Marketing PlanFor

Al Salama Hospital, Alexandria

Supervised by :Dr. Hesham Dinana

BY:Dr. Menat-Allah Osman Zanaty Dr. Cherine A.Fatah Ibrahim

Dr. Ahmed Ayed Atwa

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Table of Contents

1. Table of contents.............................................................................2

2. Introduction.....................................................................................3

3. Aim Of Work.................................................................... ................3

4. Vision and Mission...........................................................................4

5. Publics............................................................................................4

6. Exchange Models................................................................................................................5

7. Image..................................................................................................................................6

8. Marketing Environment...................................................................8

9. Porter’s Five Models......................................................................10

10. SWOT Analysis..........................................................................13

11. Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning.....................................14

12. Market Research.......................................................................15

13. Internal Data Analysis...............................................................23

14. Service Strategy........................................................................28

15. Growth strategy................................................................................................................31

16. Special Thanks.................................................................................................................34

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Al Salama Hospital

 

   Al Salama Hospital is one of the largest business units of Andalusia group of medical services. Al Salama has been founded in the year 2004 in Alexandria and since then it has been representing a breakthrough in the medical field by adapting a unique  combination between the medical performance and luxurious service and through its existence it ensured its superiority and leading in this field.

Al Salama Hospital is located at the center of Alexandria near the campus of all scientific universities, and it’s surrounded by green spaces, quiet and healthy environment. Al Salama also is considered to be the nearest hospital to the dessert road (the highway).

    It’s 120 beds’ capacity, fully equipped with the most up-to-date operation theatres and 16 intensive care units, NICU, PICU, all integrated with radiology and lab units with outstanding hotel accommodation that ranges from "first class" up to "royal suite" services.

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Aim of the Work

This study evaluates the current status of Al Salama Hospital among Alexandria hospitals, tries to evaluate the challenges and potential improvements, and proposes an action plan for its promotion & development.

Vision & Mission:

Mission:We Al Salama are developing ourselves with deep-rooted values, looking after both our employees and customers to be the best every day. Vision:We aim to be one of the best healthcare providers in Egypt and globalize to constitute international model of excellence for healthcare services.Al Salama adopted and followed its strategy to become a distinctive provider of medical services of high quality and public engagement with emphasis on technology, accessibility, uniqueness and competitive advantages. Al Salama wasn’t only concerned to enlarge its investment but it also emphasized upon serving the society through patient and community continuous education to raise the awareness and need for healthcare services. Accreditation:Magnifying our commitment to service quality and customer satisfaction, as well as continuously improving our quality management systems, Al Salama hospital is accredited from the ISO SGS and UKAS.

Publics: Input publics:

Suppliers:

No partnership with definite supplier.

MDN: Provides pharmacy and hospital supplies.

Egyptian import office: Provides Operating rooms – Intensive care – Medical gases - Medical furniture – Dermatological & cosmetic laser – X-Ray - Endoscopes.

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Curity Co. for Medical Equipment Supply & Maintenance: Provides maintenance for the medical equipments.

Regulatory publics:It follows the Egyptian law that organizes the medical field and the private sector.

Third party publics:Employers: Ministry of Justice, petroleum companies and other industrial companies near Alexandria. Third party payers: Alico, Prime health and Health care international (HCI).

Internal Publics:Head of Andalusia Group: Dr Ayman Hany.CEO: Dr Ossama Wasfy.Medical director: Dr Ashraf Abd El Fattah.Staff: 1100 employee. Most of the staff is full time, except for some physicians that have part time jobs.

Intermediary publics:Not found.

Consuming publics:

Customers: The hospital is targeting the A plus class offering a high quality service, with a very high cost. The majority of the patients who seek for medical advice are from the wealthy people of Alexandria. 

Competitors: Al Markaz El Tebby (The medical center): This hospital is the main competitor for Al –

Salama hospital. It offers a relatively high quality of medical services with lower cost. It is targeting class A plus and A.

Badrawy Hospital: This Hospital is a new hospital that has opened only one month ago. It is considered a threat, because it has a very good reputation in Cairo. It is expected to offer high quality services, with also lower prices than Al-Salama Hospital. It is targeting class A plus and A.

