THE MARKETING PROCESS
Introduction
This document presents a response to the questions regarding the three potential markets that an orthopedic group could enter with its service of pediatric sports medicine The three markets that the orthopedic group could ender that will allow it to earn large profits is the education market, children social networking market such as the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association), and minor sporting teams. This paper also describes the barriers to enter and exit the internal medicine market for a physician wanting to establish a solo practice, a company offering a health club facility in the same building where employees work, and hospital wanting to develop a coronary bypass program. Lastly this paper will answer the hypothetical question on three ways to make services unique to the population of baby boomers in San Antonio, Texas.
Three Potential Markets for a Pediatric Sports Medicine Program to Enter Three markets that the orthopedic group could enter with their service of pediatric sports medicine would be the Education Market (Elementary, Middle, and High School), the Children Social Networking Market such as the YMCA, and Minor League Sport Teams. According to Katherine Lee from about.com “kids between 5 and 14 years of age account for as much as 40% of all sports-related injuries”(Lee, 2003). With that fact being known, the orthopedic group could hire physicians to work with local schools to teach kids how to prevent sport related injuries and what to do in the event they are injured. For example, sprains are one of the most common types of injuries among children. The orthopedic group could use their pediatric sports service to teach children to remain calm and not put pressure on the injury. This training could be similar to how they teach children to stop, drop, and roll of they are on fire. The Pros of this is that the business will be building a repore not only with the school but with the parents of the children. This does not have any Cons. The Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) would be another market that the orthopedic group could enter. Children recreation centers like the YMCA offer a variety of after school sports that children participate in (ymca.net, 2010). If the orthopedic group were to offer its pediatric sports medicine services at establishments such as this they would not only help the children that use the facilities there but they would be partnering with an established organization that will not be in jeopardy of closing anytime soon. The Pro of this is that by partnering up with an organization like this will allow the medical group to grow. The Con of this it might be hard to become aligned with the organization if they are happy with whatever medical services they already have. Lastly, a market that the orthopedic group could enter could be the Minor League Sports Market. This market has an array of sports that will need medical staff to care for their patients. Establishing a presence here will benefit the company not just in the short term but in the long run as well. Parents tent to stick to physicians who they know and trust. If a child receives excellent care by a care by a certain doctor, the parent will more than likely keep bringing the child back to the same physician. The Pro of this is that this orthopedic group could expand its business. There is not Con to entering this market.
Barriers to Enter and Exit the Internal Medicine Field for a Solo Practice The barriers for a physician wanting to establish a solo practice in the internal medicine field are Financial Barriers, Technological Barriers, and Strategic Barriers (Berkowitz, 2006). The financial barriers would be the cost to start a medical practice. This cost varies by state and can cost millions of dollars. A few items that would need to be purchased would be a office space or building, building permits, hiring staff, equipment, and supplies just to name a few. This is not an easy task and could take years to accomplish. The technological barriers that a physician can face would be to know about, and know how to properly use the latest medical technology equipment. Technology is constantly changing and technology in the medical field is no different. This barrier is also difficult to overcome because the time it will take to learn new medical equipment and then practice with it to know how to use it correctly is a job in itself. This barrier will also lead back to the financial barrier. This is so because it will cost to take the training on how to use the latest medical technology and then it will be expensive to purchase the equipment because it will be the latest available. The last entry barrier to a physician will need to overcome before entering into the medical market alone would be the strategic barrier. This barrier is easy compared to the two barriers previously mentioned. Although it is the easiest barrier to overcome it will require a lot of time to accomplish. A physician must first perform an S.W.O.T analysis. S.W.O.T stands for Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats. Identifying each one of these must be done before anything else because this will let the physician know if he/she will be able to make a profit in the planned area (Practice Setup, 2011). There are two main exit barriers for a physician wanting to exit the internal medicine market. They are Financial and Reputation. Just as in the entry barrier, financial barriers must be addressed for exiting the market. Being able to sell everything that was purchased might be difficult especially if the supplies and equipment is outdated or not working properly. The second exit barrier would be for the physician to exit the market with his reputation in-tact. If the physician is exiting the market for other than honorable reasons it will follow him/her wherever they may go. Exiting a market is not as easy as it might sound because deciding what to do with everything that has been gained thought the life of the company must be dealt with. This exit process can be just as difficult as the entry process (DeMiranda, 2003).
