SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

I. CURRENT MARKET CONDITION a. Market Share. Aster defines market share by direct and purchased care since eligibility for care is predetermined By Law. With reference to direct care, we have taken it for the patients that are coming to Aster Clinics. Purchased care in here refers to the patients who are going to our competitors. The following is Asters outpatient market share percentages. Outpatient (1) Direct Outpatient Visits ______ (2) Purchased Outpatient Visits ______ (3) Market Share ______ Outpatient market share declined slightly in ____, which played a role in the development of primary care capacity models for the hospital's three primary care clinics. Primary Care Capacity Model- The Aster Clinical Care Capacity Model was developed to determine if additional enrollment opportunities existed within Asters care clinics. The marketing plan enrollment target is based on evidence that increased enrollment was possible for outpatient services. Market (Enrollment) Trends- Enrollment will be the critical factor in determining the effectiveness of the marketing plan. Enrollment committee will be reviewing the enrollments regularly. Additional metrics will be tracked to ensure enrollment increases are not adversely affecting quality of care. These include access standards, appointment availability, customer relations, and referral percentages. Market Potential- Market potential is all eligible beneficiaries within the Aster Clinics catchment area, limited by primary care and inpatient bed capacity. Aster established a new enrollment target at ____based on the Clinical Care Capacity Model which indicated space availability within the various clinical departments.

Cost Implications to Aster: For outpatient care in ___P_, __x_% of the non-institutionalized population had contact with a physician. Of this percentage, physician utilization averaged __y_ visits per year. This included office visits, telephone consults, and other locations. Based on this information, an enrollment population of ____, and the average cost for an outpatient visit at __z_ Dirham, the following can be deduced. (a) __a___ would utilize outpatient physician care per year (P x x/100). (b) __b___ outpatient visits per year would occur (a x y). (c) __c__ million in paid claims per year (b x z)

II. INTERNAL ANALYSIS A SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis was conducted for Aster. The information accumulated for this analysis was obtained from focus groups, interviews, surveys, scan of the competitive environment, internet, and informal, anecdotal information. The following strengths, weaknesses, and differential advantages were derived from the SWOT. a. Aster Strengths. (Internal) 1. Adequate Funding/Staff. Asters overall budget is roughly ____ million per year. The clinics are staffed by ____ physicians, ___ nurses and adequate other staff. Aster is over 100 percent manned, based on prescribed manning requirements. The amount of operating capital and manpower is more than adequate to maintain normal operations and provide the highest quality of care. More significantly, the hospital administration is not encumbered by financial and personnel constraints that typically influence the allocation of funds. In other for-profit organizations, funding cuts are typically tied to personnel and other variable costs that directly impact the quality of care provided to patients and overall services to consumers. Its not the case with Aster. These factors provide a marketing advantage to NHP over competing facilities. 2. Quality of staff: Aster is equipped with very well qualified physicians and well trained and credentialed staff which surely gives an advantage over our competitors. 3. Infrastructure: Aster clinics are very sound when it comes to infrastructure. When we compare them to the clinics that are manned by either single physicians or a group of them, Aster certainly has a lead and in turn marketing advantage in itself.

4. One Stop Shop: With numerous clinics and with Aster Pharmacies and Medinova Laboratory coming in its an advantage for the patients to get most of the things under one roof. Due to the surveyed needs of the target population, one stop shopping provides patients the opportunity to receive a multitude of healthcare services in one setting decreasing the demand on the patient's time. Demographic data indicates that the majority of the target populations are dual income families with children. The one stop shopping attribute limits the amount of time working adults are absent from work and time children spend away from school. The benefits of one stop shopping must be further exploited for opportunities and a focus in direct marketing efforts. 5. Family Centered Approach: Aster physicians and other providers do not practice under the imperative to see as many patients daily as possible. While seeing an adequate number to achieve access standards is necessary, this environment allows physicians to spend quality time with patients and the opportunity to provide adequate information about their diagnosis and appropriate treatment protocol. These factors, along with a multitude of services which include patient education and health promotion, provide Aster the ability to create a more personal experience with its patients and generate increased loyalty and a positive brand image. 6. Accessible: With so many clinics all round, its very easy to find an Aster clinic somewhere around your neighborhood. With 21 clinics only in Dubai, Aster is the largest distributed chain. This wide network of clinics provides huge marketing advantage to Aster clinics. b. Aster weaknesses:

Asters differential advantages: 1. Loyalty: Despite the advent of other clinics and the accompanying need of quality healthcare, surveys indicate an overall preference for care with Aster. Surveys of those receiving care in Aster routinely display higher satisfaction rates with their care, compared to those in other hospitals. 2. Cost: Aster has different approach to different strata of community and thats the prime reason that the cost is different for different clinics ________________________________________________________________ _______________

Conclusion: The largest segments of the target population obtain their healthcare via employer based plans. This presents the clearest opportunity to benefit from the reduced cost of Priority Customer Plan. In general a number of those eligible for care under the Program are unaware of the financial benefits. Providing marketing materials highlighting the financial benefits along with the value added services provided at the clinics are a differential advantage to Aster. IIII. EXTERNAL ANALYSIS: Competitors strengths: German Medical Center: Their website has an option of different languages to choose from. Looks to target the elite segment of the population. Almost all the physicians are European. They have high prices, demonstrating a strategy of higher the price, better is the brand value Have a niche market target strategy. Karama Medical Center: Target population is the lower income group. Probably working on the strategies of economies of scale. Looks like a market challenger to Aster because some of the target market is coinciding. They are giving more emphasis on health programs and preventive health measures. Prime Medical Center: Looks like they are in an expansion phase with around 12 branches in a short span of time. They are also venturing into pharmacies and diagnostic centers. Mostly Escon employees are enrolled. Atlas Star Medical Center: Have their branch in Oman as well, in total 4 centers. Other then clinic departments it also has homeopathy which might turn out to an advantage for them. They are not into super specialties.

 Al Musalla Medical Center: They have 6 branches but as of now they are only targeting Dubais population. They have their own diagnostic laboratory.