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Daniel is a nonprofit organization serving at-risk youth from the community through a wide variety of programs. Some of the services offered Include: therapeutic foster homes, independent living skills and housing for homeless youth, juvenile dependency intervention, residential treatment, and community based treatment through the dependency court system which is contracted through the Department of Children and Families.
The agency also provides counseling, medication management, and behaviorism services to the children It serves. . Create or describe a strategy for your firm, as personalized by Coils and Rusted. Be sure to be comprehensive and specific when separately describing your objective/scope/advantage and the subcomponents of each one. As a final portion of your answer, append and describe the activity-system map of your film. [Figure 1] The strategy, or competitive game plan, for Daniel will consist of three elements. It will consist of the objective (the ends), scope (domain), and advantage (means).
The objective is to grow to become the leader in the state as a provider of licensed hermeneutic foster care and residential treatment facility through engaging in new business partnerships and growth through positive reputation and responsible fiscal The scope of this objective consists of three dimensions: offering or management. Customer, geographic location, and vertical Integration. The offering specifically Is mental health services to be provided to the customer (at-risk youth determined eligible for Medicaid mental health funding).
The agency is not in the position to accept self-pay funding, nor to serve youth determined not to be eligible for Medicaid ending. The geographic location that services are available will be taken Into consideration when admitting clients, and also growth and expansion of the agencies geographical locations will play a key part in the growth strategy. The vertical integration Is defined In our business as a continuum of care, positioning the agency to be able to provide billable services to the client through their inure range of treatment levels and specific mental health needs.
The advantage is the most vital piece of the agencies strategy. It consists of two parts, a statement of customer alee proposition, and a statement of advantage. The customer value proposition In this case Is that the agency Is the oldest child-serving nonprofit In the state of Florida, who provides a necessary, high quality service to those clients identified as being in a significant time of need. The agency also makes access to the services available to the clients at no charge to the families through Medicaid billing.
The statement of advantage Is emphasized by again considering the continuum of care offered and level of wrap-around services that are provided by the agency. This rates an environment of excellent communication in treatment planning, and treatment errors or oversights. Daniel Memorials Strategy Statement: To grow revenues and census by 25% by 201 5 through offering comprehensive, wrap-around mental health services to at-risk youth who are eligible for Medicaid funding, through a geographically expansive set of campuses designed to provide the highest quality of services compared to its competitors. . How would you evaluate the sustainability of your advantages and your competitors’ advantages in terms of the criteria of the resource-based view? Be specific by describing all of the criteria and sub-criteria for each advantage. Advantage: 126 year history of providing quality services. Criteria: immutability, sub- criteria: path dependency, the systems are already in place and policies and procedures have been developed over time. It would be difficult to copy the services being offered.
Advantage: Nonprofit agency. Criteria: economic deterrence, by this I am referring to the lack of economic gain or prospect for economic success. The business is driven on the mission of helping at-risk youth, and the fact that the agency is dedicated and committed to doing that provides a competitive advantage due to the high cost of entry (building residential facilities and acquiring administrative space) and lack of financial gain in return. Advantage: limited substitutes available to clients.
Criteria: substitutability, there are very few substitutes available to the specific client population the agency serves. The agency is established and licensed to provide its services. 3. If your firm were in the position of needing to identify its next core business, what hidden assets could it exploit? Discuss each general category of hidden assets as ell as the specific assets you possess within each category. Per the reading by Kook, hidden assets tend to fall in three categories: undervalued business platforms, untapped insights into customers, and underexploited capabilities.
First, to address undervalued business platforms, we need to look at encore businesses that could be expanded on. Specifically at Daniel this could be the Florida adoption information center or the Independent Living Assessment and other line of products available for purchase by competitors. Additionally, it would be good to look at other populations not being served, determine why we aren’t able to serve them, and establish creative ways of serving them. It may be by expanding geographically or despite their ineligibility for Medicaid, exploring possible other funding sources.
Second, the untapped insights into customers should be evaluated for hidden assets. This would be a better continuum of care and availability of wrap-around services to be provided to the clients currently being served. It would entail evaluating each client to ensure they are being provided all available, necessary services through in-depth treatment planning. Additionally, it is looking at the current development program for new, untapped donation and community connection sources. Third, it is important to look into underexploited capabilities.
These are things the agency already possesses, but may not currently be making the most of, or the ability to combine two be a new conference offering to generate revenue, or working through community relationships to bring on new programs based around various programs and services already being offered to provide additional funding streams. 4. How does??or could??your firm utilize each component of the service-opportunity atria to create growth? Please refer specifically to the different components of the The four components of the matrix are: temporal expansion, spatial matrix. Expansion, temporal reconfiguration, and spatial reconfiguration. Daniel could use each of them in the following ways: 1) Temporal Expansion: by creating growth through the addition of new services to clients that would be part of the primary activities already in place. This would primarily consist of increasing the availability of Medicaid reimbursable mental health services. These could be services that both recede and follow the currently available array of services. 2) Spatial Expansion: by creating growth through expanding new services into adjacent opportunities.
