Respond this post with your critical thinking:

Healthcare most likely would be categorized as being in the mature stage of its product life cycle. Furthermore, it is probably in the stable stage. As a medical professional entering the industry in this phase of maturity, how will you operate under the Marketing Concept?

The product life cycle is an important concept in marketing because it is the stages a product must advance through from its initial conception to obsolescence. Its divided into four distinct phases. They are introduction, product growth, maturity, and decline (Levitt, 1965). The product life cycle describes product output changes over time in relation to changing conditions. Next, in the introductory phase, costs for research and development, as well as advertising are generally high while sales are low, this is exemplified in the MHC 600 class very well. Then, as the public becomes more aware of the product, the growth phase begins when there are more profits. However, with more profits comes more competition and this segues to specialization of the product from competitors, once again, highlighted very well in MHC 600. Thirdly, the maturation phase begins, and the market becomes saturated. During this phase, the industry may suffer from bureaucracy and government regulation and if nothing is done, the industry will start to decline (Kepros, Mosher, Anderson & Stevens, 2006). Then, as with life, so is death and decline of the products starts until its rendered obsolete, replaced, and removed from the market for consumption.

Healthcares life cycle, as a product, also fits into this framework. Medical care is a necessity and a commodity simultaneously. Therefore, the manifestations of the product life cycle, are that the organizations involved in providing, financing, and improving the quality of healthcare change over time (Kepros, Mosher, Anderson & Stevens, 2006). The introductory phase of medicine in the United States was characterized by a focus on physicians and their discoveries. In the growth phase of healthcare, the character changed to financing by insurance companies with a very large growth in expenditures for hospitals, physicians, and medications. In the maturation phase, governmental bureaucracy reigns as the quality of money spent, value for money, is low. Healthcare is most likely categorized as being in the mature phase of the cycle. This means that as a mature product, healthcare will need to be rejuvenated or face decline. Concerns over costs and quality have been the themes of the mature phase of healthcare. At this point, decisions that are made determine whether the product needs to be improved or a new one developed. There are several organizations with a marked interest in improving the quality of health care, including governmental, commercial, and non-profit organizations (Kepros, Mosher, Anderson & Stevens, 2006). The previous authors mention the initiatives or strategies to improve the quality of healthcare such as consumer-directed healthcare, pay for performance, and disease management (Kepros, Mosher, Anderson & Stevens, 2006), and therefore will affect the access and ease of delivering the product.

As a medical professional entering the healthcare industry in its mature phase, there are certain marketing strategies that can be employed that have the potential to promote growth extension. According to our text, primary objectives for growth extension include increased penetration, extended use, and market expansion (Walker & Mullins, 2014). These objectives are achieved by extended use of newly available biotechnology. As a resident, the awareness of new technologies and their benefits, including high-performance neurofeedback, will help achieve growth expansion as well as achieve proficiency in its use

References:

Kepros, J., Mosher, B., Anderson, C., & Stevens, P. (2006). The product life cycle of healthcare in the United States. he Internet Journal of Healthcare Administration, 4(2), . Retrieved from http://print.ispub.com/api/0/ispub-article/5390 (Links to an external site.)

Levitt, T. (1965). Exploit the product life cycle. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/1965/11/exploit-the-product-life-cycle (Links to an external site.)

Walker, O. C., & Mullins, J. W. (2014). Marketing strategy: A decision-focused approach (8th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill Higher Education.