29 Jun MKTG 506-RAUL A. GONZALEZ RUIZ
Question
Assignment 4.4
Based on analysis outline guidelines, conduct a best practices assessment and recommended actions analysis which addresses the following topics for your project.
Identify the marketing-related success factors (MSFs)
Identify alternative ways for achieving each marketing success factor
Evaluate the effectiveness of the alternative actions
State the positioning strategy
Briefly summarize the business model, overall marketing strategy, and the marketing mix
Recommend specific actions to address each marketing success factor
Assess the effectiveness of the recommended actions
Instructions: Enter or paste your written work and/or click “Attachments” to upload your files.
RAUL A. GONZALEZ RUIZ abril 20, 2015
MKTG 506 SEC 01 Superiority Premium Assessment of CTCA
Introduction
In the last 20 years human life style has been changed a lot. With the emergence of
information technology life has become hectic and very impulsive. Due to this health related
issues are also increasing rapidly. Cancer and heart related diseases are the most frequent among
all other diseases. It the various reports it has been reported that this exponentially increasing
health related issues are a worry for United States. Currently proper medical facilities for heart
related diseases and effective treatment is evolved a lot but in case of cancer country is far
behind. Most affected age group segment is between 35 and 65.
To provide the better treatment and excellent service to patients or customers
organization Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) is coming forward. This
organizations complete focus is on the research of better treatment and finding out the best
medicine for the treatment. Along with this Organization is also has vision of employing
innovative new therapies and techniques for cancer treatment. Organization has put significant
efforts in the market research to find out the required steps and process or products that it should
offer to customer to give them best service. To take the competitive advantage over other in this
heath and treatment industry company must need to conduct a superiority premium assessment.
This assessment will give better incite of current health service industry trends to the
company and implementing the strategic plans will be easier. This paper will cover all the topics
of superiority assessment and will also evaluate the target customers, their needs, competition in
the market and product or service needed to deploy in the market for the customers for the
Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA). Along with the new opportunities for the
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company paper will also discuss the barriers that are in the US market for providing the effective
services.
Identification of the Needs of the Target Segment
Having a huge customer base is always an advantage for any business. Health care is a
very sensitive industry and customer satisfaction is core of its success. CTCA has already
lunched many products or health related services for the customers along with their main service
complete cancer treatment like psychology counseling, spiritual supports, physical therapy etc.
But currently organization is very new in this industry and they don’t have the customer base that
can support their products. To ensure the customer base need is to identify the customer base and
then to launch the products as per targeted segment.
Cancer is most commonly seen in a particular age group range like between 30-35 and
60-65. Another most common trend is that individuals who are part of this dynamic fast life the
one which are mostly cancer affected. Organization should target these age group individuals.
Company also targets the families where one person is patient of cancer and should ensure that
family members in that specific age group or living style are also in the radar to target. Company
will also target the customers across the globe by making its self a brand for best cancer
treatment in the US.
Company can also conduct a market research to identify the customers that are looking
for these type of health related services or themselves or their family. “Market research feeds the
knowledge base of an organization whether it is a commercial one or one that is not for
profit”( Callingham, 2004). After identifying the customer segment to target next step will be to
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identify their actual needs, similar services already present in the market, competitor analysis etc.
Company should conduct a separate market research to know the actual needs of customers,
what type of services they are looking for, how they want these services, budget or expected cost
for services.
Few related survey that company will conduct are – Market Description, Market
Profiling-Segmentation, Customer Intention – Purchase Analysis, Customer Attitudes and
Expectations, New Product Concept Analysis, Uses and Habits Survey. Another way to get the
customers behavior details, their needs is social listening. “You can really get to know his or her
needs through social listening. It’s a great way to research a market and initiate conversation
leading to a sale” (Smith J., 2014). Relationship between the Product Attributes and Benefits
Product attributes are something that is products quality or resides in the product while
benefits are something that is related to the customers. Organization should ensure that the
products that they are going to offer in the market are best suited for the customers. Before
making any medical or treatment plan, company has to forecast the advantages that this product
is going to give to the customers. Like if organization is Creating a product for cancer patient
than it should include all the treatment services, physical therapy, psychology treatment,
Exercise plan, diet plan along with after discharge regular check up at home.
