Marketing management essay writing on: MARKETING MIX – THOMSON MEDICAL CENTRE

Q1. Examine how Singapore can brand itself as a medical tourism hub with the objectives of capturing a bigger market share of the lucrative global medical tourism market.Ans1. Singapore medical centre has been regarded as one of the countries with high levels of effectiveness, efficiency & excellence. Singapore has been referred to as one of the leading countries dealing with world class medical facilities. This is the reason people from all over the globe come to get their treatments done at a lower price & with better facilities.

The clinical services in Singapore mainly emphasizes upon excellence, trustworthiness and high levels of safety. With internationally accredited facilities as well as group of excellent nurses and doctors have helped this country to brand themselves as a medical tourism hub with the objectives of capturing bigger market share. The healthcare institution in Singapore highlights their clinical outcomes over the websites which would help the patients to know the various services offered by the same. the websites also takes into consideration the various testimonials & flashing the success stories of the people involved in the same.Q2. Report on the background of the company & describe the services mix it offers. In addition, identify the company’s brand elements and explain whether these are suitable for an international market in terms of memorability, meaningfulness & likeability.

Ans2. In the year 1979, Thomson Medical Centre has been regarded as a Thomson Medical Pte Ltd which initialed its operations in various healthcare departments & become of the leading healthcare service provider all across the globe. The main focus for Thomson Medical Centre was on Pediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynecology. The main aim as well vision of this medical centre was to focus upon nurturing the motherhood by making their delivery an enjoyable experience rather than a painful option.

The services provided by Thomson Medical Centre were unique in certain aspects which provided personalized touch as well as a friendly & a cozy ambience. With the birth of Thomson Medical Center (TMC), women have been inaugurated with an amazing journey of motherhood as well as embracing birth of thousands of babies.The team of dedicated & self motivated doctors and nurses portrays their expertise to provide the lactating mothers as well as the other patients the utmost care. They try & support mothers with the help of joyous & complex months during the pregnancy. Once the mother gives birth to the baby, the tea guides the mother as to how to take care of the child after their birth.

With due passing time, the medical centre has grown up to great heights in terms of the services provided to the patients and new areas of specialties in order to expand its service mix available for the users (SelfGrowth, 2012).

In the past years, it has been seen that Thomson Medical centre (TMC) has been committed to develop long lasting partnerships with the patients, their family members & providing them with a personalized touch in whatever they do. They believe in the philosophy that, there is nothing like brining a child into this world. This moment has been regarded as one of the most precious gift for life.

Services Mix:The services mixes which have been provided by the TMC to its patients have been discussed in this section of the write up. They are as follows:

Þ    Thomson Medical centre (TMC) provides wide range of service in the field of Pediatrics, Obstetrics & Gynecology. They are fully integrated with various medical instruments such as surgical instruments, therapeutic services, diagnostic services as well as specialized services in resolving fertility treatment. Some of the other specialized services which are being served to the patients include pre natal diagnostics, screening of the genetics, fetal assessments and ensure management of the child birth. At TMS the parents are taken over a ride of parenthood as well as embrace the birth of the babies. The main aim at TMS is to take care of the need of the lactating mothers, growing needs of the child, spouse as well as maturing of the loved ones. The main vision of TMS is to provide the patients with a full family centered care during the phase of lifetime (Thomson Medical Centre, 2012).

Þ    Maternity services: At TMS, we understand the time when the patients decide to plan a baby. It is more a less a new addition within the family. And, hence considered to be a new beginning. With the world class team of dedicated doctors & nurses from all across the globe, high levels of care and support would be given to the mothers during their complex months of pregnancy. Till the date the child is born in the family, the mothers are encouraged with different types of guidelines as to how to care the babies after childbirth.Þ    Child Birth Education Course: At TMS, giving birth to the child would be referred to as an integral part of the family. Birth of the baby is referred to as one of the most awaited moment in the family. This leads to high levels of anxiety as well as apprehension. The Childbirth Education Course is one of the newly launched services which have attracted high number of visitors towards it. The childbirth  education course mainly consists of six weekly lessons for the expecting parents

Þ    We regard childbirth education as an integral part of our family centered care. Awaiting the arrival of your baby can cause unnecessary anxiety and apprehension. The Childbirth Education Course consists of six weekly lessons. You may wish to sign up for the full course or any two lessons (only for subsequent deliveries) and we will include the Doctor’s Talk at no extra charge. With this in mind, the Childbirth Education Course is organized for expectant mothers and their partners to prepare them for the experiences and challenges ahead.

Q3.

(a) Identify & explain three suitable pricing methods which can be used by the company to offer its services to the potential international customers.

