Question

Assignment: Environmental Forces and Trends

Environmental forces and trends (i.e., competitors, new technologies, socioeconomic, population and business factors, and changing regulations) can have a tremendous impact on the success of an organization’s marketing plan. Therefore, it is important for health care leaders to continuously assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of these forces and trends to ensure that their organizations are applying the appropriate marketing strategies. For this Assignment, you need to conduct a SWOT analysis of an environmental force or trend and consider how it might impact your own health care organization.

To prepare:

• Select a contemporary environmental force/trend, such as politics in healthcare, new technological advances in health care, the impact of recession/economic issues on utilization of health care, etc. Locate and review a scholarly article that discusses this force/trend.
• Reflect on a healthcare organization. Imagine you have been hired as a marketing consultant to help guide your organization in understanding evolving environmental forces/trends that may impact marketing.

  Note: If you do not currently work for a healthcare organization, you may select one that is of interest to you.

The Assignment

In a 3-page report, address the following:

• Analyze the environmental force/trend you selected. Include how the organization in the article is using the force/trend to better understand itself.
• With your selected healthcare organization in mind, conduct a SWOT analysis of the environmental force/trend you selected.

  Note: Be sure to use the SWOT Analysis Template

  SWOT Analysis Template

  Strengths	Weaknesses
  Opportunities	Threats

• Analyze how the force/trend might impact the marketing of your organization. Recommend strategies to maximize opportunities and overcome threats.

Answer 1

New technological advancement in health care

Example- Introduction of computer based history collection from patients rather than personal one to one interaction.

Strength

- will lead to faster and accurate results

- More patient satisfaction

- reduce staff workload

- improved health status

- reduced load in the history collection, helps staff to spend more time in other nursing care.

- may be comfortable for some patients to share some personal information

weaknesses

- Increased health care cost

- Reduced staff requirements leading to unemployment

- Have to select from the prefeed options, no chance to give explanation.

opportunities

- Gives chance for new learning and new courses on the advancement made.

- may help to attract the patients more to that particular organization.

threats

- possibility that old staff will refuse the change.

- Health care organisation may refuse to accept it as the health care cost increases.

- some patients are more comfortable with face to face history collection rather than being in front of computers.

- May lead to decrease in nurse patient interaction leading to poor psychological support