These all services will be the attribute for this product. Company has to think by the
customer perspective. After creating the portfolio of products, company’s strategic team should
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evaluate the benefits these portfolio as a combination of products or services are going to give to
the customers. If attributes of any medical service products are not giving the expected benefit to
the company than those attributes should be removed or that product should not be launched in to
the market.
But during this whole step company need to ensure that cost of service should be in
control. In many cases it happens that organization includes so many functions or attributes with
in single products and keeps its cost high. Due to high cost customers avoid to take those
services and they choose less cost products will limited services offered form the competitors.
Yes, so cut the less important services and focus on the most significant. CTCA has to keep that
point in mind during launch of their products. Also As a company they have to ensure their own
profit also.
Product Attributes / Marketing Actions for Competitive Advantage
To become a leader in any industry taking competitive advantage is first step. If a
company is ahead of its closest competitor that it will lead the industry and will certainly make
the good amount of profit. In a way that company drives that particular industry in the market.
There are many attributes and marketing strategies present that CTCA should use to take the
competitive advantages. As a product attribute offering complete health care services, insurance
cover, offering best treatment of cancer as a result of their employee’s research are necessary.
Store kiosk is another approach to take competitive advantage. Online presence always
gives an edge over other for any business. CTCA should create its global online website with
24*7*365 support for their customer. For marketing they should use product differentiation
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strategy. During implementation of this strategy they should promote the unique features of their
products or services like kiosk to show takes the superiority of their products compare to others.
A bit overly presumptive, but hey you have identified some concrete attributes and tied them to
affected benefits. In practice, I would ensure that the connections are based on more support.
For example, competing on price, quality of service, and every other category is not only
unrealistic but likely impossible for any industry where there is competition. The trick is to find
the niche that you can serve better to the point that those customers choose you over other
options. This can be based on price, service, features etc – not all at once. There is no Pauline
business model. You will be amazed how easy this section is if you chart the attribute-benefit chain in a meansends map. If you think through the “causes” it tends to all come together. Effectives of Current Products
Current products are mainly focusing on the treatment of the cancer and are offering
better medicine for the treatment. These options serve the basic need of customers. But they are
not overall effective to provide the complete treatment and satisfaction to the customer. In
today’s competitive environment customers are looking for extra value for their money by the
service provider. Good. 5 RAUL A. GONZALEZ RUIZ abril 20, 2015
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Attributes that will affect business
Attributes like continuous physical therapy after discharge from hospital at home, advanced
medicines and medical services, store kiosk are the attributes of their products that surely will
affect the business in positive way.
Barriers that might reduce the Ability to meet Customer need
Product or service cost is one of the biggest barriers. For ensuring the customer
satisfaction and efficient treatment of cancer and other related health issues CTCA is planning to
create the products that covers all aspects of treatment including personal care, medicines,
physical therapy, spiritual treatment, health diet schedule etc. But offering these services in less
cost is a bigger challenge for the company. Another challenge is to adopting the ever changing
customer needs and competing with the other service providers in the market. What is needed
here is a consideration of obstacles that the customer faces in adopting your solution. I read that
the only barrier is that it will be more expensive than other options? The argument is structured
like this: Our offer is superior because of X, Y, and Z. We estimate this to be 25% better than
other options based on XXXXX. However, customers will have to adopt a new behavior Y –
which we estimate will diminish the incremental value of our offer to the customer by 5% for a
net perceived benefit of 20%. QED. Competitive Advantage (superiority premium)
By the superiority premium assessment we have identified various aspects of product
marketing, product attributes and how to satisfy customer need. Competitive advantage is also
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one of the major ingredients to ensure the success for the Cancer Treatment Centers of America
(CTCA). This is true, but you should argue how here. Support your competitive advantage by
stating what makes your offer superior? Eg, my solution outperforms others’ by incorporating
this overlooked attribute which delivers a sought benefit in a better way. A>B & B>C; therefore
A>C! If we have to assign a value by the superiority premium assessment to the competitive
advantage as how much it is significant for this organization on the scale of 5 than it will have
the value 4. Competitive advantage is crucial for CTCA to launch its product in the market and
to get the appropriate customer response in the industry. The Source of Growth
In recent times, technology is played major role in the growth of the Cancer Treatment
Centers of America (CTCA). Implementation of the latest technology improves the efficiency of
the CTCA and helps it to deliver quality care services at the less time and more accuracy. It
indicates the technology played major role and main source of the growth in the CTCA. In
addition, through the use of latest technology the CTCA is able to improve success ratio, reduce
failure rate and reduce the cost of deliver of care that contribute into the growth of the business
(Groscurth, 2015). Moreover, the use of latest technology in health care services helps the CTCA
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to provide services of the customers or patients according to their need or requirement, so it able
to compete the market and achieve growth in business. (Source: Howard, 2012)
The above picture indicates the employ of technology in the care played role to improve
efficiency of the CTCA and contributes its growth in the future. Ok, this looks like you are
revisiting the superiority premium from earlier. At that time the focus was on how your solution
was superior to existing market options. The goal here is to determine how big the market
opportunity is for your solution which begins with identifying sources of Market growth.
