Increasing market share through innovation and the introduction of better and more diverse services is one of the keys toward becoming a more efficient company and improving the quality of the services provided to the target denizens of the population. The identified strategy is especially important for entrepreneurship aiming at providing healthcare services to the local residents. Indeed, since healthcare workers address the issues related to not only people’s wellbeing but also often their lives, it is crucial that the services provided should be efficient and meet the established standards.
In light of the fact that the usage of spa-like amenities contributes to the increase in health rates among the patients and triggers a rapid rise in customer satisfaction, it is advisable that the specified type of services should be used as the tool for accruing the market share.
According to a recent study, the inclusion of spa-like activities allows for improving the customer satisfaction rates significantly: “By focusing on open communication and accountability as well as offering additional services such as orthopedic surgery, the hospital improved patient satisfaction scores substantially while also growing its market share” (Jacobsen, 2009, p. 2). Therefore, the provision of the identified amenities can be viewed as a decent tool for increasing the value of the organization’s product and, therefore, raising the market share significantly.
The above changes to the design of healthcare services are fully justifiable from the Six Sigma perspective. Pyzdek and Keller (2014b) stipulate that the concept of flow optimization should be incorporated into the operations of an organization. Particularly, the authors extrapolate the significance of keeping the foundation of the production process intact, at the same time making changes to certain elements of the design so that the latter could be updated successfully: “Batch and queue are also endemic to our businesses” (Pyzdek & Keller, 2014b, p. 522).
In other words, by keeping the standard framework of services provision the same yet introducing improvements into the design of some of its elements, the company managers are likely to not only retain the loyal customers but also increase satisfaction rates among all types of clients.
However, Pyzdek and Keller (2014a) also warn that, by altering the design of the production process, an organization is likely to suffer significant expenses. The authors particularly insist on the importance of introducing the lean approach as the primary tool for managing the changes occurring to the entrepreneurship (Jacobsen, 2009). Thus, for a healthcare facility, the redesign of the resources allocation strategy is required so that the newly adopted avenues should be financially possible. Indeed, the case study under analysis points quite graphically to the fact that a change in the financial policy of an organization is expected (Jacobsen, 2009).
The lean approach suggested by Pyzdek and Keller (2014a) seems to be the most reasonable strategy in the outlined scenario as it helps design the strategy promoting the lean use of resources, including the financial ones.
Despite the financial challenges and the necessity to reconsider the usage of the resources that the creation of the spa-like amenities must trigger, the provision of the above services is recommendable for a healthcare center as the means of increasing its market share through the following rise in customer satisfaction rates. Innovative solutions create prerequisites for organizations to thrive even in rather competitive environments. Therefore, the managers of healthcare facilities should consider adopting a flexible approach toward the allocation of its resources so that spa-related amenities could be incorporated into the set of services provided by a healthcare organization.
Reference List
Jacobsen, J. (2009). Rural hospital thrives with continuous improvement and innovation. ASQ. Web.
Pyzdek, T., & Keller, P. (2014a). Control/verify phase. In The Six Sigma handbook (4th ed.) (pp. 585-600). New York City, NY: McGraw‐Hill.
Pyzdek, T., & Keller, P. (2014b). The improve/design phase. In The Six Sigma handbook (4th ed.) (pp. 521-584). New York City, NY: McGraw‐Hill.