Intro to Strategic Management for Healthcare Organizations

The healthcare industry has been changing dramatically of late and companies need to determine how they are going to change to meet these new challenges. Strategy is the process by which companies determine where they want to go and how to get there. There are three levels of strategy: corporate, business, and functional. In this module we will first go over the three levels of strategy and then focus on corporate strategy. By the end of the module you will have an understanding of the components of a corporate strategy.

In order to decide what actions to take, a company must first analyze what is going on in the industry and what the competitors are doing. In this module, we will outline the parts of a strategic analysis and define what a strategic business unit is. Then we will go into detail on how to conduct industry and competitor analyses. By the end of the module you will have learned how to assess the strategic opportunities and threats your organization is facing.

In order to get a more nuanced understanding of industries and competitors, we need to take into account two more factors: the environment and customers. There are influences outside of an industry that can impact the future direction of that industry. These are termed environmental forces. Plus, every strategic move is designed with the customer in mind. However, in healthcare, the customer decision process consists of multiple people. In this module, we will discuss how to perform an environmental analysis and how to think about customers.