(b) Identify & discuss two possible partners (or channel members) from different industries from which the company can collaborate to promote the company and its services to an international market. You need to explain the rationale behind your recommendation.

Ans3.

(a)    The three main approaches which could be utilized by Thomson Medical centre in order to set the right price for the services offered have been discussed in this section of the report. They areas under;

Þ    Competitor Pricing: in type of the prices the various competitors play a major role in fixing up the price

Þ    Customer Pricing: In this type of pricing the prices are set according to the willingness of their target audience to avail a particular product

Þ    Cost Pricing: In this type of pricing, the profit element is added upon the cost of production.

Cost Pricing: The first type of pricing which could be utilized by Thomson Medical centre in order to set the right price for the services offered would be by adding some amount to the cost of making the entire product or service. Though, this type of pricing has been referred to as one of the old methods to set the price for the service but it has been used widely.

The customers visiting the Thomson Medical Centre (TMS) are not at all bothered regarding the cost which has been used to make a particular product or services; they are just concerned with the value provided to them by the products (Singapore Medicine, 2011).

This type of pricing will help TMS to earn some amount of money which can be further used to provide better services to the customers who might visit the same in the near future. This method of pricing is also known as Cost plus Pricing Method & helps the service providers to know the profit margins which would be earned on rendering the services to the same. The main advantage of this type of pricing is to know that, all the costs are being covered within the prices offered to the patients. Other advantages which could be reaped along this pricing strategy is that, the selling prices of the services offered are quite easy to maintain & calculate. With the help of mark up pricing, the prices attached along the product ranges would be quite helpful to predict the overall profit margin which could be earned by TMS.Customer-based pricing: Penetration pricing: This type of pricing strategy shall be undertaken at TMS in order to penetrate more number of customers towards them. The tag line i.e. “introductory offer” shall be utilized which would help TMS to attract more & more visitors towards it. The main aim of penetration pricing for TMS would be to increase the marker share for the services provided by TMS & providing an opportunity to increase the price for the same at the right time. Penetration pricing would be regarded as a technique to enter the market with a low level price initially which would help to attract new customers. The main aim is to encourage the customers to switch from other products to the new product at a comparatively lower price (Organized Leader, 2012). Penetration pricing at TMS will help to attain all the marketing objective of increasing the market share & at the same time increase its sales volume which would lead to the attainment of high levels of revenue. Penetration pricing would suit the best when TMS would enter into a new market & develop its services or product with some amount of differentiation as well as paring it with the rival weapons at a competitive price (Singapore Medicine, 2007).

Price skimming: The other type of pricing strategy which might be used by Thomson Medical center (TMS) would refer to Price Skimming. Price Skimming refers to the type of pricing which would be to set the price at a higher level as compared to the competitors within the market. This type of pricing strategy shall be used by TMS while launching its medical centre in a different region or a country (Pearson, 2007). It shall be noticed that, this pricing strategy shall be used in regions where there is less or little competition. Such strategy would be used by early adopters & who are willing to pay higher prices for the best product available in the market.

But, there are various disadvantages attached to it such as:

Þ    This type of pricing strategy will not last for long as many competitors might pop up with similar type of products or services.

Þ    With due course of time, the TMS might slow down its volume growth for a particular demand of the product. This would provide the competitors with due amount of time to think of certain alternatives which would help to measure better growth in terms of volume (Business-in-Asia.com, 2007).

Competitor pricing: TMS has been referred to as one of the leading medical centre which would provide wide range of products & services to its customers. It has been seen that, Thomson Medical Centre enjoys high levels of competition within the market. Customers are faced with the problem to choose amongst the various service providers who are offering the similar kind of services to its patients. There is a full liberty for the customers to either choose the cheapest provider or to go for best customer service. In such competitive markets, TMS shall apply the competitor pricing strategy. TMS shall use this pricing strategy to set the right type of prices i.e. the “going rate pricing”. Going rate pricing refers to the setting of the prices in line to its direct competitors offering the similar kind of product or services. TMS shall act as a “price taker” who would accept the going market pricing which might be determined due to the change in demand & supply for the services offered (Singapore Medicine, 2007).

(b)   The two possible partners have been discussed in this section of the report. They are as follows:

Þ    International Labor Organization (ILO): This partner would mainly focus upon the employment factor within the new market.  This partner would also focus upon social protection as well as maintaining cohesion in stimulating the demand. The main aim for ILO would be to protect people & promote jobs for the same.