This would consist of thinking about and exploring commonly associated activities that relate the primary activity and discovering ways Daniel could enter those realms. This could be things like tutoring, expanded mentor programs, or looking at other pay options outside of the Medicaid guidelines. 3) Temporal Reconfiguration: this applies back to working within the primary activity chain, through evaluating capabilities, and valuating what can be done better, more efficiently, or more fiscally conservatively, to enhance the current primary activities. ) Spatial Reconfiguration: this opportunity arises through taking charge or beginning to offer services and activities in an adjacent realm. For example, adding services to integrate required additional services into the Daniel offering, or adding additional services to better leverage the agency. One specific idea that comes to mind is expanding the services by going mobile, rather than providing on-campus services, therapists and other mental lath providers can go to the client to provide needed services. This would be an example of spatial reconfiguration. . Does your firm pass “the coherence test? ” Specifically answer the questions posed in the test. 1. Can we state it? A. Are we clear about how we choose to create value in the marketplace? Yes, the mission is clear regarding what the agency stands for and the specific value that it provides the community marketplace. There is no confusion regarding the specific frame of services being offered. B. Can we articulate the three to six capabilities that scribe what we do uniquely better than anyone else? Have we defined how they work together in a system?
The capabilities revolve around Medicaid reimbursable mental health services. These are residential treatment facilities, therapeutic foster care licensing, and community based care through the dependency court system. These services all work together in a system that is well defined through ACH policy and procedure as well as Department of Children and Family policy. The services are complimentary and are intertwined as part of the total system of care. C. Have we specified our product and service “sweet spot”? Do we understand how to leverage providing therapeutic and residential services.
There are competitors, but none have as long of neither a proven history, nor the reputation for quality. However, I don’t believe the agency fully understands how to leverage those capabilities in new or unexpected areas. 2. Do we live it? A. Are we investing in the capabilities that really matter to our way to play? Yes, the agency is currently investing in expanding the capabilities of the campus, including building a new charter school to increase service offerings and continuity of care. The agency is very fiscally conservative and responsible. B. Do all our businesses draw on this superior capabilities system?
Do our organizational structure and operating model support and exploit it? Does our performance management system reinforce it? I believe so, our business is somewhat narrow in scope in that it is almost all mental health services, especially in its core, and it is through the expertise in these capabilities that the operating model focuses and expands upon. The performance management system does support it, however this is definitely an area that could use mom improvement, primarily on identifying employee motivation and using performance management to reduce turnover. C.
Do most of the products and services we sell fit with our capabilities system? Are new products and acquisitions evaluated on the basis of their fit with the way to play and capabilities system? All of the services provided fit within the agency capabilities system. Anytime a new product or service is considered it is evaluated on the basis of how it fits into the agency mission and into the Way to play system that is already in place and is the basis for the agencies 126 year history. . Describe your firm’s bases for segmentation. Is it the best approach? Why or why not?
The bases for segmentation at Daniel is the demographics, specifically the clients that it serves. It takes into consideration the age, the special needs, and the income/ insurance prior to admission and any services being offered. The benefits also are a bases for segmentation, since the need for the services being provided is very specific, and services are only provided based on that need. It is the best approach. Without changing the services being provided, there is no new market to enter, thus he segmentation is defined and being offered are high quality, niche services. . Characterize your firm in terms of the four metrics described by Rust, Norman, and Ball. Are the metrics used by your firm appropriate for its context? Why or why not? Daniel definitely uses the customer focused metrics. In social work the customer is the business. Once a client is admitted to the agency for services, that individual is always considered a client. However, the ultimate goal is to improve the welfare of the individual or family to ensure healthy and appropriate functioning in society and y that measure the CLC would be measured differently.
Using the metrics as they are described is not really appropriate in the context of social work. This is because Daniel is not in business to generate profits, but to grow and expand services offered, and to be the best at the services that it does provide. Customer satisfaction is a customer is affiliated with the agency, they become either a supporter or a detractor in the community, which impacts overall business moving forward. 8. Your firm presumably engages in some form of one-to-one marketing. Describe all f the tactical advantages associated with one-to-one marketing that it does??and could??exploit.
The advantage of one-to-one marketing at Daniel is the ability to develop a treatment plan tailored specifically for the client. This allows the agency to ensure it is serving each client exactly to what their individual needs are and to engage them to the point where they are getting all of their needs met in one place. The specific advantages from the notes that we do or could exploit include: 1) Cross Selling, in that we offer many different services, more than one of which are usually applicable to a specific linen. ) Switching Costs, in that once you are engaged with our agency, it is very difficult to switch to another provider, especially with the billing limits imposed by Medicaid. 3) Lower Marketing Costs, this applies because the customer is well known to the agency. It is not necessary to market to a mass audience, rather to ensure the agency name is known to referral sources and among its competitors. 4) Lifetime Value, this applies in a different sense, in that once someone becomes involved with the agency through a philanthropic act, they become lifetime friends of the agency.
