Executive Summary
Ramsay Health Care is a healthcare provider through a global network of clinics, training, and research centers. The company’s global network covers ten countries, as well as institutions in 460 localities. Ramsay was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1997 with a market capitalization of AU $ 15.3 billion (Ramsay Health Care, n.d.-a). Ramsay Health Care has four regional branches: one of them is Ramsay Australia and Ramsay Pharmacy’s retail franchise network. Next is the European Ramsay Santé company, which includes a range of healthcare facilities across Europe and Ramsay UK and Ramsay Sime Darby Health Care Sdn Bhd (Ramsay Health Care n.d.-a). Thus, Ramsay Health Care is the largest healthcare company, covering large regional markets and a robust global facilities network.
This report was prepared primarily for Mr. James McMurdo, a Ramsay Health Care stakeholder with significant finance and banking experience. In addition, McMurdo “has a background in corporate advisory spanning across mergers and acquisitions, strategic advisory and financing with experience across multiple industries including the healthcare sector” (Ramsay Health Care, n.d.-b, para. 5). Therefore, this report is vital for further planning the company’s strategy and analysis of its current market position.
Since the report’s main focus is to enhance the company’s current strategy, the recommendations for further implementation would be primarily strategic. First of all, it is vital to distribute the governmental financial support resources equally for covering the high costs of operations as well as further development of the organization. Next, Ramsey Health Care should receive approval from the authorities for further funding and support by participating in meetings with governmental representatives and showing the high productivity of the firm. Furthermore, the company needs to revalue the work of its executive department and hire people that recognize the strategies for the crises. Crisis management is vital due to the instability of the global economy after COVID-19 spread. Finally, the company should enhance the emotional intelligence of its workers to present a specific competitive advantage instead of following global trends only.
Analysis
The Ramsay Health Care report prepared for June 2021 shows a favorable situation: a stable balance sheet and cash flow, which positively affects constant investment in the business to stimulate further growth of the company. With the right priorities and focus, there is a growing strategic direction focused on leveraging the company’s global platform that leverages the benefits of enterprise distribution in the best possible way. The emergence of opportunities to further exploit the deferred demand for private and public health services is engaging due to the high number of vaccinations and accompanying public funding. Additionally, it is worth noting the practice of the global Ramsay system in a crisis situation. As stated in the report, “Ramsay employees, doctors and facilities continued to support the public sector and community response to the rapidly changing demands of the COVID environment” (Ramsay Health Care 2021, Key Themes). Accordingly, one cannot fail to notice the stable growth of the company’s assets due to a well-thought-out strategy and decisions made during the last months of work and the strong position of Ramsay during the COVID pandemic.
Next, more detailed information would be helpful for a thorough analysis of the firm’s financial productivity. However, the report’s purpose is to examine the current strategy and renewal of the strategic program possibilities for the company rather than its economic development. Hence, the overview of financial highlights would be brief. First, “revenue from patients increased 3.9%,” related to the COVID-19 pandemic spread (RHC 2021, Group FY21 Financial Highlights). These earnings include primarily the financial help coming from government funding. However, the costs for operations heightened significantly during the use of surgical services decreased. Such a situation supposes that a pandemic crisis was covered by governmental support while the organization’s internal management was not particularly successful.
FY21 Group Performance (Ramsey Health Care, 2021)
Cash flow (Ramsey Health Care, 2021)
This analysis aims to improve the company’s development strategy, which requires an analysis of external factors associated primarily with business and events in the world. One of the decisive recent events that have seriously affected the financial situation in the past two years has been the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the data provided by Ramsay, it can be judged that she withstood the blow of the pandemic confidently and rationally, helping people from all over the world to cope with the collapsed crisis. This event had a very positive impact on Ramsay’s financial position. Its performance contrasts with other business areas, for which the pandemic was a severe blow (Baker et al. 2020). The last two years’ events have had an extremely negative effect on many areas of business, production, and industry due to the widespread global lockdowns (Baker et al. 2020). Thus, the situation was aggravated by a sharp transition to a remote mode of operation for most large enterprises; however, it was an exceptional opportunity for the health sector despite all the mentioned developments.
Support from the public sector has been an essential factor in the positive impact on healthcare enterprises. For example, the European part of the Ramsay Santé company, in the course of cooperation with the governments of European states, received significant support from them. It is important to note that engagement with the public sector is beneficial for the company’s position in the current situation and the global environment and has long-term implications. An example would be the extension of the income guarantee by the French government. Thus, the support coming from the government constitutes the main ground for the high income of the organization.
Next, a vital matter would be an analysis of the current strategy of the company. Namely, its fundamental strategic planning includes creating “the leading ecosystem for patient-centric, integrated care” (RHC 2021, Group Strategy). One of the elements of such a mission is the growth of the global company’s network. First of all, Ramsey Health Care plans to invest in the strategic expansion of its facilities. Next, due to the growth of the quality and quantity of the organization’s hospitals, the market share is planned to be widened (RHC 2021, Group Strategy). Moreover, the traditional model of care is under renewal. Ramsey Health Care intends to provide services of a new level that would involve integrated care. As such, clinical help would be proposed to patients and additional services for comfort as well (RHC 2021, Group Strategy). Thus, one of the leading strategic components of the company is rapid expansion: both organizational and industrial.