Mabaret el Assafra: lower price, lower quality of service and very high turnover rate. This hospital is targeting class B and C.

Louran hospital: lower cost and lower quality of service. It is targeting class A and B. The German Hospital: Offers lower cost and low quality service. It is targeting class B and

C. Future competitors: Green towers hospital, expected to offer a high quality service.

Exchange models: 

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• 25% cash and carry: seen sometimes in the outpatient clinics mainly, and to a less extent in the inpatient wards.

• 75% third party payer: The patient may pay partial or no reimbursement when receiving medical services.

Image:

• Al Salama hospital offers the best quality of service in Alexandria with a very high price. It targets the A plus class.

• The quality of service is not that good but because there is no better service, it is considered the best.

• The position of the hospital should be changed either to improve quality to international standards or to decrease the cost, because being in such position is very risky. Once a better quality of service is offered this hospital will face lots of problems.

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Satisfaction:• Patient satisfaction in Al-Salama Hospital is very crucial, as the patient is paying a lot of

money and his expectations are very high. Unless you meet the patients’ expectations and even more, patients will definitely be unsatisfied

• The hospital is highly responsive. It tries to improve the performance so as to meet the expectations. Mistake proofing efforts takes place so as prevent problems. When problems occur, substantial efforts are done to solve such problems.

Services:

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Marketing Environment:

The External Environment:

The external environment directly influencing the hospital’s direction and policies is, for lack of a better word, very specific and it was obvious that most employees were actually aware of the external criteria and factors which play a major role in the hospital’s resource allocation and decision making processes which made it easy for us to gather the relevant information required to

analyze the specific external environment. It exists in a dynamic and unpredictable environment

made up of multiple diverse and continually changing components and knowledge of these components is absolutely vital.

The hospital is competing in an always growing field and must adopt a highly adaptive and always ready to change culture with the ability to learn new innovations quickly and efficiently if

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it hopes to survive in the future and maintain its competitive advantage of being the best in the district.

There are many factors in the macro-environment that will affect the decisions of the managers of any organization. Tax changes, new laws, trade barriers, demographic change and government policy changes are all examples of macro change. To help analyze these factors managers can categorize them using the PESTEL model. This classification distinguishes between:

POLITICAL: the political arena has a huge influence upon the regulation of businesses:

- The political environment is not stable nowadays in Egypt which will have a direct

impact on the healthcare industry as a whole.

- Any small step taken by the government by changing some law it would seriously affect

healthcare industry. The healthcare industry is getting huge incentives and the state governments are supporting the development of the hospitals and their growth.

- Taxation policies.

- Environmental protection laws.

- Employment law:  Al Salama hospital employs large numbers of; student, disabled and

elderly workers, often paying them lower rates. In an industry with a typically high staff turnover, these workers offer a higher level of loyalty and therefore represent desirable employees.

ECONOMIC: Economic factors are of concern to Al Salama hospital because they are likely to influence demand, costs, prices and profits. These economic factors are largely outside the control of the hospital, but their effects on performance and the marketing mix can be profound. Investment should be focused on areas of greatest benefit (in terms of clinical quality, patient need and demand, market etc.) Alexandria being the summer capital of Egypt has many visitors arriving from all over the country, and as seen in the recent past, people are willing to pay for the good medical services they get. With the increase in the paying power of the people, the need for high quality hospitals become massive.- Interest rate, economic growth, inflation and exchange rates are now in Egypt are of bad effect after the 25th of January revolution on the whole Egyptian market and specifically healthcare industry, affecting the availability of supplies, ability of customers to pay, some international firms are being closed, which have their medical insurance at Al Salama hospital.

SOCIOCULTURAL: Patient choice, changing expectations and demographic changes will all impact on activity. Al Salama needs to increase its marketing in the context of

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choice, including strengthening horizon scanning (e.g. planning for future population change). As mentioned before the hospital succeeds to attract those of high social class with most of the patients belonging to the higher classes.

TECHNOLOGICAL: Technology is a vital aspect to any hospital and one which always rapidly and quickly changing especially in the medical field and the Al Salama Hospital is no exception. The new technologies benefit both patients and the hospital. Customer satisfaction rises because services are readily available, can become more

personalized and medical care is more convenient. New information and communications technologies present opportunities for strengthening diagnostic capability, including remote services. Al Salama Hospital need to support workforce development to make use of new technologies.