Consider how this makes the case in your developing argument. 8 RAUL A. GONZALEZ RUIZ abril 20, 2015
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You demonstrate that your product is superior in terms that matter to the customer (above, using
means-ends and ACE). Now since it is better, the market may be bigger than the current market
because of any number of sources of growth (Best’s SOG model). The untapped market is
effectively opened, potentially, by your improved solution because of availability, added benefits
that draw more customers to the market, price, or some other or combination of causes.
The Market Opportunity
A huge customer base in the cancer and heart care is the main market opportunity of the
Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA). In recent times, cancer and heart is most
commonly disease seen in a particular age group range like between 30-35 and 60-70 that
indicates the market opportunity of the CTCA (Gamble, 2013). Moreover, the CTCA also has
launched or provided many products and care services related to cancer and heart diseases for the
customers to grab the market opportunity.
In addition, the CTCA also provides the other services such as psychology counseling,
spiritual supports, physical therapy and other to offer complete cancer and heart treatment for the
customers that helps it to obtain the opportunity available in the market. Moreover, The CTCA
had some others opportunities such as improve numerous different processes, focus on consumer
primary care with great interest, from coding to the way they engage with physicians to
centralization and implementing new technology in the current market (Kovner, Knickman &
Jonas, 2011). This section needs some quantification. At this point, you will have argued total
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market size; and, now you are adding how much is your share in quantifiable terms – it is the
value of the opportunity in terms of head room before considering risks that can marginalize it.
Risks are considered next: Factors That Might Negatively Affect the Market Opportunity
In recent times, health insurance exchanges, price transparency, need for more
experienced or qualified physicians, and access to care are the some important factors that might
negatively affect the market opportunity and creates issues of the Cancer Treatment Centers of
America (CTCA) to grab the opportunity available in the market. After the changes in health
insurance policy by the US government such as Affordable Care Act (ACA) is signed into law
by the US President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010, the healthcare in the US totally change
as quality and performance metrics are essential to hospitals (U.S. Department of Health &
Human Services, 2014).
Healthcare leaders are focusing on enhance quality and reduce the health care cost to
meet the current healthcare challenges. Healthcare leaders are using the performance
management strategies to meeting the current challenge of the industry (Groscurth, 2015).
Changes in law needed the health insurance exchanges, price transparency, focus on quality,
need for more experienced or qualified physicians, and access to care at low cost that might
negatively affect on the CTCA to obtain the market opportunity.
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Infections of the lungs, wounds, urinary tract and bloodstream can be contracted in
hospital. There are many risky factors that may increase the CTCA likelihood of acquiring
healthcare-associated infections, these are:
Length of stay: Long time stay in hospital can increase the risk, for example, admission
for complex or multiple illnesses
Operations and surgical procedures: The length and type of surgery procedure can also
increase the risk
Hand washing techniques: Hospital staff and patients inadequate hand washing may
increase risk.
Antibiotics: Overuse of antibiotics can lead to resistant bacteria that mean antibiotics
become less effective.
Equipment: Invasive procedures can insert infection into the body, for example, surgery
procedures that require the use of equipment such as IV drips, urinary catheters, and infusions,
respiratory equipment and drain tubes. 11 RAUL A. GONZALEZ RUIZ abril 20, 2015
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Wounds: Wounds such as surgical cuts, burns and ulcers are all prone to infection and
increase the risk (State Government of Victoria, 2015)
High-risk areas: Some areas of the hospital such as intensive care units (ICU) and high
dependency units (HDU) are more likely to have infection and increase the risk.
