently managed and thus people seem to have a fading trust on their services. There are times that a huge number of people wait for services; this compromises the quality they offer as well as patient customer relationship. These are some of the areas that should be looked into and taken advantage of.
The private sector and nongovernmental medical care is another area that where patients are treated; here they have better services than government hospitals but they suffer limited facilities. Our initial capital, $100million is a good amount to make a better facility than those of private sector. Another area that has been of great concern in the medical sector is human expertise; we are lucky that we already have 20 qualified medical practitioners; in this case we will have a comparative advantage.
The cost of labor is likely to be minimized since we can give services at a lower rate. Leadership is another factor that can be used to keep off competition; the success of an organization is dependent on the quality of decision made by its manager. One of the major attributes that make a good manager stand out is his or her decisiveness.
The quality of decisions made by a manager is reflected in the performance of his or her organization. Other than the control by decision of the management, customers influence almost all parts of a business. The available target customers’ needs should be well understood so as when deciding the kind of business to engage in, one is aware of the available customer segment.
By segment we mean the class, social status, age, and income level. One must align himself to the interest of the customer and by so doing there will be continued business. When a business is established, the success will be dependent on the quality of the good/services that it will offer to the market. They must be those that satisfy the needs of the customer. As the business, he should listen what other people have to say about the entire process (Schmenner, 1995).
Capital Budgeting
Capital budgeting is ensuring that the finances available for various long term developments are utilized in the most efficient way. In our case we have a budget of $ 100million that should be used to establish a medical facility. This money can be divided into two:-
a) Capital good purchase
b) Operational expenses
Capital Good Purchases
This is building of the facility and buying of facilities to be used in the business. To budget for this expense, a research should be done on the current level of technology that is in the market as well as their cost. Capital good purchase should have its special budget; it should consider the probable costs of all capital goods which will be required to establish the business. Let’s assume that our capital goods budget is $80million. A sample budget looks like;
A frame work of a probable capital budget
Operating Expenses Budget
Before a business breaks even, there are expenses that should be taken into consideration; these include salaries and operating expenses. The initial capital outlay should consider this.
A frame work of a probable operational budget
Legal
Laws are set to regulate the way things are done in the economy; there are trade laws and professional regulations that a business should consider. The countries trade law requires that before starting a business its construction be approved by the relevant authorities. If the business has been approved, then a permit to start construction is given. Local council is mostly involved in this planning; they have to approve the site given for the construction.
After completion of construction, there is approval by medical practitioners body; they must ensure that the facility meets the standards set for the same, if they don’t meet the standard, then they are licensed to start operation. Professional body will look into the quality of the facilities adopted as well as the qualifications of the staffs.
If they are convinced that everything is set, then they give approval and go ahead. Council licenses, health licenses, and sanitation licenses should be looked for before start up.
Taxation is another legal responsibility that the business will have, measures should be put in place to ensure that at no one point will there be a conflict with the government. This is the functions of accounting department.
Strategic Planning
A hospital set up requires physical and human resources for its operations. How well the resources are blend determine the success of the facility and the quality of services that it is going to give to the people. There are various departments that should be planned effectively to ensure that success is attained.
Taking S.W.O.T. analysis is crucial;
Internal Analysis
Strengths
The strength of an organization is vested on how well it understands and utilizes the available resources that it has, both internal and external. The leadership of the organization should be in the forefront in utilizing a company’s strengths and it must start with deliberate measures to understand its environs. It has a high capital outlay and experts in medical professional. This is the great strength that the business can utilize for its prosperity.
Opportunities
The need for quality health care is increasing with awareness for need for good health and increased population. Opportunities / chances of success of the company are dependent on both the internal and external assessment criteria of the organizations profile of operation. Some of the underlying opportunities for this company in regard to the macro environment are the diversification of its medical professional expertise.
Weaknesses and Threats
Every business is faced with difficulties when entering a certain market; there can be danger if the business is not able to face the risks that it will be exposed to from its incorporation. The following are the areas that should be planned for a great success;
Human Resources Planning
A medical facility is a service entity whereby patients are attended by professionals in all areas; the role of the management is to ensure that there are qualified and adequate human resources at any one time of need.
Human resources planning is an attempt to forecast how many and what kind of employees are required or will be required in future and to what extent this demand is likely to be met. It involves the comparison of organizations current human resources and the likely future needs and consequently, the establishment of programs for hiring, training, redeploying, and possibly discarding employees.
The main aim of human resources planning is to ensure that there is the right number of employees, at the right time, at the right place, and the right cost. The human resource department is given the mandate of ensuring that adequate employees are available at all times in the organization; it has both quantitative and qualitative aspects. Qualitative means the right number of employees and qualitative means employees with right skills (Rodkey, Glover, Janes, Grether, Tolman, & McCabe, n.d).
Physical Resource Management
In a hospital, other than having qualified human resource, they must have the physical facilities that they are using; there are long term assets and recurrent budget assets and this should be looked into. Who manages what is of great importance. Some facilities will call for professionals to maintain them and retain them in their working conditions.
On the other hand when buying the resources, the management should ensure that it buys original and up-to date facilities. Procurement department is another area that should be looked into and enforced, this is a crucial department that should be given all the necessary support. Suppliers of various good should be recognized and contracted accordingly (Porter, 1980).
Customer Care
The focus on the customer (in our case patients) has forced the businesses to have a customer center that works as the reception or a call center. This has assisted patients to get the initial help, which can form an attitude about the services that they are likely to get from the hospital.
Of late after a patient have reported to a hospital, general check up are conducted as he waits to see the doctor, this include weight measurement, height, body pressure, and body temperature. This works in two ways; the customer is kept busy as the queue moves and confidence with the facilities services is built in this first interaction. The same good customer service should extend to the doctors and nurses. With good customer service then the business is more likely to succeed.
Social Corporate Responsibilities
To capture the attention of the general population, it is important for a business to venture in social corporate responsibilities. In the case of a hospital, it can take the shape of free medical checkups. This will help the people realize the type of service offered at the facility. This is also a marketing tool (Wheelen & Hunger, 1998).
Conclusion
Starting up a new business is taking a risk; however if the decision is well thought there are numerous benefits that come up with investing in business.
Before one is set to start there are short and long term parameters that he should consider to ensure that there will be continuity in the business. The future is unpredictable and so even the smallest details about something should be interpolated before starting up.
When one is starting a business, he should consider financial, legal, and alternative health care models reinforced by his knowledge of strategic planning and capital budgeting. A health care facility with a capital outlay of $100million and located 30miles from a town of 500,000 populations is a viable business if all the measures discussed above are taken into consideration.
Reference List
Livingston, J (2008). Founders at work: stories of startups’ early days. Berkeley, CA; New York: A press.
Porter, M. (1980). Competitive strategy. New York: Free Press.
Rodkey, R., Glover, C., Janes, G., Grether, E., Tolman, C., & McCabe, G. (n.d). Accounting, Business Methods, Investments, and the Exchanges. American Economic Review, 19(2), 289-300. Retrieved from SocINDEX with Full Text database
Schmenner, R. (1995). Service operations management. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
Shane, S. (2003). A General Theory of Entrepreneurship: the Individual-Opportunity Nexus. New York: Edward Elgar
Wheelen, L., & Hunger, J. (1998). Strategic Management and Business Policy: Entering 21st Century Global Society. Massachusetts: Addison Wesley