Þ    Swasti Health Resource Centre: This has been referred to as a medical centre which keeps in mind market partnerships of the various health related centers at new regions. The main focus of this Health Resource Centre would be to accelerate the progress of the child birth, take good care of the same as well as to keep in mind universal health coverage etc.

Q4. Using the Hierarchy of Effects model, examine a communication objective to promote the company, brand and the services mix to an international audience.

From the communication objective which you have defined, identify and discuss three marketing communication tools that can be incorporated into the marketing communication program to reach out to an international audience.

(You may want to focus your marketing efforts towards a specific region i.e. Middle East, North America, North Asia (China, South Korea, Japan), Australia, Southeast Asia, etc.

Ans4. Apart from the various advertising theories, the hierarchy of effects model has been referred to as the most predominant theories amongst all. The various steps covered in the Hierarchy of effects can be discussed in the shape of a pyramid. Some of the steps which shall be used by Thomson Medical centre in order to target the international audience i.e. Japan has been discussed in this section of the write up. The steps are awareness, conviction, liking, knowledge & preferences.

Þ    Awareness:

If most of the target audience is unaware of the object, the communicator’s task is to build awareness, perhaps just name recognition, with simple messages repeating the product name. Consumers must become aware of the brand. This isn’t as straightforward as it seems. Capturing someone’s attention doesn’t mean they will notice the brand name. Thus, the brand name needs to be made focal to get consumers to become aware. Magazines are full of ads that will capture your attention, but you’ll have trouble easily seeing the brand name.Þ    Knowledge:

The target audience might have product awareness but not know much more; hence this stage involves creating brand knowledge. This is where comprehension of the brand name and what it stands for become important. What are the brand’s specific appeals, its benefits? In what way is it different than competitor’s brands? Who is the target market? These are the types of questions that must be answered if consumers are to achieve the step of brand knowledge.

Þ    Liking:

If target members know the product, how do they feel about it?  If the audience looks unfavorably towards the product to communicator has to find out why.  If the unfavorable view is based on real problems, a communication campaigns alone cannot do the job.  For product problem it is necessary to first fix the problem and only then can you communicate its renewed quality.

Þ    Preference:

The target audience might like the product but not prefer it to others.  In this case, the communicator must try to build consumer preference by promoting quality, value, performance and other features.  The communicator can check the campaigns success by measuring audience preference before and after the campaign.

Þ    Conviction:

A target audience might prefer a particular product but not develop a conviction about buying it.  The communicator’s job is to build conviction among the target audience.

3 Key Objectives to Marketing Communications Tools:

Various integrated marketing communication (IMC) tools shall be used at Thomson Medical Centre (TMS) to drive customers towards it. IMC has been referred to as customer centric who will help the organization to drive the customers towards it. Use of IMC tools within the organization i.e. Thomson Medical Centre (TMS) will help in fair integration as well as coordination of the marketing communication tools, functions & sources. This marketing tool at Thomson Medical Centre (TMS) shall be designed in such a manner which will help the enterprise to practice high levels of advertising by using different tools such as direct marketing, public relations, advertisements thru flyers, word of mouth communication, personal selling, internet marketing, corporate communication, etc.

Þ    Flyers: Thomson Medical centre (TMS) has been referred to as one of the leading organization in the medical field providing the best medical care to its patients. The first method which shall be used by Thomson Medical Centre (TMS) in order to increase it visibility in other parts of the globe such as Japan would be through a flyer. In the flyers, the website site address and livery of Thomson Medical centre (TMS) should be clear and objective so that users can remember and find easily. At the same time, the flyer should highlight the various services offered which would encourage people to click the website.

Þ    Word of Mouth Marketing: The second marketing communication which can be used by Thomson Medical centre (TMS) in order make the customer happier with hard-working team of nurses and doctor would be through the word of mouth marketing (Barryn n.d). Word-of-mouth marketing can be encouraged which would help Thomson Medical centre (TMS) to increase its market share in Japan. Within the company’s website, several positive feedbacks of customers along with the testimonials of the same shall be included. Thomson Medical centre (TMS) should continue to encourage customers to inform about and recommend Thomson Medical centre (TMS) to others who have any type of problem.

Þ    Trade Shows: Trade Shows shall be held by Thomson Medical centre (TMS) wherein the major target audience would be the people belonging to the old age group & the expected mothers. The Trade Show will help the target audience to know the advantages of going to this particular medical centre. The main focus for the marketers of Thomson Medical centre (TMS) shall be to highlight the positive effects of coming to this particular medical centre. The main target audience for this medical centre is the expected mothers. With due passing time, the medical centre has grown up to great heights in terms of the services provided to the patients and new areas of specialties in order to expand its service mix available for the users (Avlonitis, 2005).

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