ECOLOGICAL: The growing desire to protect the environment is having an impact on many industries such as the travel and transportation industries (for example, more taxes being placed on air travel and the success of hybrid cars) and the general move towards more environmentally friendly products and processes is affecting demand patterns and creating business opportunities. Environmental regulations are being respected in Al Salama Hospital especially those concerning waste disposal.

LEGAL:

- Regulatory bodies and processes: Affecting Al Salama Hospital.

PORTER'S FIVE FORCES

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1. Competitive rivalry within the industry:

The intensity of rivalry of Al Salama hospital is influenced by the following characteristics:-

A large number of hospitals (Al Markaz El Tebby , Badrawy Hospital, Mabaret el Assafra, Lauran hospital, The German Hospital) increases rivalry because more hospitals will compete for the same customers and resources. The rivalry intensifies as some hospitals have the same or near market share, leading to struggle for market leadership.

Slow market growth: causes hospital to fight for market share. High fixed costs: result in an economy of scale effect that increases rivalry. As total costs

are mostly fixed costs, the hospital must produce near capacity to attain the lowest unit costs.

As the hospital is a multi-specialized one, this is associated with high levels of competition. The diversity of rivals: with different cultures, histories, and philosophies make the

healthcare industry unstable, where there’s misjudging of rivals’ moves. Keep in mind the managed care contracts that are negotiated, managed care organizations

contract with hospitals offering most favorable rates.

Threats of rivals can be reduced by employing a variety of tactics. To minimize price competition, distinguish your product from your competitors’ by innovating or improving features. Other tactics include focusing on a unique segment of the market, distributing your product in a novel channel, or trying to form stronger relationships and build customer loyalty.

2. Threat of new entrants:

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(Green towers hospital, expected to offer a high quality service.)

It’s not only incumbent rivals that pose a threat to the hospital; the possibility that new hospitals may enter the healthcare industry also affects competition. For every entry, there are barriers. From a strategic perspective, barriers can be created or exploited to enhance the any firm’s competitive advantage. This is different in healthcare industry as there are other factors concerning new hospitals:

- Common technology. - Hospitals are capital intensive. - Government regulations on new hospital construction.- Brand identity is not easy for new hospitals.- Start-up costs are high for new businesses entering the industry. The more commitment needed in advertising, research and development, and capital assets, the lesser the chance of new entrants to the industry.

Reducing the Threat of New Entrants:

Enhancing your marketing/brand image, utilizing patents, and creating alliances with associated products/services can minimize the threat of new entrants. Important tactics you can follow include demonstrating your ability and desire to retaliate to potential entrants and setting a product/service price that deters entry.

Because competitors may enter the industry if there are excess profits, setting a price that earns positive but not excessive profits could lessen the threat of new entry in your industry.

3. Threat of substitutes:

It’s more difficult for a firm to try to raise prices and make greater profits if there are close substitutes and switching costs are low.Substitutes, or alternative health services, include:- Not for Profit hospitals: Medium to High threat depending on hospital location- Public Hospitals: Low to Medium threat depending upon type of service- Day Care hospitals: Medium threat depending upon type of service and location- Technology as a Substitute to private hospital care (eg e-health): Low threat- Reduction in need/demand for private health services: Nil threat- Outpatient diagnostic facilities (ODF)

You can reduce the threat of substitutes by using tactics such as staying closely in tune with customer preferences and differentiating your services, customers’ surveys to learn about their preferences.

4. Bargaining power of suppliers:

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Any business requires inputs—labor, parts, raw materials, and services. The cost of your inputs can have a significant effect on your company’s profitability. Whether the strength of suppliers represents a weak or a strong force hinges on the amount of bargaining power they can exert and, ultimately, on how they can influence the terms and conditions of transactions in their favor. Suppliers would prefer to sell to you at the highest price possible or provide you with no more services than necessary. If the force is weak, then you may be able to negotiate a favorable business deal for yourself. Conversely, if the force is strong, then you are in a weak position and may have to pay a higher price or accept a lower level of quality or service.

