The case is related to the functioning of the Scarlet Hospital while the new highway was introduced. In turn, the freeway assured the better and faster connection with the establishment in Salem (Fortenberry, 2010). In turn, the Scarlet Hospital is located both in Salem and Walnut Grove and specializes in delivering surgical services to the population (Fortenberry, 2010). It remains apparent that the creation of the highway resulted in the better connection between the locations, but it was also one of the potential reasons for the cultivation of the marketing campaigns.
Nonetheless, in this instance, the Scarlet Hospital supposed to focus on the establishment of the relevant marketing strategy, which will emphasize the enhancement of the relationships with the users, promoting the quality of the existent services, and expanding the customer base. In this case, the primary threat is the desire of the Salem’s medical institutions to gain Walnut Grove’s populations in terms of providing better services (Fortenberry, 2010).
In this case, the Timothy’s concern is the fact that the advertisements and lack of competences of the Scarlett Hospital in this area create the perception that the services at the Scarlet Hospital are less qualified than in the Salem’s institutions (Fortenberry, 2010). In this case, it could be said that the Scarlett Hospital was not able to compete with the other organizations since it did not focus on the marketing strategy and the promotion of the excellence of the health care services previously.
The primary goal of the paper is to acquire the lessons from the ‘Shopping Outshopping’ case study, determine the value of the Michael Porter’s Five Forces Analysis, SWOT, and Balanced Scorecard. The analysis of these aspects will contribute to the development of the image of the company on the market. In the end, the offensive marketing strategy was introduced to determine the potentials ways of gaining back the market share.
Lessons from ‘Shopping Outshopping’
It could be said that the case ‘Shopping Outshopping’ is aimed towards the development of the understanding of the essentiality of the advertising in the healthcare industry. In turn, it remains clear that this case study has an intention to teach the lessons about the importance of the complacency. Firstly, the complacency can be defined as the understanding that the aspects and external factors will always remain the same (Scott, 2007). It could be said that it is one of the problems in business and healthcare industry, as the modifications to the equipment and strategy have to be conducted to keep up with the competitors and the technological progress (Longhurst, 2012). It is clear that it creates difficulties in operation and wrong understanding of the business services.
It could be said that that the presented situation states that the healthcare executives have to seek improvement and development of their businesses in terms of marketing. It is evident that the management of the Scarlett Hospital did not focus on innovation and development, as it did not consider any potential threats in future. The building of the highway increased the competition extensively and created the perception that the company is not able to provide high-quality services to the organization due to the inability to deliver right messages to the customers (Fortenberry, 2010).
Value of Michael Porter’s Five Forces Analysis and SWOT
Additionally, the value of several analyses has to be determined in terms of evaluation of the position of the organization in the healthcare market. In this case, Porter’s Five Forces and SWOT will be evaluated in details to understand their ways of helping the hospitals deliver the message to the customers and decrease the loss of the market share.
Firstly, it is apparent that the Porter’s Five Forces analysis assists in understanding the company’s place in the market and evaluating whether other organizations have a better position in the industry regarding the market share, the presence of entry and exit barriers, and the perceptions of the potential customers (Dobbs, 2014). In this case, this analysis will contribute to building the sufficient image by evaluating the overall rivalry of the market and assessing the possibility of the new entrants in the marketing industry.
Additionally, the SWOT analysis is another approach, which might be efficient in terms of creating the company’s position on the market. It remains evident that the SWOT analysis helps determine the right components of the competitive strategy while evaluating the weaknesses, strengths, opportunities, and threats (Agarwal, Grassl, & Pahl, 2012). It could be said that conducting sufficient SWOT analysis will help the Scarlett Hospital evaluate its position on the market and seek the potential ways of improvement while determining its threats and opportunities.
In this instance, this method will help see the current place of the hospital in the market by highlighting the weaknesses, which have to be taken into account while generating a new strategy. In the end, a combination of SWOT and Porter’s Five Forces Analysis will assist in seeing novel ways of understanding the marketing principles while creating the marketing campaigns and assisting in the development of the new aspects.
The Value of Balanced Scorecard
Furthermore, the value of the Balanced Scorecard has to be assessed in relation to the Scarlett Hospital and determination of the marketing strategy. In general, the Balanced Scorecard is an essential element, which contributes to monitoring the performance of the organization while functioning and performing the conditions of the high competition (Savsar, 2015). This marketing tool helps any organization assure its positions while understanding the ability of the institution reach organizational goals and guarantee the delivery of the high-quality services to the users. It remains evident that this instrument depicts overall actions of the organization and its strategic vision.
Nonetheless, it is apparent that the Balanced Scorecard can help improve the defensive marketing strategy of the Scarlett’s hospital, as it tends to monitor the efficiency of the internal and external activities and processes of the organization. In this case, the organization can determine the potential areas of enhancement by analyzing the overall performance with the assistance of the Balanced Scorecard. It can help the company develop and new services and become ahead of its previous activities. It is evident that this approach will assist in maintaining its current market share, as the customers will be able to try new services.
Offensive Marketing Strategy
Lastly, a new offensive marketing strategy has to be introduced by covering such principles as communication, branding, innovation, and research and development. It is apparent that the offensive marketing strategy is the suitable approach, as it will contribute to the formation of the relevant image in the highly competitive environment (Bridges & Freytag, 2009).
In this case, the communication has to be introduced in the form of the social media and delivery of the brochures, as these aspects will help find the solution to the issue while creating a sufficient social image. Nowadays, content marketing is utilized for building the image in the B2C and B2B areas while cultivating the perceptions of high-quality (Murthy, 2011). In this case, the Scarlett hospital has to pay attention to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to build the trusting relationships with the customers.
As for the branding, the hospital has to encourage the developments of the idea that their services are better than the similar ones of competitors. The company has to focus on its strengths while portraying the weaknesses of the competitors. This approach will create the perception that the services of the Scarlett Hospital are on the high quality. Nonetheless, the organization has to assure the presence of this matter in the real life, as; otherwise, they will not comply with the original perceptions of the users.
Research and development are the aspects, which have to be considered while functioning in the healthcare industry. In this case, it has the storing correlation with innovation, as the sufficient research will help assess the requirements in the market. In turn, the company has to promote its innovation services with the assistance of various marketing channels while assuring that their products are more advanced in terms of innovation among competitors.
In the end, the Scarlett Hospital has to take all of these aspects into account, as it is critical to maintain the market share on the sufficient level. Additionally, the institution has to be careful in utilizing the offensive strategy a primary instrument for development, as it might lead to the adverse consequences and wrong opinions among customers about the organization. Nonetheless, this approach will assist in gaining better share of the market since it contributes to the establishment of the efficient branding and positioning.
References
Agarwal, R., Grassl, W., & Pahl, J. (2012). Meta-SWOT: Introducing a new strategic planning tool. Journal of Business Strategy, 33(2), 12-21.
Bridges, E., & Freytag, P. (2009). When do firms invest in offensive and/or defensive marketing? Journal and Business Research, 62(7), 745-749.
Dobbs, M. (2014). Guidelines for applying Porter’s five forces framework: A set of industry analysis templates. Competitiveness Review, 24(1), 32-45.
Fortenberry, J. (2010). Cases and healthcare marketing. Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Longhurst, R. (2012). No place for complacency. British Dental Journal, 212(3), 104-105.
Murthy, A. (2011). Content marketing. PRIMA, 2(1), 31.
Savsar, C. (2015). From performance measurement to strategic management model: Balanced scorecard. Journal of Economic Development, 4(1), 7-15.
Scott, R. (2007). Small business pain. New York, NY: BookCrafters LLC.