2011

ANALYSIS OF MARKETING STRATEGIES AND PRACTICES IN APOLLO HOSPITAL

ARNAB CHATTERJEE ROLL NO:19008

APOLLO HOSPITAL

Apollo Hospitals:
Analysis of marketing strategies and practices:
Introduction:
Mission Statement: "Our mission is to bring healthcare of International standards within the reach of
every individual. We are committed to the achievement and maintenance of excellence in education, research and healthcare for the benefit of humanity"

Vision: Apollo's vision for the next phase of development is to 'Touch a Billion Lives'.
The genesis of Apollo Hospital took place in 1983 by Dr. Prathap C Reddy, the founder Chairman of Apollo Hospitals. Dr. Reddy's vision transformation to reality - a vision where quality healthcare was given, where the pursuit of clinical excellence was daily endeavor, India a hub in the medical tourism map and where the Apollo family touches and enriches lives every minute, every day. Apollo Hospitals is one of Asias largest healthcare groups. Commenced as a 150 bed hospital in Chennai. Today, it has over 8500 beds across 54 hospitals, and a significant presence at every touch-point of the medical value chain. Today the group has grown exponentially both in India and overseas. Its growth is often said to be synonymous with India emerging as a major hub in global healthcare. The group has made quality healthcare accessible to the people of India, and even overseas. It has become an institution of trust, and a beacon of hope to so many searching for a cure for their ailments. The Apollo Hospitals Group is recognized as the Architect of Healthcare in India. Apollo today has over 30 owned/ managed hospitals across the country in cities such as Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune and Bilaspur. Internationally, the Group finds presence in Sri Lanka, UK, UAE, Bangladesh, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Ghana and Nigeria. The Apollo Hospitals Group is the pioneer of integrated healthcare delivery in India with owned and managed hospitals, diagnostic clinics, dispensing pharmacies and consultancy services. In addition, the groups service offerings include healthcare at the patients doorstep, clinical & diagnostic services, medical business process outsourcing, third party administration services and health insurance. To enhance performance and service to customers, the company also makes available the services to support business, telemedicine services, education, training programs & research services and a host of other non-profit projects.

Marketing Strategies:
As the pioneer Super brand in the healthcare category in India, Apollos brand equity (not just in India, but also in a number of overseas markets), and its phenomenal understanding of the healthcare business, offers a uniquely advantageous position to address this significant, yet unexploited market opportunity: the day to day healthcare segment. The healthcare system as a whole (with the doctor at the centre) is increasingly being viewed with suspicion and misleading by the average Indian consumer. In order to remove this cloud of suspicion and disrespect, the Apollo group plays the role of a strategic facilitator through The Apollo Clinics. In order to make this happen, the clinic model encompass wide geographical reach, standardized service and trust. To offer convenience, The Apollo Clinic was conceived to offer specialists consultation, comprehensive diagnostic services, pharmacy and preventive health check up packages underone-roof. Keeping in view the role played by family physicians, their sheer numbers and also Apollos high-end image, it was decided that the clinic will confine itself to consultations by specialists and super-specialists only. It would also help in leveraging general physicians role as influencers for other services being offered by the clinic. To improve viability of the business model, without compromising on the quality of services, it was decided that the clinic would have
medical equipment with state-of-the-art, but proven, technology. Adequate focus on information technology, with a comprehensive clinic management software solution, was envisaged to allow integration across clinics at a later stage, and also to improve accuracy, speed of service and staff

productivity. To reinforce the unique positioning in relation to a hospital, the interior design of the hospital ensures a warm, soothing and non-hospital like ambience. It meant a rigorous selection procedure for employees is of utmost importance (including psychometric testing), welldeveloped training programs and continuous quality audits. Emphasizing on relevance of services being offered across different segments, it was decided that the volumes, not margins, would drive profitability. Though the facility would offer significantly superior services, it would follow a value-for-money pricing strategy, with specifics getting guided by the local market conditions. Since majority of the corporate hospitals including Apollo suffer from them being perceived as elite and 5-star facilities, it was understood that aggressive communication is vital to correct the perception.

Franchising as the business format was adopted as it helped to have a in-depth knowledge of local market conditions and also the entrepreneurial drive of the franchisee became the key drivers of the success. As a franchisor, Apollo leveraged their role as an aggregator to offer economies of scale in virtually every offering, ranging from equipment and procurement to clinic stationery.

The communication strategy for The Apollo Hospital focused on three key propositions: ambience, convenience and value-for-money pricing. Subsequently, the communication focused on the integrated services available under- one-roof as the key message.

Health Care Value Chain in India:

India

Payers

Fiscal Intermediaries

Providers

Purchasers

Producers

Government Individuals

Third Party Administrators (TPAs)

Hospitals Physicians Pharmacies

Wholesalers

Drug Mfgrs Device Mfgrs

Service Marketing Mix:

Product: Apollo hospital provides quality healthcare services with more than 53 branches across the country. Prominently Apollo is known best for heart problems and Knee and Hip replacement surgeries besides other major ailments. The specialities include Heart, Orthopedics, Spine, Cancer Care, Gastroenterology, Neurosciences, Nephrology & Urology Critical Care. Price: The hospital is priced premium and it can afford to do the same because of its positioning and its assurance as well as the reliability on the brand of Apollo hospitals. Along with it, it also helps that there are so many locations and specialities in Apollo hospitals. Thus a patient is reassured of his well being.

Place: Apollo Hospitals has around 8500 beds across 53 hospitals in India and overseas. It is located in 15 different places across India which include Ahmedabad, Aragonda, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Bilaspur, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kakinata, Kolkata, Madurai, Mauritius, Mysore Noida.

Promotions: Apollo promotes itself through the Community Initiatives viz Save a Childs Heart CURE Extends preventive as well as rehabilitative cancer treatment to the economically backward. SAHI Society to Aid the Hearing Impaired DISHA Distance Health care Advancement Project

People: Currently engages more than 19,000 doctors, nurses, paramedics, clinical staff and management professionals to manage over 8500 beds across 53 hospitals in India and abroad. Along with this Apollo Hospitals has several courses along with research facilities to facilitate innovation. Process: The largest achievement of the Apollo Group has been to take quality health care to across the length and breadth of India. This operation in itself involves very established procedures and documentation. It has been a major player in scripting the medical landscape of the nation. This is primarily because the group has continuously been at the helm of several game-changing innovations in Indian health care. Apollo hospitals is NABH, NABL accredited and also has ISO 9002 award.

Physical Evidence: Apollo Hospital has been known for its quality health care services, at much affordable price. Provides the services for all the ailments & diseases, assuring the healthy recovery with quality care from the staff. Apollo Hospitals conducts a rigorous site survey process as well to take care of various parameters in all their hospitals.

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