This variable has the potential to be most critical for members of the for profit private hospital industry in managing viable hospital units. Individual organizations rely on key groups to supply quality and timely services and products to the various hospital locations. This is important in three aspects; medical practitioners, consumable medical supplies, and medical equipment.

Examples:

- Demand for nurses is high, supply is low- Price rising for drugs and other medical supplies

Reduce power of suppliers:

- We might consider forming a partnership with our supplier. This can result in a

more even distribution of power. This can be mutually beneficial for both supplier and buyer if they can:

• Reduce inventory costs by providing just-in-time deliveries• Enhance the value of goods and services supplied by making effective use of information about customer needs and preferences• Speed the adoption of new technologies.

- Increase dependency

5. Bargaining power of buyers:

The power of buyers describes the effect that your customers have on the profitability of your business. Many small customers acting as a group can create a strong force. For instance, because of their size, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) can purchase health care from hospitals and doctors at much lower cost than can individual patients. Insurers wield substantial power.

Individual patients wise; the role of patients in isolation to other influencing factors, it can be said that their ability to impact on industry players in a negative or damaging way to shareholder interests or assets and returns is low. Hence this element is favorable to industry members.

Reducing the Bargaining Power of Buyers

You can reduce the bargaining power of your customers by increasing their loyalty to your business through partnerships, dealing directly with consumers/patients, or increasing the inherent- - or perceived value of a product by adding features or branding. In addition, if you can

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select the customers who have little knowledge of the market and have less power, you can enhance your profitability.

SWOT analysis for Al Salama hospital

Strength:Location in Alexandria is considered as habitat natural beauty.Security programs for best security precautions for our customer’s safety.Dietary programs (picking best cooking chiefs all over the world).Technology and Equipment's.Sterilization (infection control programs) &Safety (contract with cleaning and medical waste companies).Innovation in concepts & decoration.IT System & Free internet Wi-Fi access.Doctors accreditations & qualifications.Specialized doctors and best trained nurses and staff. Post-process surveys (patient-relation department).Best qualified surgery female specialists for female customers.Offered package: first six month after surgery, checks ups will be for free for our patient

Weakness:Low publicity.Low advertising.Business still in the growing stage

Opportunity:High possibility for high market share globally.Moving people from their location to our location.Plastic surgeries done for actors, ministers, foreigners.Most of competitors are situated far away from us.

Threat:A competitor with more experienced staff.Demand for quality with a cheaper price.Loss of customer loyalty.

We summarize the hospital’s competitive advantages in:

1. The elegance of hospital location.2. A high quality decoration of the hospital hitting 7 stars.3. A highly advanced sterilization (infection control) and techniques.4. An accurate digital Diagnosis and equipments. (for routine checkups)5. Long working straight shifts 24/7.6. A full time consultants in all specialities.7. A highly qualified consultants graduated from Egypt & top medical universities worldwide

Segmentation, Targeting & positioning:14

Ways to segment the market in Al Salama Hospital: Age: Children-Adult-Elderly. Income: Low – Medium- High. Type of reimbursement: Cash- third party payer. Disease: Primary care- Acute short term inpatient care- long term rehabilitating and chronic

diseases.

Positioning: where the hospital locates between competitors. See (Image of the

hospital).

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Market ResearchA survey was implemented to determine AL Salama hospital environment, its customers, and their satisfaction. Interviews are conducted with some employees there, including physicians. The list of potential respondents of interviews consisted of 5 physicians,. The interview consisted of 12 questions concerning AlSalama hospital process and services. Questionnaires are conducted towards customers. The list of potential respondents consisted of 100 patient/patient’s family member, randomly selected. The questionnaire consisted of 24 questions concerning demographic aspects, life style of customers, their view of the hospital and its image & the hospital covered services. Of the 100 customers, only 74 completed the questionnaire for a response rate 74%. The following statistics have been compiled from these completed questionnaires and interviews. Overall, the survey results found that the majority of customers and employees had a positive opinion of the hospital.

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Interview questions:

1. How long have you been working in Al-Salama hospital?2. Do you work before in another place? What’s the difference between their and here?3. Did you get a job orientation and training prior to employment?4. What do you like about working here?5. What don’t you like about working here and what would you like to change?6. What about workload distribution and schedule flexibility? Is it fair?7. What is the hospital’s management style?