We are really only interested in industry or market risks to the opportunity, not health risks to
patients. In other words, what might likely happen to the opportunity and how would such
impact the value that the firm could appropriate should it pursue the opportunity. Perhaps you
are making the case the various implementation risks exist that could negatively impact the
performance of the treatment thereby rendering it undesirable to the public – non-sellable? If so,
you could summarize this risk under the auspices that results could be inconsistent with
expectations or something like this, maybe?
The Implications of the Risk on the Opportunity
The above described the different factors that may increase the CTCA likelihood of
acquiring and increase the risk of the CTCA that should require implementation of strategies and
taken several steps of the risk on the opportunity. The CTCA should take some action and
implement some strategies to reduce risk and adopt these factors as an opportunity. The CTCA
should focus on the safety, quality and clearness in the center (Conklin, 2002). The CTCA
should implement the technology in the operations and surgical procedures to improve the safety,
quality and clearness and to convert risk on the opportunities. The below picture indicates the use
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of technology in the center room that improve the safety, quality and clearness of CTCA and
reduce risk of acquiring healthcare-associated infections. The below picture shows that
technology is played major role in the growth of hospitals and health care institutes in the future. 13 RAUL A. GONZALEZ RUIZ abril 20, 2015
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(Source: Howard, 2012)
In addition, use of technology reduces the time period that patients stay in center
that reduces the risk of infections for the CTCA. Moreover, the employ of latest
technology reduce length and type of surgery procedure that can reduce risk of infections
for the CTCA. Furthermore, technology contributes to improve hospital staff and patients
inadequate hand washing and implications of the risk on the opportunity for the CTCA
(Jonas, Goldsteen & Goldsteen, 2007). At the same time, The CTCA should be used of
latest equipment, technology and best antibiotics that can resistant bacteria and reduce
risk in high risk areas such as OCU & HDU for implications of the risk on the
opportunity. Conclusions
On the basis of the above discussion, it can be concluded that huge customer base and
high numbers of patients related to Cancer and Heart diseases are created opportunities of the
Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA). Moreover, effectiveness of current products and
services would help the CTCA to competed the market and maintain its financial performance in
the industry. In addition, the new opportunities of the CTCA are the use of latest technology to
reduce the risk of infections and improve the safety, quality and clearness in the center that
enhance the efficiency of patient care.
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References
Berkowitz, E. (2010). Essentials Of Health Care Marketing (3rd ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Callingham, M. (2004). Market Intelligence: How and why Organizations Use Market Research
(1st ed.). Kogan Page Limited.
Conklin, T.P. (2002). Health Care in the United States: An Evolving System. Michigan Family
Review, 07(1), 5-17.
Gamble, M. (2013). 10 Challenges and Opportunities for Hospitals in 2014. Retrieved from:
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/hospital-management-administration/10challenges-and-opportunities-for-hospitals-in-2014.html
Groscurth, C. (2015). Hospitals’ Performance Management Must Be Improved Fast. Business
Journal. Retrieved from: http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/182195/hospitalsperformance-management-improved-fast.aspx
Howard, B.C. (2012). Touring the Hospital of Tomorrow. Retrieved from:
http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2012/02/06/future-hospital-technology/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2014/01/10/how-to-use-social-media-tomake-sales-2014/
Jonas, S., Goldsteen, R.L. & Goldsteen, K. (2007). An Introduction to the U.S. Health Care
System. USA: Springer Publishing Company. 15 RAUL A. GONZALEZ RUIZ abril 20, 2015
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Kokemuller, N. (n.d.). Difference Between and Attributes of Concrete & Abstract Products.
Kovner, A.R., Knickman, J. & Jonas, S. (2011). Jonas and Kovner’s Health Care Delivery in the
United States. US: Springer Publishing Company.
Retrieved from: http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/difference-between-attributesconcrete-abstract-products-28852.html
Smith, J. (2014). How To Use Social Media To Make Sales. Retrieved from:
State Government of Victoria. (2015). Infections in hospital – reduce the risk. Retrieved from:
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Infections_in_hospital_re
duce_the_risk
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2014). About the Law. Retrieved from:
http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/rights/ 16 RAUL A. GONZALEZ RUIZ abril 20, 2015
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