Hca Case Study

I. Introduction The byplay-level schema is acombined and synchronized exhibition of the obligations and actions that be used by the sloppeds to attain a competitive wages. The firms savor to consume impression abilities in certain product markets. Under this strategy, the firms narrow down their choices on that how they plan to strive in individual product markets. Its meaning(a) that every firm should improve a business-level strategy to arrive the differences between its own place and its competitors places.The bond between the customers and business-level strategies is very important because the customers ar main cause of the strategys success. The bond that a firm develops with its customers creates the value and lucrativeness. There ar five business-level strategies that a firm shouldor chamberpot practice to create and support its chosen strategic mail service a additionst competitors. These include the variation, the m integritytary value leadership, the decoc ted greet leadership, focused preeminence, and the unified cost leadership/differentiation. In chapter 6, it argues these five strategies and side by side with the risks that are associated with distri only whenively other.In chapter 6 they as well as argue corporate level strategies. The corporate-level strategy has emphases on the actions that a firm get hold ofs to attain a competitive advantage by choosing from and handling a collection of different businesses competing in different product markets. These strategies help the firms in choosing on noel strategic positions that are likely to increase the value. The product diversification is avital typeface of the corporate-level strategy. The diversifications in like manner can differfrom the low levels to the high levels. Well normally, the diversification strategy is used to entrap the firms value by improving its whole performance.It is meaty that the managers should attentive to their firms internal organization an d to its external milieu when making decisions regarding the most advantageous level of the diversification. In chapter 7 thither is discussion of amalgamations, takeover, and encyclopedisms. A merger is formed when the two firms mix their businesses with each other. An acquisition is a strategy that involves when star firm purchasing the plenty or all interest into another firm with the aims of making it into a subsidiary telephoner within its own group.A takeover is a type of acquisition where the acquired firm does not ask for the capturing firms proposal. Acquisitions are used for thenumerous reasons, which contain increasing in the market power and oppression the entry obstacles to new markets. Sometimes a firm must reconstitute its self in order to change its pool of businesses or fiscal procedure. This can be done through the downsizingor leveraged buyouts. A firms major destruction for restructuring is to improvement or successful in strategic fudge. II. SWOT Analysi s A. External environment The U. S. wellness interest industry is one of the biggest industries in U. S. The U. S. ospital industry is split with the respective(a) ownership and noticeably different revenue enhancement sources with a small number of the main firms. The HCA was operating in a conservative industry where their aremany challenges and financial constraints. One of the major aspects that affected HCA is the increase quantity of the uninsured Americans citizen. The Columbia/HCAs close was to emphasis on the providing beds for insured diligents to have the profits up. As the number of uninsured Americans citizen increased, it make it harder to keep the beds at full capacity. The increases in health care cost also played a role in the HCAs actions.The inhabit and Triad Hospitals are recognizedas the big competitors for HCA. The HCAs business strategy also puts them in competition in the urban areas mainly against autonomous non-profit hospitals. many a(prenominal) do not have the equal financial performance aims and this helped HCA to be the market leader. B. Strengths and Weaknesses The HCAs strengths involvedarethe leading position in the hospital market, thespacious and place service offerings. The HCA developed such a strategy that dedicated on a main group of market-leading hospitals by utilizing its own financial resources, aesculapian related, and anxiety proficiency personnel.At current, the HCA distillery utilizes this whole operating strategy. The HCA controlledits advanced business practice. After selling its non-hospital business and the other facilities that did not resemble with its strategy, HCA is still persistent to focus on the providing of high quality healthcare. The alliance also has some weaknesses including its negative past and spoiled public image that include charges of the fraud, which headed to the federal government investigations. Over the years, the organizations strengths have generally remained same, exce pt the fact that HCA does not provide the spacious amount of require services.The HCA made a clever choice to focus on solitary(prenominal) giving the hospital services in order to increase its quality and not to be putteringthemselves in other industries. The HCA still is known for its antecedent corruption, but still remains the prominent firm in the hospital industry. C. The Case of HCA 1. The HCAs core capabilities consist of the greater patient care and its functioning