The five environmental factors or forces that have an impact on the marketing strategy are such as regulatory, competitive, social, technological and even economic factors. These factors assist in knowing the market trends and the market target, which are parts of the environmental scan management. The environmental scan utilization, including these particular environmental factors, help the healthcare facilities to make marketing strategy adjustments based on findings.
For the first scenario, large companies like Toyota have established clinics to help handle various staff medical problems and address issues related to high employee health insurance costs. These clinic establishments offer local care for various staffs while decreasing productivity loss related to health problems. The environmental factors in the first scenario include competitive factors. The first competitive factor is the perfect competition which every firm has a similar product with extended hours that the patients require (Mwachofi & Al-Assaf, 2011). In monopolistic competition, many service providers have substitutable products that incorporate small price alterations. These price alterations could result in a patient shift to a different service provider. The other competitive factor is an oligopoly that describes a small number of firms that regulate large industry sales. There is also a monopoly where only one industry is in charge of the product market. An example is such as a patent for a new drug. A patent helps the manufacturer own the rights of selling and manufacturing the new drug for a particular period. Once time has elapsed, different manufacturers could start producing the new drug's generic versions which shift from monopoly to monopolistic competition.
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The second scenario on after-hours clinic success and multiple metropolitan areas having urgent care facilities is based on social factors. Such social factors include culture and demographic characteristics. Culture comprises of customs, rules and values that form the family structure. Culture is also pegged to the historical roles played by both men and women, displaying greater changes made with more women working and pursuing education as opposed to the past. With women identified having been more in the labour force and a great number in higher education, there are steps needed towards more healthcare options due to the changing roles. These changing roles offer the need to change through distribution strategies and service mix designs towards healthcare services access (Abedi & Abedini, 2017). The demographic characteristics in multiple metropolitan areas offer an opportunity for a particular population to be targeted by the health care providers using medical approaches available that fit the requirements. Determining the different races, ethnicities and genders in the metropolitan areas provide room for services and programs development that are considered more responsive to the concerns and needs of people in that particular metropolitan area.
In conclusion, environmental factors are important in the healthcare setting. Healthcare providers should be informed on the competitive factors and social factors in the areas the clinics have been established. The factors would help in the success of different strategies set by healthcare providers.
References
Abedi, G., & Abedini, E. (2017). Prioritizing of marketing mix elements effects on patients’ tendency to the hospital using analytic hierarchy process. International Journal of Healthcare Management, 10(1), 34-41.
Mwachofi, A., & Al-Assaf, A. F. (2011). Health care market deviations from the ideal market. Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal, 11(3), 328.