Another strategic decision of the company concerns enhancing the efficiency of its organization in several aspects. As such, Ramsey Health Care attempts to deliver better operations to its customers. The method for providing such an improvement lies in acquiring digital techniques for service (RHC 2021, Group Strategy). The other advancement is supposed to be in logistics since supply chain management needs further development. Ultimately, the model of clinical delivery through digitalization is chosen (RHC 2021, Group Strategy). Hence, these modifications of the current state of the organization would involve the enhancement of the operations’ efficiency.
Finally, the last element of strategic planning of Ramsey Health Care involves sustainability building. Specifically, the company states that one of its purposes is “investing in strong organizational foundations” (RHC 2021, Group Strategy). This formulation supposes several matters that involve a thorough modification of the existing working conditions. Namely, the company wants to improve clinical performance in its hospitals. To support this renewal, Ramsey Health Care concentrates on innovations and global talents (RHC 2021, Group Strategy). Therefore, the company envisages further changes and designs its strategy so that it would sustain the existing prosperous state of the organization.
Interpretation
One of the main changes that influenced the company’s report in 2021 seems to be a substantial rise in income. One might think that such change can be only a positive phenomenon, yet, in this case, the indicator of success is somewhat ambiguous. As was discussed earlier, Ramsey Heath Care has relied on support from the government heavily since the start of the pandemic. Likewise, the revenue from the customers is high, while the operational costs are equally high. Given these facts, it might be proposed that the primary source of income was governmental grants rather than the revenue from current operations. Evidence suggests that support from the government is undoubtedly beneficial since non-governmental organizations are affected by the decisions of their stakeholders to a great extent (Ijon et al. 2021). However, the distribution of these funds should be careful so that not to mislead the organization.
Another significant change lies in acquiring a new strategic direction. The analyzed strategic components of Ramsey Health Care seem to correspond to the recent trends in the healthcare industry. As highlighted in Richards (2021), the hospitals would adhere to a new digitalized model of care. Next, Martin (2021) argues that another component of success among healthcare organizations is the development of enhanced supply chains, a trend caused by COVID-19. However, Ramsey Health Care has not yet delivered any strategic plans for acquiring better data analytics devices and AI in its organization, the trends dictated by the ongoing year (StartUs Insights, 2021). Therefore, Ramsey Health Care’s changes in strategy are linked to the global trends in the industry and the desire of top managers to correspond to the world’s standards.
Recommendations
As was stated earlier, the company has been relying on governmental help significantly during the crisis caused by COVID-19 spread. It is recommended that the firm distribute the acquired resources to manage the high operational costs and the company’s further development. Hence, it is proposed that Ramsey Health Care try to keep the support from the authorities since it is beneficial for the business. Ijon et al. (2021) recommend the strategy of reliability and discernibility for firms that want to receive or keep receiving grants from governmental structures. Ramsey Health Care may try to interact with authorities more to gain more significant support and attain essential resources to enhance the organization.
Next, the blow that COVID-19 has done to a significant part of the industries should be motivational for further strategic planning of the company. Precisely, the current strategy lacks a point about crisis management improvement. The rise of global challenges that damage various businesses nowadays is evident in the necessity for appropriate minds during crises (Liu & Froese, 2020). The new strategy of Ramsey Health Care is concerned with expanding sustainability and efficiency rather than building a more solid human capital in the health care management department. Accordingly, it is suggested that the company concentrate on its internal organization, including the executive department.
Finally, the most important factor that determines the success of an organization is its competitive advantage. The healthcare industry is highly concentrated, so both private and governmental organizations become rivals to each other. In such conditions, any strategic moves of one organization would be copied immediately by the other. As was highlighted in the analysis of Ramsay Health Care’s strategy, it lacks distinctiveness. Namely, there are no competitive elements in the direction the company chose to pursue since it corresponds to the most recent and popular trends. One solution that might be proposed is applying emotional intelligence in various departments of the organization. As research from Hasan and Kamalanabhan (2021) suggests, such a method may increase the staff’s productivity in a hospital. In turn, the emotional stability of the hospital’s employees would guarantee a positive image of the facilities for the customers. Therefore, it would be beneficial to prepare the staff emotionally for their work through training or courses.
Reference List
Baker, S., Bloom, N., Davis, S., & Terry, S. (2020) “COVID-Induced economic uncertainty”, National Bureau of Economic Research.
Hasan, D., & Kamalanabhan, T. J. (2021) “Use of emotional intelligence in human resource management in healthcare organizations for competitive advantage”, Management and Marketing for Improved Competitiveness and Performance in the Healthcare Sector, pp. 80–114.
Ijon, R., Azman, A., & Jamir Singh, P. S. (2021) “Funding sustainability of welfare-oriented Non-Governmental organizations: A brief analysis”, International Online Journal of Language, Communication, and Humanities, 4, 1, pp. 92–106.
Liu, Y., & Froese, F. J. (2020) “Crisis management, global challenges, and sustainable development from an Asian perspective”, Asian Business & Management, 19, 3, pp. 271–276.
Martin, G. (2021) “Top 10 emerging trends in health care for 2021: The new normal”, AHA Trustee Services.
Ramsay Health Care (n.d.-a). About Ramsay health care.
Ramsay Health Care (n.d.-b). Ramsay Health Care board members.
Ramsay Health Care (2021) FY21 result presentation.
Richards, R. (2021) “Digital health trends 2021: 5 technologies that will define the future of healthcare”, MassChallenge.
StartUs Insights (2021) “Top 10 healthcare industry trends & innovations in 2021”.