Describe a successful process innovation that occurred in your focal service organization. How did customers likely respond to the innovation? How did competitors respond to the innovation?
Most hospitals cannot perform all of the diagnostic testing submitted by doctors. Worse than that is the cost associated with doing small volume tests. Often times the hospital laboratory is seen as a cost center. This has been the force of consolidation of tests to be performed in bulk at reference labs outside of the hospital. This passes logistics costs to the patient and drives up the cost of healthcare. IHC has built an internal reference lab at their largest hospital. Acting as a reference lab this facility recieves specimens from smaller IHC facilities and other local hospitals, clinics, and reference labs thus increasing test volumes. Now competitors are customers as testing costs have dropped as IHC can leverage its volume of scale. This relieved the smaller hospitals and clinics of testing demands for non-stat assays. Thus they could reduce laboratory hours, equipement, reagents, and consumables to meet the lower demand. Now the lab is no longer such a burden.
Identify 2-3 specific barriers to entry that give your focal service organization the greatest advantage? (e.g., opportunity to obtain sustainable advantage and/or what makes it difficult for others to enter the market).
1) Human capital locked up in professional staff. This is a finite resource in order to entise Doctors and other staff to leave would require a huge financial burden. It also takes 8-15 years to produce more doctors, nd 4-6 years to produce more nurses, this gives IHC a lag time if universities were to increase educational seats for these professions to lock up future talent.
2) Capital equipment costs is another major barrier.
3) Land or location in proximity to the public is locked up in the city. It would be difficult to compete for IHC customers on the basis of time equity of customers.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Service Journal: Question 13 of 15
Imagine that your focal service organization is going to expand into a country which has a very different culture from the home company. Identify that country and a few significant cultural differences between the home and expansion countries. For each difference listed, indicate how the service process may differ between countries.
IHC has seen the opportunity to expand to France. The main cultural differences between the two countries, based on the Hoffstede-Bond model, is their uncertainty avoidance and power distance ratios. Their cultural elements (ceremonies, rites, rituals, stories, myths, heroes, symbols, and laguage) also play an important role in shaping culture. Americans are high in low in both uncertainty avoidance and power distance, whereas, France is high. Uncertainty avoidance measures a cultures focus on conflict aviodance. Cultures that score high prefuer to aviod competition, aggression, and conflict. Thus service given in the states would be unagreeable to the French in that it would seem up in their face, and in their way. Power distance is the way i chich status and social position is accorded and percieved. Americans give little heed to power distance thus an individual is awarded status according to their personal abilies, where as, the french may attribute status dependant on race, sex, or metier (job).
Given the French are high on unceartainty avoidance service of these individuals would adapt touch points that are more aloof than american processes. Understanding power distance would help with scheduling of patients. If for example a pregnant woman was scheduled for an appointment and then made to wait for others would make those that go before her uneasy and make the pregnant woman extremely affronted.
IHC has seen the opportunity to expand to France. The main cultural differences between the two countries, based on the Hoffstede-Bond model, is their uncertainty avoidance and power distance ratios. Their cultural elements (ceremonies, rites, rituals, stories, myths, heroes, symbols, and laguage) also play an important role in shaping culture. Americans are high in low in both uncertainty avoidance and power distance, whereas, France is high. Uncertainty avoidance measures a cultures focus on conflict aviodance. Cultures that score high prefuer to aviod competition, aggression, and conflict. Thus service given in the states would be unagreeable to the French in that it would seem up in their face, and in their way. Power distance is the way i chich status and social position is accorded and percieved. Americans give little heed to power distance thus an individual is awarded status according to their personal abilies, where as, the french may attribute status dependant on race, sex, or metier (job).
Given the French are high on unceartainty avoidance service of these individuals would adapt touch points that are more aloof than american processes. Understanding power distance would help with scheduling of patients. If for example a pregnant woman was scheduled for an appointment and then made to wait for others would make those that go before her uneasy and make the pregnant woman extremely affronted.
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