Nowadays, having a well-developed brand image and strategy defines the ability of the company to maintain the integrity and become one of the market leaders. For the past assignment, I decided to administer the hospital and help it understand key internal and external forces and their critical impact on its competitive edge and positioning among rival firms. It was revealed that the ACA and high demand for medical professionals along with decreasing reimbursement rates not only negatively affected the financial stability of the hospital but also questioned the quality of the provided services, their safety, the satisfaction of patients, and motivation of nurses. To address these issues, it is rational to conduct constant environmental analysis and ensure the relevance of the information while offering a favorable working environment to support the development and growth of employees.
Nonetheless, responding to the changes in the internal and external environment cannot enhance company’s positioning solely. Consequently, in the context of this paper, it will be of paramount importance to design mission and vision statements to reflect corporate culture, orientation, and values. At the same time, suggesting an adaptive strategy and designing effective service delivery and support components will have a beneficial impact on the company’s image. Lastly, proposing one approach to maintain a chosen adaptive strategy will assist in addressing problems of internal and external environment and reaching its corporate goals.
Mission and Vision Statement
To establish a foundation for discussion, it is of paramount importance to define company’s mission and vision statement, as it is the core of the strategy and its corporate culture. To cater to the needs of the population and react to the external and internal fluctuations of the environment, the company has to enhance the quality of the provided services and create a favorable environment for professional growth and development. Thus, these matters can be reflected in the company’s mission statement since it defines its current goals and objectives. Based on these aspects, the mission statement can be formulated as “The mission of our hospital is to provide high-quality services, satisfy the needs of diverse cultural group, and promote healthy habits and well-being while cherishing all our stakeholders including patients, their families, community, government, non-profit organizations (NGOs), and our beloved employees”. Relying on these ideas can assist in resolving the present issues and ensuring integrity in the medical institution.
At the same time, on the contrary to the mission statement, vision presents and describes company’s future orientation and development. In the context of the case organization, it can be formulated as “We view our organization as one of the competitive providers of healthcare in the recent future, and we want our employees to become more satisfied, inspired, and motivated while enhancing the level of patient satisfaction and supporting continuous financial growth”. A combination of these factors shows that the company can understand and highlight the most important features of the internal and external environment. Meanwhile, its key goals are 1) increase customer readmission and satisfaction by 20% and improve inpatient/outpatient ratio by the end of 2018; 2) enhance motivation and satisfaction of employees by 20% by developing relevant schedule and interesting educational programs by the end of 2018; and 3) enlarge market share by 10% by the end of 2018. Overall, it could be said that the goals mentioned above align with the mission and vision statements while complying with all concepts of goal design.
Adaptive Strategy or Their Combination
It could be said that the subsequent step is to propose an effective and sufficient adaptive strategy that will help the hospital reach its organizational goals depicted above. Nowadays, one cannot imagine a successful company or a market frontrunner without an effective strategy that defines all steps of the strategic plan (Boston Consulting Group, 2011). Many businessmen view adaptive strategy as a source of business growth and sustainability while triggering continuous change, innovation, and development (Boston Consulting Group, 2011). The brightest example of the application of the concepts of adaptive strategy is Virgin Group (Boston Consulting Group, 2011). This company was able to create unique value proposition by reacting to the fluctuations of the business environment rapidly and responding to the customers’ needs with a diversity of product lines. In this instance, it developed a dynamic competitive advantage that helped the company increase its market shares and become a market leader.
In this instance, similarly to Virgin Group and Zara, the hospital can rely on, so called, Sprinter adaptive strategy (Boston Consulting Group, 2011). This approach implies that the company constantly researches the market and discovers the concepts and frameworks of the existent business models, as adapting them enhances the overall competitive advantage and assists in reaching the established organizational goals and objectives (Boston Consulting Group, 2011). When referring to practical examples, Zara developed fast collaboration and interaction between different levels of supply chain, and now, it can rapidly deliver sales data from its shops to the manufacturing unit (Boston Consulting Group, 2011).
It assists in maintaining inventories at the relevant levels, keeping customers satisfied, and rapidly responding to their preferences and choices. It could be said that speed is a defining force in this strategy. In this case, using this method and researching business models employed in the healthcare sector can not only improve the internal environment but also develop sufficient competitive advantage and increase readmission of the patients and their satisfaction. Specifically speaking, the main adjustments may include 1) discovering key trends in healthcare and human resource management (HRM); 2) reviewing scheduling and motivating techniques; and 3) determining the most appropriate inpatient/outpatient ratio to maximize the revenues. Overall, using this strategy will help reach organizational goals and objectives while ensuring their alignment with the mission statement.