This relationship can be used to acquire donations of time and monetary value for many years, and can be groomed by the development office to ensure the value it provides is maximized. 9. On what bases are your firm’s products positioned visa–visa the competition? Graphically depict the positioning of firms in your industry using a 2-dimensional perceptual map. [Figure 2] The services offered at Daniel are positioned against the competition on a couple different bases.
The competition can be defined as other agencies that provide mental health services to at-risk youth in the community. The primary bases that apply are price and quality. Daniel is able to provide the services at a very low to no cost making it accessible to a wide range of people, and also this is useful in contract negotiations when the agency is able to bid the lowest for a contract to increase the revenue stream because of efficient fiscal management. Quality plays an important role as well in both community perception and increased business through referrals.
The agency is over 126 years old and has positioned itself as the oldest of its kind in Florida and as a provider of consistent, high quality services. 10. Describe and draw a strategy canvas for your firm. Be sure to include your competitors. [Figure 3] In the attached strategy canvas, I have compared my firm to two other firms, SSI Family Services and Hope Haven. It is broken down into five factors of competition. They are price, continuity of care, ease of access, quality, and reputation/history.
Daniels profile is focused on a high quality easy to access service at a low price. It Hope Haven has a much higher cost, but also provides a very high quality service. SSI Family Services is similar to Daniel in its price, but lacks in the array of services accessory to provide a good continuity of care and the reputation and history in the community. 11. What forces have resulted in the proliferation of your product/service line? How would you gauge the complexity of your firm using the criteria of Storefronts and Spinals?
One force that has resulted in the proliferation of Daniels services is impeded competitive entry, and by that I mean that people are deterred from entering the non-profit mental health services market due to the lack of financial incentive and necessary commitment to selflessly improving the lives of at-risk youth. Another force s the heterogeneity in consumers’ ideal points, in that a lot of the services that are being provided are going to families who do not know the distinction in who is providing the service, or how it is being paid for.
They are less educated, without the financial means to seek private self-pay services, and are receiving a service through Medicaid at an approved provider. In gauging the complexity of my firm, I would say it is fairly low. There is no supply chain, no assembly, and no retail stores in which to sell products. The little complexity that does arise is in the fact that we work directly with people. There is an element of the unknown or uncertainty when working with the population the agency serves, which can cause some complex situations that require creative solutions.
For the most part, however, Daniel attempts to keep it simple and straight forward. 12. In terms of the scheme described by Shank, Berry,and Dozen, which type of hybrid offering does (or would) fit your firm the best. How so? Assuming your firm possesses or wishes to adopt a “solution” strategy, how does it fare on the four activities vital to success, as described by Galatia? Be specific about all four activities. Several types of hybrid offerings would apply to Daniel.
A peace-of-mind bundle would apply, in that the clients are assured that they are getting one-stop, quality access to all necessary mental health services through a comprehensive treatment plan. This would also apply to a one-stop bundle, handling everything related to a child’s mental health treatment in one place. The services being offered are oftentimes intertwined and very difficult to separate, which would lead to a multi- benefit bundle as well. Supposing Daniel wished to adopt a solution strategy, it would have to examine how t fared against the four Co’s of customer-focused solutions.
These are: coordination, capability, connection, and cooperation. Coordination means that decision making is easy to do across company boundaries. At Daniel, decision making is done surrounding the client and their best interest through treatment-team meetings. This allows for a group consensus regarding the best course of treatment and allows Capability consists of the skills available to meet the needs of the customer. Daniel has a professional staff that holds many years of experience and advanced degrees allowing for a deep knowledge of customer needs and the ability to develop and implement solutions based on those specific needs.
Connection is very important to Daniel. Community partnerships are a huge part of our business and I believe this solution is already highly implemented within my firm. Cooperation is critical in the mental health business. There are so many services being coordinated together that require decision making on each level, and without full cooperation and trust the process wouldn’t work. Cooperation is another solution that is already in place at Daniel. 13. Aside from product innovation, how can your firm engage in business innovation to create value and differentiate itself from competition?
Be specific when referring to some of the 12 ways. Daniel can engage in business innovation through several of the 12 ways: customers, customer experience, process, and presence. I will address each specifically. Customers: Daniel serves a specific customer with even more specific needs, and attempts to provide all services necessary to meet them. However, there are possible unmet needs and undeserved segments that could be discovered to help enhance ND increase the continuity of care and expand the offerings of the firm.
Customer Experience: there are always opportunities to enhance and innovate through the customer experience. This could be improvements with admission, service planning, ease of access, or Just general level of customer service being provided. Process: the services being offered cannot change as they are highly regulated and monitored, however the efficiency and effectiveness is always an area for improvement and innovation. Presence: Daniel provides a service to the city of Jacksonville. This is a revive that is needed and necessary all across the country.