Autocratic: Leader makes all decisions unilaterally.Permissive: Leader permits subordinates to take part in decision making and also gives them a considerable degree of autonomy in completing routine work activities.

8. Are there any opportunities for skill development? What are the prospects for growth and advancement?

9. How do you see the organizational culture?10. In general what are the main points of strengths and weaknesses in the hospital?11. What are the services that you perceive defective and should be enhanced?12. Which hospital do you consider as the main competitor for the hospital? Why?

Interviews analysis:

- In general, physicians like working in the hospital because of gaining good experience and the well established IT system.

- They generally complain from the high work load and the defective nursing staff.

- All physicians perceive the management style as autocratic.

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- Most physicians view the way for advancement in the hospital is mainly by acquiring post-graduate studies.

- The IT system and the highly qualified medical staff are the main strengths viewed by the physicians.

- The HR department, the laboratory department and the high cost are viewed as the main points of weaknesses in the hospital.

- The laboratory department and the nursing staff are viewed as the most defective services in the hospital that needs improvement.

- Most of the physicians view the hospital as the best hospital in Alexandria with absence of competitors till now. Few physicians view Louran hospital and El- Markaz El Tebby as the main competitors.

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الجديدة السالمة مستشفى أداء لتقييم استبيان

, من, لكل و لك الجيدة الطبية الخدمة بتقديم ملتزمون الجديدة السالمة مستشفى نحنهذا. من اإلنتهاء طريق عن وجه أفضل على خدمتك فى مساعدتنا منك الرجاء تحب

داخلها تتلقاها التى الخدمات مستوى و المستشفى أداء لتقييم .االستبيان

, التامة السرية بتوفير ماتزمون نحن و باالستبيان مكان أى على الخاص اسمك تكتب ال رجاءoا , . أرائك و تعليقاتك من االستفادة نأمل لكننا و دقائق بضع اإلجابة تستغرق قد أرائك لكل

المستقبل فى الطبية الخدمة مستوى .لتحسين

: باالستبيان قائمال1.Oمريض------------------------------------

O / صديق العائلة أفراد ---------------------أحد

2. ؟ ........................ أنت أنثى ذكرهل

3. ؟ ................. بين ما عمرى

من من 19أقل سنة 29إلى 20سنة

من 39إلى 30من سنة 49إلى 40سنة

من 59إلى 50من أكثر سنة 60سنة

4. ... ؟ ألسرتك الشهرى الدخل هو ما

من من 3000اقل 6000إلى 3000جنيه

15000إلى 10000من 10000إلى 6000من

من 15000أكثر

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الوظيفى؟ .5 وضعك هو ما

جزئى دوام كامل دوام

معاش طالب

عاطل شرطة او مسلحة قوات

أخرى

تتلقاها؟ .6 التى الطبية الخدمة مقابل الدفع طريقة هى ما

ذاتى دفع تأمين شركة طريق عن

7. .......... ؟ مدخن أنت ال نعمهل

8. منتظم؟ بشكل الرياضة تمارس ال نعمهل

9. الجديدة؟ السالمة مستشفى عن قبل من سمعت ال نعمهل

, طريقة بأى و عنها سمعت ماذا حدد نعم إجابتك كانت إذا.........................................................................................................................................

االسكندرية؟ .10 فى بها تثق مستشفى أكثر اسم ....................................... اذكر

بنعم ,.11 اجابتك كانت اذا الجديدة؟ السالمة مستشفى داخل قبل من طبية خدمة تلقيت هلالخدمة؟ هذة نوع حدد

نعم ال

..........................................................................................................................................

12 , هل. و االعالن هو ما حدد بنعم إجابتك كانت أذا قبل؟ من للمستشفى إعالنات رايت هلال؟ أم أعجبك

ال نعم

..........................................................................................................................................

