Social Media as a Marketing Tool - Assignment Example

Students name Professor’s name Course Date Marketing Trends Part A My business organization is a private world class hospital. The data analysis, therefore, is aimed at helping my organization to gauge the possibility of great success in the South Pacific region. We set the first hospital in North America half a decade ago, and now we want to expand our business by setting up another hospital in Australia. In addition, our health facility specializes in surgery, especially neuro, cardiac surgery; and psychiatry. Therefore, the data we collected is from the major hospitals in the South Pacific region, particularly in Australia. We choose this country in order to not only compare the cost and quality of medical care within the country but also to compare it with North America. Furthermore, our choice of the region where we plan to put up our business is more likely to give us accurate information about health care in this particular part of the world than using the statistics of North America. The secondary data we are going to utilize in our market research is from the private hospitals in Australia. Our plan is to build the hospital in Australia this Fall. As a result, we have chosen the 2004-2015 health care data to get a clear picture of how the healthcare trend faired in the past decade, and in turn, use it to infer the future success of our hospital. The data did not use specific hospital names but rather identifying hospital numbers. From the data, factors such as the number of beds in a hospital help us have a rough idea on the numbers to install in our facility. The numbers are between 24,346 and 28,679 (ABS n.p.). Although the number of hospitals is only 6, the fact that not all the hospitals are represented through the years make the statistical data a little misleading. Nonetheless, two hospitals, that is, 282 and 279 have data in more than one year, this supports the fact that the number of beds and chairs increased in the hospital over the years(ABS n.p.). In our case, we infer that we should probably start with 30 000 beds and seats in the year 2016. Another downside of the seat or bed number in these hospitals is the failure to specify the number of beds and chairs. As a result, we are going to undertake further research to determine the numbers. Nevertheless, it is inferential to think that more chairs will be consumed in the psychiatric unit while more beds will be used in the surgical units. The statistics show that the number of patients ahs increased across the board over the decade, that is from 2004 through 2014-2015 (ABS n.p.). The number of outpatients is more compared to that of inpatients in all the hospitals during the daytime(ABS n.p.). However, the number of inpatients is higher than the outpatients during the night (ibid). The total number of patients per day has considerably gone up over the years; the patient number in hospital 282 was 8,813 in the year 2012-2013 and 9263 in the year 2014-2015 (ABS n.p.). One can base the marked increase in patient number on factors such immigration or medical tourism. Additionally, since these healthcare facilities cater for mental health, the increase in patient number attributes to increased number of people seeking psychiatric healthcare such as rehabilitation for drug abuse and diseases of old age such as Parkinson’s. Theatre patient number has also increased over the years with the least being 819 in hospital 285 in 2004 and the highest being 1151 in hospital 282 in the year 2014-2015(ABS n.p.). A comparison in the years 2012-2013 and 2014-2015 in hospital number 2282 shows an increase from 1051 to 1151 respectively (ABS n.p.). The increase in the number of individuals undergoing surgical operations is due to demographics such population increase or an increase in health consciousness in the society. In addition, medical tourism can be one of the reasons for the theater patient number increase over the years. In summary, the analysis of the psychiatric and surgery data in 6 Australian hospitals over a decade shows: A steady increase in the number of beds and chairs, a variable number of outpatient and inpatient clients between nighttime and daytime, an overall increase in patient number over the years across the board; an significant increase in the number of surgery patients over the years (ABS n.p.). The quantitative analysis data, found in the ms excel show a positive correlation between the increase in patient number with both the number of beds and chairs, as well as with the increase in the number of operating rooms(ABS n.p.). Among the data sets, none had a mode value. However, the means in the numbers of beds and chairs, patient number and the number of theaters are 26,315, 8,115 and 1,036 respectively (ABS n.p.). On the same note, the medians were 26,031, 8,066 and 1,051 in the bed and chair number, the patient number and the operating room number respectively (ABS n.p.). The dispersion of data sets in the six hospitals is between 2004 and 2014-2015 without any outlier(ABS n.p.). From the data analysis, we can infer that the number of beds and chairs to start with is about 30, 000. The size of the healthcare facility we should put up should be bigger than the ones already in operation as the statistics show a steady growth in patient number for the past decade (ABS n.p.). Additionally, we should increase the number of our operating rooms to cater for the ever growing population. All in all, this data shows that a business venture in the healthcare sector in Australia is an attractive one, supporting our organization’s idea (ABS n.p.). Part B. Our organization is taking into consideration the data analysis to determine how the future market trend is most likely to fare. Although the statistics we already collected are encouraging enough to steward us to carrying on with our business venture, the forecast of the future is critical to predicting the long-term success of our new healthcare facility. As indicated above, the number of patients seeking psychiatric and surgical care in Australia has been on the rise for the past decade (ABS n.p.) . As a result, the number of hospital facilities such as the bed and chair numbers, as well as the number of the operating rooms in the hospitals, have also increased. We believe that other business just like us may have already realized the boom in the medical industry in Australia, or are going to notice it soon. Therefore, we are taking into account the current as well as the future competition. At this point of our business venture, we are going to build a hospital with a carrying capacity higher than the 6 or 5 major hospitals. Our target number of patients is at least a half more than the current highest hospital, that is, number 282 (ABS n.p.). To realize this dream, we are going to start with 30,000 beds and chairs and the highest number of operating rooms. Also, we plan to install the most recent medical facilities in the ICU, rehabilitation centers, and the theaters. To expand our market, we are looking forward to an aggressive advertisement to promote both domestic and international medical tourism (Paquette n.p.). Moreover, our organization is planning to employ only the most renowned medical practitioners from all over the globe. With our mission which emphasizes holistic care, our facility looks forward to outperforming the current hospitals and by building its reputation in the entire South Pacific region. At the moment, our medical facility in North America has twice the carrying capacity of the largest Australian hospital, specializing in the same care. When we started, we had projected that we would be in the current position within a decade; a forecast that came true after five years. We are inferring that rightfully equipping the hospital will slowly but surely attract more and more customers. After 5 or so years, we look forward to having realized our objectives as well as being able to combat any upcoming competition. Part C The table below compares the average datasets from the Australian hospitals‘ research regarding the patient number, a number of theater events and the bed and chair number with our proposed hospital’s (ABS n.p.). An average Australian hospital Our proposed hospital Non OR ptn number: 8,115 15,000 Theater ptn number: 1,036 1,500 Bed/chair number: 26,315 30,000 Table 1: Australian Bureau of Statistics. 4390.0 – Private Hospitals, Australia, 2014-15 As shown by the table, our organization has projected a more successful business venture compared to an average well-performing hospital. Work Cited Australian Bureau of Statistics. 4390.0 – „Private Hospitals, Australia, 2014-15“. Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2015, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/ . Accessed 20 Aug. 2016. Paquette, Holly. "Social Media as a Marketing Tool: A Literature Review." (2013). Read More