Positioning and Differentiation, Research Paper Example

Positioning and differentiation are two concepts, which must be familiar to any business entity operating in a competitive environment. These concepts are clearly manifested in the telecommunication and IT industries. Several companies are trying to gain advantage of their competitors by positioning and differentiating their products to suite customers’ demands. In this research paper, the primary focus is in the health care industries. Bayer Healthcare and Texas Children Hospital are the case studies. I first begin by exploring the concepts of positioning and differentiation before narrowing down to the two healthcare organizations. In a broader sense, this paper aims at demonstrating how Bayer Healthcare and Texas Children Hospital have applied positioning and differentiation.

First popularized by Jack Trout and Al Ries in their seminal publication “Positioning, the Battle for Your Mind” (McGraw Hill, 1981), the idea of strategic positioning has strongly been embraced by many industries. Its application in healthcare organizations has taken center stage in the 21^st century. Since virtually all health care organizations in United States of America operate in a competitive environment, positioning is a concept that requires careful consideration. An organization’s positioning describes its perceptual location relative to others in the same industry. This idea is well reflected in the consumer-product segment of the US economy. For instance, there are several strongly positioned toothpaste products such as Crest for fighting cavities, Pearl Drops for whitening of the teeth, and Close-Up for fresh breath (Moseley, 2009).

On the other hand, differentiation is more or less like positioning. However, in the former, devices such as brand names, logos, packaging, labeling, timing, location, distribution, prices, and quality relations are applied. Differentiating is often applied in circumstances where an organization desire to gain competitive advantage in a sphere where products from competitors serve the same purpose. Under Such situations, most organizations resort to the aforementioned devices with the primary intention of luring consumers into buying their products.

Bayer is a globally located healthcare organization that deals in healthcare products and services for both animals and human being. The company applies pricing as one of its differentiation tools. The company recognizes the fact that patients all over the world have a right to access quality drugs as well as healthcare services, which also need to be affordable. In as much as aid organizations use donations to supply drugs to less fortunate members of the society, Bayer acknowledges the face that such a society with middle-class individuals. Consequently, to serve the interest of this class of a society, it is of extreme interest if medicine and healthcare services can be made affordable to them (Bayer HealthCare Website).

In order to satisfy the needs above, Bayer Healthcare employs the idea of differentiated pricing. By working hand in hand with both government agencies and NGO’s, the company initiated programs that supply the population classes affected in an economically viable manner, hence ensuring that the programs remains sustainable. For instance, working in collaboration with the US development agency USAID, Bayer Healthcare rolled up a Contraceptive Security Initiative, which was the first project of its kind in Africa. The CSI provides contraceptive pills at relatively affordable prices, which are anchored on the economic situation of the region.

Furthermore, as regards to differentiation of services, Bayer HealthCare has located itself within the circles of the society. In other words, this healthcare institution has made itself more available to the society by working hand in hand with other humanitarian agencies and non-governmental organizations that serve the disadvantaged members of the society. Since it is a multinational organization, the company has pitched its camp in virtually all regions of the world. From Dadaab, which is the largest refugee camp located in northern Kenya, to the least of the villages in India, products of Bayer HealthCare are evident (Blythe, et al. 2005). As such, the products of Bayer are differentiated in the sense that they are more available to all members of the society regardless of geographical location.

As regards to positioning, Bayer Healthcare recognizes the fact that healthy living is inseparable from a healthy environment. As such, this organization has positioned itself as an entity that prioritizes the conservation and sustainability of the environment. By developing highly regarded medicine, Bayer has shown its’ commitment in fighting global diseases and better the lifestyle of patients. However, individuals need more than medicine for health living: clean water, safe environment, access to hygienic food, and secure workplace environment. As such, economic growth must be part of social and ecological responsibility. As a sign of commitment to the noble initiative of conserving the environment, Bayer was amongst the first companies to append its’ signature on the global chemical industry’s Responsible Care Charter of the year 2006.

Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals has positioned itself as an innovative organization, which not only uses the latest technology but also employs innovative therapies. Under this initiative, the organization is committed to providing individuals from all occupations and economic status with quality health care services based on modern and effective technology.  In a statement clearly stated in their website, the entity expresses deep desire to share medical progress with people regardless of the place of origin or income. In addition, Bayer has shown unreserved support to all those programs that aim at providing accessibility to innovative medicine, modern family planning, and efforts to mitigate diseases that have been neglected for a long time. In other words, Bayer has set itself as an institution that is ready to collaborate with other aid agencies, international bodies, and policy makers to improve the health conditions of people all over the world.

On the other hand, Texas Children’s Hospital is a globally recognized health care pediatric institution situated in the Texas Medical Center at Houston. At the moment, this company stands out as one of the largest pediatric hospitals in United States of America. It is dedicated to offering finest pediatric patient care, education, and research. Since its official inception in 1954, the facility has been serving children from all corners of the world: it has a record of nearly 2.2 million patient encounters every year (Perficient Website).

Texas Children Hospital has positioned itself as a health care facility that deals with pediatric services. Unlike the Bayer HealthCare facility that engages with general services to humanity, TCH focuses only on cases involving children. This implies that more people will prefer seeking children specialized children care from Texas Children Hospital rather than Bayer HealthCare facility.

Unlike the Bayer HealthCare, Texas Children has not differentiated its services in terms of location. Evidently, it is situated only in the US serving patients who can travel to the institution. This is not to imply that the institution is less interested in addressing the interests of the less fortunate in the society, but instead but their location is one of the differentiation devices. By locating itself only at United States of America, the institution has been able to address the needs of specialized children treatment. While comparing the pediatric services that TCH offers relative to those that Bayer offers, it is undeniable that the quality of the former is impressive and more specialized. In this regards, those patients seeking intensive children would certainly opt for TCH rather than Bayer. On the other hand, for less specialized treatment, most people would opt for the services of Bayer HealthCare facility.

As it is evident, Bayer and TCH are both health care facilities. The primary reason for their operation, aside from profit making, it to serve the consumer by offering them with health services aimed at preserving healthy living standards. One might be driven to assume that both facilities are hospitals and, therefore, should offer similar services in more or less similar fashion. However, the reality of the matter is that this ideology ceased to exist after the concept of positioning and differentiation infiltrated the health care industry.  A radical analysis of the two healthcare facilities reveals that they are world apart in the manner they conduct their health care services (Cooper, 1994).

In conclusion, it is evident that Bayer HealthCare has positioned itself as more of a humanitarian agency. Its operation are linked to the what other Non-governmental organizations and agencies are doing to help the less privileged in the society. In addition to using pricing as a device to differentiate its products and services, the company has gone as further as locating itself at remote places with an intention of offering affordable services. On the other hand, Texas Children Hospital has positioned itself as pediatric facility, which concentrates only in the treatment of children cases.

For TCH, their services are extremely intensive, hence highly specialized and of better quality relative to Bayer. In addition, due to economic consideration, the healthcare services offered by TCH are relatively expensive. In this regard, it is clear that positioning and differentiation are strategies that can no longer be avoided in the healthcare industries. In their absence, the player in this industry might offer entirely similar services to the same market. As a consequent, some of the institutions will be forced to bow out due to competitions.

References

Blythe, J., Zimmerman, A., & Zimmerman, A.S. (2005). Business to Business Marketing Management: A Global Perspective. London: Cengage Learning EMEA.

Moseley, B. (2009). Managing Health Care Business Strategy. New York, NY: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Cooper, P.D. (1994). Health Care Marketing: A Foundation for Managed Quality. New York, NY: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Bayer HealthCare Website. Retrieved from: http://healthcare.bayer.com/scripts/pages/en/index.php

Perficient Website. Retrieved from: http://www.perficient.com/About/Case-Studies/2011/Texas-Childrens-Hospital