Barriers of a Company Offering a Health Club Facility in a Building where People Work The financial barriers for a health club wanting to enter into the same building where employees work are the cost to renovate the space, negotiate a fair price to pay to rent the space, and deciding how much to charge its customers. Depending on the size of the space will determine how much money will be needed to renovate the space. This barrier can be easy to overcome as long as the health club thoroughly does research to find the best prices for the materials and service they will need. Negotiating a fair price to rent a space in the building can be difficult the owner of the health club must make sure they are not being taken advantage of by over paying to rent the space. Finally, the health club facility should set a fair price for its customers to use their facilities. This barrier can be difficult as well because if the customers fell the price it too high they will not use the facility but on the other hand if the price is too low then the health club will be at a loss. A technological barrier for a company wanting to enter to the same building where employees work is making sure their equipment is compactable with the building. An example of this would be to make sure the electrical units in the building are up to date and will not cause damage to the health club machines. This barrier is easy to overcome but might take time and the company might need to hire someone who works in that field. The strategic barrier the health club will face is which organizations building to open their business in. The management of the health facility will have to carefully decide which company to approach with their offer. This barrier is not too difficult but it will take time and research to fine the right company to partner with. There is only one exit barrier of a health facility leaving a building and that is deciding what to do with the equipment they have. If the health facility is going out of business it would need to decide where to sell their equipment and who to sell it to. But, if the health club is relocating into their own building then they only thing they would need to worry about it how to transport their equipment. The exit barrier for this situation will be easy to overcome.
Barriers of a Tertiary Hospital Developing a Coronary Bypass Program Financial barriers that a Tertiary Hospital would need to overcome in developing a coronary bypass program would be the cost of equipment and how much to charge for the procedure. A few pieces of equipment needed to perform this operation are Thoracosopes, T.V. monitors and many other pieces of equipment (Sterman, 2001). This barrier can be difficult because the equipment can be costly for the hospital. On average, it coast can cost a person between $3000-$6000 to have the operation (Consumeraffairs.com, 2001). If the hospital is able to offer their new service at a lower cost without sacrificing accuracy, they will be able to easily overcome this barrier. “Tertiary Hospitals are major sources of the latest medical technology in hospitals” (Joson, 2003). Therefore the technological barrier would be easy to overcome. This is so because tertiary hospitals will already be familiar with the process of acquiring new medical equipment. The only part of this barrier that the hospital would have to be concerned with is the amount of time it will take the staff to learn to use the equipment. As long as the doctors are competent enough to grasp how to use the equipment the hospital will not have a problem with this barrier. The exit barrier that a tertiary hospital would need to cross is what to do with its patients once they stop offering the coronary bypass program. If this program gets established and hospital gets known for it, it will be hard for the hospital not to offer it anymore because they would have build up a reputation. Exiting out of this would be very difficult to do.
Ways that Managed Care Organizations (MCO) can make its Service Unique to the Major Demographic of an Area Three ways that MCOs can make its service unique to the major demographic in San Antonio, TX would be to advertise in the community, offer needed services, and integrate the staff with members of that specific group. Advertising in the community is the most important way to let potential customers know that the hospital is offering services catered to them. The second way would be to conduct an S.O.W.T analysis of the services being offered at other hospitals in the area. Once that is complete, it should be compared with the services that are the most needed. The outcome of doing this will produce a service that is in high demand and that no other hospital is offering. Lastly, ensuring the staff has members of that group on staff. This will make the patients feel more welcome because they will see people like them working there. An example of this would be to make sure that most of the staff can fluently speak Spanish and that members of the staff are of Hispanic descent.
Conclusions
The information submitted above supports the following conclusions:
• Although each question (2, 3, and 4) were in different areas they all share the same entry barriers (Financial, Technological, and Strategic).
• Some barriers are more difficult to overcome than others.
• The cost of a coronary bypass almost doubled for people with little insurance than for people that are fully covered.

References
Berkowitz, E.N. (2006). Essentials of health care marketing (2nd ed). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett
Lee, K (March 2003). Top Sprots Injury Pervention Tips for Kids. Retrieved January 18, 2011, from www.childparenting.about.com/od/sportsfitness
YMCA (2010). Organizational Profile. Retrieved January 18, 2011, from www.ymca.net/organizational-profile
Practice Setup (2011). Financial Analysis and Pro-Forma Statements. Retrieved January 18, 2011, from www.practivesetup.com/financial-analysis.aspx
DeMirande, M (2003). Medical Technology. Retrieved January 17, 2011, from www.mycahs.colostate.edu/Michael.DeMiranda/medtechprimer
Reynaldo, J (2003). How to establish and develop a tertiary hospital or medical center. Retrieved January 17, 2011, from www.hospmgt.tripod.com/howtoestablish.html
Consumer Affairs (2005). Coronary Bypass 82.5% more expensive in U.S. than in Canada. Retrieved January 17, 2011, from www.consumeraffairs.com
Sherman, W (2001). Method and Systems for performing thoracoscopic cardiac bypass and other procedures. Retrieved January 17, 2011, from www.freepatentsonline