مرضية؟. 13 المستشفى دخول اجراءات كانت هل عام بشكل

محدد 5 4 3 2 1اطالقا غير تماما

االنتظار. ..........14

ممتاز الطبى الكشف توقيع قبل االنتظار غرفة غير 5 4 3 2 1فى سىءمحدد

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ممتاز الطبى الكشف توقيع غير 5 4 3 2 1أثناء سىءمحدد

ممتاز الطبية التحاليل الجراء غير 5 4 3 2 1االنتظار سىءمحدد

ممتاز الطبية التحاليل نتيجة غير 5 4 3 2 1انتظار سىءمحدد

الطبية. : ............................15 الخدمة مقدم ألداء تقييمك

ممتاز إليك محدد 5 4 3 2 1يستمع غير سىء

ممتاز كافى بشكل إليك غير 5 4 3 2 1يتحدث سىءمحدد

ممتاز العالج طريقة جيدا لك غير 5 4 3 2 1يشرح سىءمحدد

ممتاز الطبية ألسرارك غير 5 4 3 2 1حافظ سىءمحدد

ممتاز oا نفسي إحتياجاتك غير 5 4 3 2 1يشاطرك سىءمحدد

ممتاز استفساراتك عن لإلجابة دائما غير 5 4 3 2 1مستعد سىءمحدد

ممتاز معك محدد 5 4 3 2 1متعاون غير سىء

16/ الفواتير. الرسوم

ممتاز الطبية الخدمة محدد 5 4 3 2 1تكلفة غير سىء

ممتاز التكلفة تفصيل محدد 5 4 3 2 1طريقة غير سىء

ممتاز الرسوم تحصيل محدد 5 4 3 2 1طريقة غير سىء

17:..... الخدمة. مقدم لمودة العام التقييم

ممتاز االستقبال محدد 5 4 3 2 1موظف غير سىء

ممتاز محدد 5 4 3 2 1التمريض غير سىء

ممتاز محدد 5 4 3 2 1األطباء غير سىء

)..... - ( ممتاز المطبخ العمال المعاونة غير 5 4 3 2 1الخدمات سىءمحدد

مرافقينك. ......:18 او أسرتك تجاه المستشفى ألداء تقييمك19

محدد 5 4 3 2 1ممتاز غير سىء

19:..... بك. الخاص العالجى القرار فى اشراكك لمدى تقييمك

محدد 5 4 3 2 1ممتاز غير سىء

بالمستشفى. ...:20 بك الخاصة الغرفة

ممتاز محدد 5 4 3 2 1األثاث غير سىء

ممتاز محدد 5 4 3 2 1االضاءة غير سىء

ممتاز الحرارة محدد 5 4 3 2 1درجة غير سىء

ممتاز محدد 5 4 3 2 1االتساع غير سىء

ممتاز الدورية محدد 5 4 3 2 1النظافة غير سىء

21) ( ؟. الطبية للخدمة أحتياجك حال فى اخرى مرة للمستشفى قدومك احتمالية مدى هو ما

بسيط احتمال األرجح على مؤكد شبه بشكل مؤكد بشكلأعود لن

ألحد. 22 المستشفى باستخدام معارفك أو أصدقائك ألحد توصيتك احتمالية مدى هو ماالطبية؟ االخدمات

بسيط احتمال األرجح على مؤكد شبه بشكل مؤكد بشكلبها أوصى لن

23... بها. , الطبية الخدمة تلقيك أثناء المستشفى أداء عن راض أنت عام بشكل

ال ما نوعا أوافق ال محايد ما نوعا أوافق تماما أوافقتماما أوافق

بالمستقبل؟. 24 لتجده للمستشفى استخدامك بعد بتطويره ترغب واحدالذى شىء اذكر

.................................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................

Analysis of the questionnaire:

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The survey we conduct showed us that most of Al Salama Hospital customers are full time employees of high social classes (A, A+ and to some extent B) of middle age category (between 20 and 50 years). Most of them and their families have a favorable look to the hospital among other hospitals in Alexandria. The processes and services inside the hospital are, to a noticeable extent, seen to be preferable to users. Staff of the hospital, including physicians, nurses and administrative employees, is taking good scores in rating. The points to be taken into consideration are that advertising of the hospital are not seen by almost half of the customers of the hospital. Another point to be looked at is charges and billing.

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Internal analysis of Al Salama Hospital:

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Analysis:

ICU: Is the main service that generates profit in the hospital it is in the growth phase. It is highly equipped with up to date technology, and staffed by highly qualified

physicians and nurses. Despite the very high cost the ICU utilization rate is very high approximately 75%

Surgery:

One of the main services provided by the hospital Al Salama hospital has five operation rooms; four are major, one is minor.

