Assignment: Development of a Healthcare Business Unit's Strategy

Identify a health care organization for which a significant amount of information is available, in books, journals, reports, or on the Internet. Conduct an audit of the organization's strategic assets based on the information you are able to gather from various sources. The audit you conduct will not be as thorough and detailed of an audit as the organization itself might conduct as you will not have access to the same inside information as internal auditors. Do your best to gather and report the following information.

Start with a general description of the service that the healthcare organization provides. Include the mission statement for the organization. If there is not one, create one you believe would best describe the mission of the organization.

The first part of your audit should address the organization's historical financial performance and its current financial condition, as described in your textbook. A lot of the necessary data can be found in the organization's annual report and its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and state-level government regulatory agencies. Research sources such as business journals, magazines, and other media that report on these types of organizations.

The second part of the audit should describe in as much detail as possible what you consider to be the major resources and competencies of the organization. Use a SWOT chart to categorize the most relevant points (these may be more narrative than quantitatively analytical). Try to identify assets that appear to be unique to the organization and that give it some competitive advantage over its rivals. Also make a note of areas in which the organization is weak, which might be the target of strategic attacks by those rivals.

Now consider the activities that are described in the value chain for this organization. Which do you believe cost the most to perform? What factors do you base your opinion on? What do you believe can be done to reduce the costs, thereby giving this organization a competitive edge?

Finally, consider that this organization would like to set up a satellite office in a nearby city. In this satellite office they will make changes to their processes to address their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Develop a mission statement for this satellite office. Create four strategic goals for this office, one for each SWOT category.