Service Delivery and Support Components
It remains apparent that the strategy and its aspects mentioned above define the overall framework that the organization should use to guide its principles and activities. In this instance, it essential to review elements of service delivery system and support components to optimize the process flow in the value chain (Sharan, Schroeder, West, & Vaccaro, 2015). This framework was actively developed and promoted by Michael Porter, who described service delivery system as a complicated mechanism due to the interdependence between activities of different levels (Sharan et al., 2015). In this case, the main processes will include admission, care and service, and discharge. The primary reason for selecting these components is the desire of the company to enhance customer satisfaction while triggering growth and recognition in the market. For example, admission and care form general perception of the patient about the hospital while discharge not only has a dramatic effect on the company’s image but also helps control outpatient/inpatient ratio. Only including these components shapes a general framework and can affect satisfaction of the customers in a positive way, and this matter will help reach the most important goals of the hospital while clearly defining its competitive advantage.
Simultaneously, Porter discovers that it is of paramount importance to include supporting elements, as, without them, it will not be possible to offer expected service delivery (Sharan et al., 2015). Generally speaking, they will include HRM, administration and management, and marketing. It remains evident that employees are often discovered as the main assets of the company, as the quality of the provided services and perception of the patients are highly dependent on their competences and actions (Hoeve, Jansen, & Roodbol, 2013). Consequently, improving the working environment and designing the most appropriate schedule will help increase the levels of motivation. Marketing has similar intentions while management ensures the ability of the hospital to reach its organizational goals and objectives. It could be said that these facts not only provide a clear rationale for selecting these elements but also show that they have a strong impact on service delivery. Overall, only including a combination of these components can help the hospital reach its goals and objectives and become a frontrunner of a highly competitive industry while covering satisfaction, motivation, and financial growth, and prosperity.
Suggesting One Approach to Maintain Adaptive Strategy
Nonetheless, having a well-developed adaptive strategy cannot solely guarantee the ability of the organization to reach its corporate goals and objectives. In this instance, along with the development and designing of the value chain, it is pivotal to suggest an approach that can be utilized to maintain the existent adaptive strategy to attain to organizational mission and vision. It could be said that only relying on the well-developed framework of strategies can assist the company in achieving its long-term goals and short-term objectives while successfully responding to internal and external environmental changes.
In the context of the hospital, it will be rational to take advantages of uncertainties of the market, as they can be viewed as continuous sources of development and innovation (Boston Consulting Group, 2011). This strategy will assist the company in becoming sustainable and flexible, as using these concepts can make it develop a dynamic competitive advantage (Boston Consulting Group, 2011). Nonetheless, when using Sprinter adaptive strategy, it will be logical to rely on the approach that implies constant research of the market. In this case, only utilizing this method can help monitor industrial changes continuously and adjust the action plan promptly. A combination of these factors indicates that to support the selected adaptive strategy, it will be essential to devote more resources to R&D and strategic analysis, as only relying on these methods can assist the company in staying competitive in the market by adapting strategies of competitors (Boylan & Turner, 2017). These aspects will make the organization more flexible while adopting only the best practices of the rivals and frontrunners of other industries, as only relying on this approach can help treat with respect all stakeholders. Nonetheless, the hospital has to use its goals as a guideline since, otherwise, it will be impossible to develop a dynamic competitive advantage that will contribute to company’s growth, financial development, and customer satisfaction. Overall, relying on research and analysis can help respond to the changes in internal and external environment successfully while ensuring the alignment and achievement of corporate vision and mission.
References
Boston Consulting Group. (2011). Adaptive strategy key to business sustainability. The Korea Times. Web.
Boylan, S., & Turner, K. (2017). Developing organizational adaptability for complex environment. Journal of Leadership Education, 16(2), 183-198.
Hoeve, Y., Jansen, G., & Roodbol, P. (2013). The nursing profession: Public image, self-concept, and professional identity. A discussion paper. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 70(2), 295-309.
Sharan, A., Schroeder, G., West, M., & Vaccaro, A. (2015). Understanding a value chain in healthcare. The Business of Medicine, 28(1), 291-293.