Operation rooms are equipped with three orthopedic towers, GIT tower, surgical microscope, (C-Arm) and healing harmonic device. A full team of anesthesiologists consisting of nine specialists and three consultants is available all 24 hours.

Open surgery and endoscopic surgery. The service is in the maturity stage

Pediatric care: The service is in the decline phase. The decline started in 2009 after the opening of a specialized pediatric hospital near

Al Salama Hospital. Physicians working in Al Salama hospital is not highly qualified and absence of

echo cardiography for children

Pharmacy:28

The pharmacy is in the decline stage It provide all kinds of drugs, medications and other supplies It deals with most international pharmaceutical companies The direct sales have decreased tremendously after the transfer from the ground to

the third floor.

CIVAS Unit: The unit is in the growth stage

Since 1996, the centralized preparation of I.V. medications is a prerequisite for JCI accreditation

Outpatient clinics In the maturity stage Provide almost all kinds of services

Catheterization Lab. In the introduction stage

It is one of the most important therapeutic encounters of Al Salama hospital. The device is the latest medical technology of its type [GE – model Q 3100] that gives the physician extra features and facilities helping him to have an accurate imaging and more effective intervention.

The device performs diagnostic and therapeutic catheterization applications under the guide of its radiological imaging.

Chest pain unit.

In the introduction stage

A unit to evaluate low- to moderate-risk patients with acute coronary syndromes

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Service Strategy (Marketing mix)

The conclusion from interviews and questionnaires beside internal data analysis is some mistakes concerning the laboratory, the nurse team besides the need to introduce other services by the hospital and promoting some other services.

A)Improve product

There were several complaints regarding the nurse being:1) Unqualified.

2) The numbers of the nursing staff is very few when compared with the workload in el salama hospital

Recommendations:

1. Recruiting more qualified nurses to cover the work in hospital2. Training and development courses for the nurse staff through an expert institution3. Communication skills courses provided by an expert to improve the knowledge of the

nurses in the field of how to communicate effectively with patients.

The laboratory suffer from being inefficient regarding: 1) The lab results

2) There is a careless attitude among employees

3) No expert or external lab consultations

4) Delay in results delivery and response.

Recommendations:

1) Make a contract with an expert lab to supervise our lab

2) .provide training to doctors and lab technicians to improve their knowledge and gain experience .

There were some comments from customers concerning the bills being too high.

Recommendations:

1) Make a price list for each service the hospital provide

2) Make an orientation in the admission area by 2 employees to make patients aware about services and range of prices

3) Package price.

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The pediatric care lost some of its power due to the construction of a new specialized pediatric hospital nearby.

Recommendations:

1. Contract with new well trained consultants and specialists in pediatrics.2. Increase the quality of pediatric care nurses.3. Construct a pediatric echocardiography unit

The pharmacy in the decline phase:

Recommendations:

1. To relocate it again in the ground floor with new kinds of promotions, to re-attract customers again to it.

B) Promotion of The existing hospital services:

As marketing consultant team, we prefer to use both of these strategies:

Push strategy:

By making more contracts with insurance companies and syndicates and building physicians loyalty to increase physician referral system.

Pull strategy: We noticed that many of customers didn’t hear about hospital, they came either

from previous experience with the hospital or by word of mouth, so we have to promote the service through the following promotional tools:- Heavy advertizing- Word of mouth (through improving the quality of service to customers, gaining

their satisfaction in order to have positive word of mouth).- Exhibitions( presence of booths in medical conference with flayers explaining

our range of service and prices and packages)

The advertizing could be:

- Using TV- Sms - Brochures- Press ads- Radio - Online ads- Billboards- Sponsorship events

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In our promotion campaign, we need to apply the DRIP model as follows;

D= DifferentiateAl Salama Hospital should be different in introducing its services rather than other competitors.

R= RemindPromotion campaign targets to remind its customers about its presence and services and how our hospital is unique and different from other healthcare providers.

I= Inform

P= PersuadeThe promotion targets to persuade the new customer to shift from its current hospital to our hospital.

c) Add a new line product and pricing

As listed recently in interviews and questionnaires with employees and customers of the hospital, most of the customers’ income ranges from L.El6000 to 10000, full time, age ranges between 40 to 49years, both male and female with high social class.

