INTRODUCTION
Mayo Clinic is well known for treating international leaders (e.g., the president of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea (Cateora, Gilly, and Graham 640)). Mayo clinic provided care to international patients for nearly a hundred years. It was founded one hundred years ago by a family of physicians named “Mayo.” The Mayo family created an international legacy. They traveled the world to compare notes and surgical approaches and returned with international patients. Mayo Clinic has used word-of-mouth marketing to maintain its global reputation. Its marketing department has existed for only the last fifteen years. Mayo Clinic’s locations are in three metropolitan areas: Rochester, Minnesota; Scottsdale/Phoenix, Arizona; and Jacksonville, Florida (Mayo Clinic’s Website).
The strength of Mayo Clinic is that the clinic specializes in hard-to-treat diseases. They are known for innovative and effective treatments for diseases that had gone undiagnosed or under-treated. It is also known for being at the top of most accredited quality standard listings. The value vision of Mayo Clinic is that “the needs of the patient always come first.” Since the year 2000 Mayo Clinic is also known for achieving high quality at lower cost. Moreover, the Mayo Clinic is most famous for developing an integrated patient care practice. A patient will see from two to ten doctors in a single visit, potentially on the same day, reducing the cost of multiple visits and more importantly allowing doctors from different specialties to confer with each other and plan a course of action for the patient (Mayo Clinic’s Website).
FACTS
Mayo clinic has performed internal and external research in order to gain a better understanding of the international market for healthcare providers, as well as its own position within the market. Internal data are analyzed quarterly to monitor hospitalization rates among patients of different countries and the percentage of new patients from various regions. Additionally, periodic satisfaction studies are executed among the international patients.
Mayo clinic also gathered primary data through qualitative and quantitative research approaching international patients, physicians, and Mayo clinic coverage policy holders. It used focus groups in six different cities worldwide which included non-patients and Mayo’s international patients to study their health care decisions, which were found to be impacted by various health insurance policies. The marketing department also concentrated heavily on Latin America and the Middle East where it conducted surveys through questioners. In addition to mail surveys, 400 face-to-face interviews and 353 interviews over the phone were given to policy holders who had Mayo clinic coverage. Face-to-face interviews focused on finding out information regarding demographics, preferences, and healthcare behavior as well as Mayo brand awareness and importance of Mayo Clinic coverage as a benefit of their policy. Meanwhile phone surveys simply concentrated on finding out about Mayo brand awareness and its questions were structured in two different manners; first, interviewees were asked if they heard of Mayo clinic, then, a different group was asked to name the best U.S. medical centers. Results for differently structured questions varied substantially.
ANALYSIS
Problems
Primary data were obtained within a limited market sample. The sample population was geographically limited to only Middle East and Latin America. Moreover the sample was drawn only from people that purchased the insurance that offered Mayo Clinic coverage. Such sample may or may not coincide with potential target market.
Research conducted using survey questions was based on an assumption that policy holders were aware of the Mayo Clinic. Many of the survey questions were structured in a biased and a leading manner about the policy and its benefits. Therefore results generated from the research may not be accurate due to unawareness among the majority surveyed.
Objectives
Mayo Clinic does not have enough brand awareness and needs to increase it. In order to do so more marketing research needs to be conducted that will reflect the target market’s wants, needs, preferences, and behavioral patterns and other data that will help us to increase international market share.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Information is the key component in developing successful international marketing strategies for Mayo Clinic in various countries.
Mayo’s International Marketing Department should analyze available secondary information as a useful first step. Information required ranges from the general statistical data to understand target market’s preferences in the healthcare industry to specific market information about media and other efficient means of delivering information to the target market for decisions about promotion.
Mayo clinic department first needs to determine what its target market should be. Considering the level and the cost of the clinic, our preliminarily suggestion is that target market should be high income upper social class, as well as the highly health conscious people that invest in their health regardless of their income.
Furthermore, Mayo Clinic needs to determine what countries it should concentrate on the most. Even though, Mayo will welcome patients from any country in the world, research and marketing is quite expensive. Therefore the marketing department should research what countries have the most potential in regards to the highest percentage rates of people willing and being capable of traveling internationally for medical care. We will mainly concentrate our research on neighboring countries of Latin America and Canada, as well as countries in Middle East, Europe, and Asia, especially China and Japan.
For that purpose, general secondary information needed is:
Economic and demographic: general data on growth and statistics in the healthcare industry, analysis of stability of economies and how it influences the health decisions of the target market, population trends, such as aging, travelling, immigration.
Cultural, sociological data: climate, ecology, safety, history of common diseases, eating habits and leisure time and their potential impacts on insurance coverage and clinic choice.
Overview of market conditions: level of technology and Internet availability for the target market, current level of competence of local clinics, level of health awareness, travel preference, and insurance coverage preferences.
These data are more widely available because they are commonly reported by the United Nations and other international agencies.
Once approximations for health trends and preferences are established, Mayo will have more understanding of what additional primary research is needed.
We will conduct primary research by focusing on one country at a time and using native speaking research agents. Outside vendors who know the culture and the language will be necessary due to cultural differences that may lead to unwillingness or inability to participate, collect, or interpret responses; if surveys are conducted by US marketers. Our main goal is to gather as much cultural and historical information about our target market.
While conducting a survey the target market has to be a random sample in a specific sample frame. This way every population member will have an equal chance to be surveyed. This is a key of having a true random sample and avoiding bias.
We will also conduct research about the local health providers and availability of resources to treat the common and rare diseases found in such countries. Qualitative data will be collected to find out preferences and criteria people look for in a good health provider in their home country and whether they are satisfied or not.
The primary research will be gathered by means of mail and email surveys, focus groups, personal phone and face-to-face interviews, as well as direct observation of people in clinics and insurance offices. The methods will vary according to customs and cultural differences among countries.
After conducting and processing research, we need to position the clinic accordingly. For example, Japanese specialize in stomach cancer because it is a common disease due to raw fish consumption in the country. Therefore in Japan, Mayo clinic should focus on providing information on good treatment of the next most common disease (treatments to which are not as progressive) among the Japanese.
Once all the research is collected, processed, and conclusions are drawn; the Mayo Clinic marketing department can decide on the best strategy to build awareness and, potentially, increase its international sales revenues.
WORKS CITED
Philip R. Cateora, Mary C. Gilly, and John L. Graham. International Marketing. New York: McGrow-Hill/Irwin, 2009.
Mayo Clinic’s Website. History: The tradition and heritage of Mayo Clinic.
To see the Power Point Presentation click on the following link:
MAYO CLINIC-FINAL PPT-1