Kenneth Holcomb
1/26/16

“Battling Pies in the Sky” In the case “Pies in the Sky” Katherine White is the Director of Marketing at Terrace Hospital, a 125-bed, not-for-profit rural hospital providing general medical and surgical services. Terrace hospital is located in Lexington, a rural community which has a population of 14,682. Katherine works under Mr. Peter Brooks, the Administrator. The problem is Mr. Brooks routinely gets overly excited about his ideas and moves forward with his ideas without proper consultation from his team. Peter’s ideas always produce adverse consequences, but the damage is usually minimal. This time, though, Katherine and her fellow senior managers believe Mr. Brooks will cause real financial harm to Terrace Hospital if he goes through with his idea. Mr. Brooks wants to place a clinic in a new market and needs Katherine to fast-track marketing communications materials for a grand opening less than 3 months away. Though clinics in the past have been opened practically overnight by Terrace Hospital, they were opened in rural territories with little to no competition. Fairmont is cosmopolitan and considered the most competitive market in the region. Also, the marketing budget of Terrace is miniscule to the marketing budget of its competitors in Fairmont and their associated medical centers in Clearwater. Furthermore, the referrals from the clinic in Fairmont to the hospital in Lexington would be nonexistent because Lexington is out of the transit loops connecting the urban and suburban areas, being located 35 miles away from Clearwater and 20 miles away from Fairmont. Furthermore, Terrace typically serves a poorer demographic. Fairmont’s citizens are wealthier and would be less likely to go to Terrace’s facilities. Finally, Terrace’s mission statement which mentions that Terrace Hospital’s purpose is to serve the medical needs of the