strategy it that has been using for many years. Its other core capabilitiesare includesthe financial resources, medical background, and the management proficiency.These competencies build the value for the company by specializing in the removal of excess capacity and the gratitude of the economies of scale. The HCAs organizational resources tally the unique value for the firm. In 1968, the HCA was founded and they operated under aunited cost leadership/differentiation business-level strategy. There was achanc e in the hospital industry to create the low cost services with differentiated qualities, and this is what HCA desired to implement in their system. The HCA was able to suit quickly to the new technologies and fast changes that arose in the external environment of the HCA.The company focused on two resources of competitive advantages-cost and the differentiation in various aspects. The HCA establisheda strong network with physicians and with other healthcare practices under this strategy (HCA, 2011). 2. The HCAs arepurchase of many small unpolished hospitals and the opposing investor-owned health care companies created a positive return on the firms invested capital in market. The HCA acquired these health care facilities in the faith of revolving them into the most profitable hospitals and control the industry for that specific region of state.There were problems of the recruiting in small rural hospitals, but HCAs investments in the equipment and facility renovation have signifi ed change the firms ability to gain the support from small rural physicians. The external factors, such as the great unemployment in the certain or various locations and in the farming communities affected the purchasing of said facilities. The acquired hospitals endlessly had the small staff in contrast with their competitors. However, the HCA focused on limiting of the bed size. The acquired hospitals also had a good amount of oard-certified experts in simile with their competitors. The HCA focused on main renovations and developments for the acquired hospitals for the creation of financial economies. 3. The HCA used twain horizontal and vertical integration for the cultivation of mergers and acquisitions. The Columbian &HCA had such an acquisition strategy in place and the purchasing facilities and in building new facilities that prohibited its offers to purchase. In the firms own integration strategy, the company simply acquiredthe physician practices where HCA were not ste adfastin its investments.The company fixed admission goals for the getting of physicians. The company then owned the coarsely 2,700 medical practices, and these acquisitions then began purchases by nonprofit competitors. 4. The HCA did not aspect too much integration because of its management proficiency. The company established a working strategy to obtain its goal and to succeed in gaining market authority. However, the management appeared to be too focus on the acquisitions and obtaining total power, which landed the company in such derange that, consisted of a federal investigation for fraud.The company had lost focus on the point of quality of service. The firm also had become too wide due to acquisitions. Before the downfall of the Columbia/HCA, it had 2,700 medical practices, many of which were the non-hospital practices (Goldsmith, 1998). The HCA in brief understood that the focusing on size was not really a good strategy for the success path. Overall, the HCA was betwee n the 60% of failures in the merger/acquisition strategy. The merger with Columbia and the hostility to go into the several acquisitions was one of the reasons of HCAs downfall. III. My Impressions of the CaseThe HCA had a great operating standard of the concentrating on patient care, but they lost focus by pushy to control the health care industry. Their business-level strategy primarily started off well but some are developed into one that only attentive on profitability of success of the company. The company soon lost sight of the main goal of satisfying the customer to achievethe value for the company. The HCA focused on the developing acquisitions and mergers to gain more profitability and variation in market. This caused the company to enlarge beyond its ethical operating means.It took the benefit of integration systems in order to take over the industry. This case revealed how a firm can negatively and positively usesthe acquisitions, mergers, and leverage buyouts. Overall, t his case was one of a decent case to change to Chapters 4, 6, and 7 of the text. References Hitt, M. , R. Hoskisson, D. Ireland. (2012). Strategic management Competitiveness & globalization. (10E ed. ) Mason, OH South-Western,Cengage Learning. Montague Brown, Ph. D. (April 1, 1992). Physicians and Management in wellness Care. Jones and Bartlett Learning. April 1, 1992.Jeff Goldsmith. (1998). Perspective Columbia/HCA A Failure Of Leadership. Health Affairs, 17, no. 2 (1998)27-29. Retrieved November 21 2012 from http//content. healthaffairs. org/content/17/2/27. full. pdf HCA Holdings, Inc. (2011). Our History. Retrieved November 21 2012 from http//hcahealthcare. com/ around/our-history. dot McCosh, Jonathan G. (2003). A Strategic Analysis of the Hospital Industry and HCA Incorporated. daybook of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship. Retrieved November 21 2012 from http//www. highbeam. com/doc/1P3-1178660521. html