Strategic Management - Healthcare Organizations

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Healthcare organizations are business whose customers are people seeking medical attention. Although the main goal is to take care of the medical needs of its consumers, it is also a means of generating revenue. Healthcare organizations have to strategize in order to stay current and to stay competitive.

Strategic management helps you to anticipate and project what your organization needs to stay successful and competitive in your local market and national market. Healthcare organizations have to take a close look at its consumers and decide if they are providing the services needed by its market. It also has to consider the growth of the population to ensure they are large enough to handle the growth of its market.

I have been managing radiology departments for 15 years and strategic management has helped me to forecast what will happen in your market. You can’t wait for the market to change and then try to change with it because it will put your organization behind the power curve. You must compare your patient load from previous year with your current year in order to predict your future hiring actions, equipment purchases and supply needs.

Organizational success will always depend on management’s ability to forecast its markets wants and needs. You have to be able to gather and use data in order to keep competitive. Strategic management gives you the tools to stay successful and be competitive if you use it. In the business of healthcare, one must stay alert and forward thinking in order to give quality care to its patients.

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External forces will often impact an organization or industry way of conducting business. These forces often play a major role in how the organization will achieve its goals. Forces include location, competition, economy, politics, demographics, socioeconomic structure. All of these forces create challenges as well as opportunities for organizations.

One of the biggest external environmental forces that is affecting all organizations today is the economy. The economy is in turmoil mostly because of the soaring prices of gas. This is not only affecting the consumer at the gas pump but it is also affecting their wallets at the grocery store. As it cost organizations more money at the pump to fill their trucks, that additional cost that grocers pay to have things shipped is being passed on to the consumer at higher prices for products. Also, the rate of unemployment, interest and inflation drives the competitive nature of an organization. The overall general state of the economy will drive the overall demand for the consumer to purchase that product and therefore determine the overall production strength at which the organization will sustain its competitive edge.

Technology is one of the largest external environmental forces that affect organizations today. Technology