Enviromental_Analysis

Environmental Analysis Paper Analysis of the Forces and Trends Customer profiling provides sound knowledge of the demographics, personalities, and physical surroundings, as well as, purchasing power and behaviors of customers, (Pearce & Robinson, 2004). This trend allows managers and businesses the opportunity to look deep into their target markets in order to identify relevant trends. Customer profiling assists I-Care in understanding the behaviors of its current and past customers. A few relevant strategic practices have been implemented to address customer profiling. The majority of the patient clientele receive government-funded insurance. Research on the current Medicare and Medicaid trends provides information into the demographics, psychographics, and geographic make-up of each client. This information provides management a basis for understanding the patient mix. Aside from government research, I-Care conducts bi-annual surveys within the industry and through its patients. Managers seek out data that will keep the company abreast on industry trends and behaviors among customers. They are also able to retrieve data from patients that better explains their needs, desires, and behaviors as Geriatric patients. Evaluating a company's competitive position within its industry assists managers in identifying resources and creating goals that will lead to future growth and profits, (Pearce & Robinson, 2004). Competitor profiling is a trend that is helpful because it provides the company with the necessary tools to identify what is available and successful in the present market. Determining the competitive position of other home healthcare agencies within the Houston area assists I-Care in creating unique services and care that sets them apart from other agencies. Identifying what has and has not worked for its competitors also provides the agency with insight into what methods are detrimental, and which ones are successful. I-Care managers conduct bi-annual assessments within the home healthcare industry. These assessments provide detailed information as to what other industry leaders are doing within the Houston area. The current trend in supplier relations is to insure a trustworthy and stable relationship exists between the company and its suppliers. Without a stable relationship, suppliers won’t be willing to go above and beyond or make necessary adjustments to assist the company in any way, (Pearce & Robinson, 2004).In addition to maintaining a steady relationship, companies must be willing to assess the supplier’s competitive position. The supplier relationship is a trend that definitely impacts the daily and financial operations of I-Care. I-Care depends on medical suppliers to provide the necessary supplies that nurses and patients need to insure optimal health. Maintaining the relationship insures that supplies are shipped and received in a timely manner. I-Care is definitely impacted by the trend and has attempted to include its supplier as a stakeholder within the organization. The company presently has one major medical supplier from which they order the company’s supplies. This relationship has been maintained for several years, without any major difficulty. The owner of the agency pays special attention to ordering, shipping, and inventory costs in relation to supplies. The company has however recently begun to research other potential suppliers in hopes to cut costs in light of the recent economical stressors. Macroeconomic Forecast Macroeconomic factors involve the creditworthiness of the business as well as interest rates, inflation rates, and other trends affecting the current status of the economy, (Pearce & Robinson). I-Care Home Health was founded on small business loans and personal contributions from its owner. To date, repayments are still being made on one loan and I-Care as a whole is not responsible for large amounts of outstanding debts. Thus, the creditworthiness of the company is promising, if additional funding were needed. I-Care’s owner is a Certified Public Accountant who works closely with the contracted agency that manages the company’s finances and record keeping. Therefore, special attention is given to the daily and monthly expenditures. The current status of the economy also has a substantial affect on the financial success of I-Care. The housing market is on a steady downward spiral with very slow growth and rising food and gas prices are resulting in inflation, (Macleod, 2007). “Finally, the 50% chance of a recession and the likelihood of poor consumer expenditure growth, make tedious financial and strategic planning a must,” (Macleod, 2007). It is in the company’s best interest to plan ahead for a possible recession and begin to take the necessary steps to withstand future economic turbulence. Non-Economic Factors The non-economic factors such as: social, political, technological, and demographics are also vital to I-Care’s strategic practices. “The social and cultural factors affecting I-Care have to do with the beliefs, values, attitudes, opinions, and lifestyles of persons in the firm's external environment, as developed from cultural, ecological, demographic, religious, educational, and ethnic conditioning,” (Pearce & Robinson, 2004, pg. 9, par. 1). Houston, Texas is a vast, diverse, melting pot of individuals from various races, classes, nationalities, and religions. As a result, there is a great demand for the availability of services across the city for all persons. The individuals primarily impacted from I-Care’s services are those of the lower-socioeconomic class, of which the majority are minorities. References Macleod, Colin1 International Journal of Advertising; 2007, Vol. 27 Issue 1, p177-179, 3p External Environment