* As marketing team consultant, we think that introducing plastic surgery department in the hospital with an expert surgeons will increase the benefits and profits for the hospital especially nowadays these kinds of services are most common and needed between this social class. This service will include liposuction, breast augmentation, rhinoplasty, face lifting, etc. In the same time most competitors of al salama al gadida hospital don’t provide this kind of service.

* Integration of cosmetic care to the nutrition department, providing high tech LPG (L.E. 300 per session), pro slim melt (L.E. 1000 per 4 sessions), power plate devices,. Training the nutrition staff on how to use these devices

* Equipping the dermatology department with hair loss treatment laser device and netwayage devices to remove the upper skin layers

The previous services could be enhanced by contracting with brand names professors in Alexandria & monitoring the consistency of quality of these services with customer satisfaction monitoring systems periodically.

* According to demographic changes we saw before, we should construct an elderly care unit, hiring specialized geriatric physicians, and opening a geriatric outpatient clinic. Highly qualified nurse staff should exist to deal with this special kind of patients, and more to organize a specialized staff for elderly home care. * Introducing an MRI Unit in the hospital. * Introducing plasma screen in the waiting area of some outpatient clinic like nutrition clinic, plastic surgery clinics, dermatology clinics and obs. & gynecology clinics.

Don’t forget the location of the hospital in central Alex, which means convenience (place).

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Growth strategy The Ansoff Growth matrix is a tool that helps businesses decide their product and market growth strategy.

Ansoff’s product/market growth matrix suggests that a business’ attempts to grow depend on whether it markets new or existing products in new or existing markets.

The output from the Ansoff product/market matrix is a series of suggested growth strategies that set the direction for the business strategy. Applying it to Al Salama hospital is described below:

Market penetration:

The business focuses on selling existing products/services into existing markets; directing our medical services towards class A and class A plus. This will achieve four main objectives:

- Maintain or increase the market share of current services – this can be achieved by a combination of competitive pricing strategies, advertising, sales promotion and perhaps more resources dedicated to personal selling (individual patients).

- Secure dominance of growth markets

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- Restructure a mature market by driving out competitors; this would require a much more aggressive promotional campaign, supported by a pricing strategy designed to make the market unattractive for competitors.

- Increase usage by existing customers – for example by introducing loyalty schemes.

A market penetration marketing strategy is very much about “business as usual”. The business is focusing on markets and services it knows well. It is likely to have good information on competitors and on customer needs.

Market development

Market development is the name given to a growth strategy where the business seeks to sell its existing products/services into new markets.

There are many possible ways of approaching this strategy in Al Salama hospital, including:

New geographical markets; governorates near Alexandria.

New distribution channels.

Different pricing policies to attract different customers or create new market segments.

New demographical items; other classes.

Product/service development

Product development is the name given to a growth strategy where a business aims to introduce new products/services into existing markets. This strategy may require the development of new competencies and requires the business to develop modified products/services which can appeal to existing markets. Introducing new specialties that don’t exist in the hospital; oncology is one way. Another way is introducing new technologies to existing services. The issue is to increase your time to market, customer service levels, or quality.

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Diversification

Diversification is the name given to the growth strategy where a business markets new products/services in new markets.

This is an inherently more risk strategy because the business is moving into markets in which it has little or no experience.

For a business to adopt a diversification strategy, therefore, it must have a clear idea about what it expects to gain from the strategy and an honest assessment of the risks. 

Diversification into related services, Al Salama pharmaceutical firm.

Diversification into unrelated services, Al Salama for food industry.

Its main advantage is that, should one business suffer from adverse circumstances, the other is unlikely to be affected.

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Special Thanks

First of all we would like to thank Dr. Hesham Dinana for his kind and heedful

support, for his valuable input and advice, his cooperation, and most of all patience.

We would like to especially express our gratitude to the staff of the management center at

the AUC. They provided us with the means to gather all the information and were more than ready to spare us the time and effort. We would like to show the utmost appreciation to each of Ms. Eman Srour and Ms. Dalia El Dabbagh.

We would also like to thank all our colleagues for the time we spent with them.

Thank You36

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