Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW… 3

BUSINESS OVERVIEW… 3

Name of the venture. 3

The prospective customers. 3

Needs fulfilled. 4

Business Description. 4

MARKET ANALYSIS. 5

Targeted market Location. 5

Estimated total number of individual target customers within this market 5

Sales forecasts. 5

Expansion plan. 5

Pricing for financial analysis. 6

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS. 6

Economic outlook. 6

The competition. 6

Analysis of competition. 7

PCRC competitive advantage. 7

FINANCIAL ANALYSIS. 8

Capital requirements. 8

Organizational Budget 8

Assumptions. 9

Break even analysis. 10

REQUEST FOR COMMITMENTS. 10

 

BUSINESS CASE TO OPEN A RADIOBIOLOGY CENTER

EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW

Primary Care Radiobiology Center (PCRC) is a forthcoming company aiming to solicit the required capital needed to set up a radiobiology center in New York in order to undertake its initial business operations. The target market comprises of mainly residents from the city of New York, which presents approximately 8 million target customers. Radiobiology is important to the medical community and the PCRC proposition serves to provide imaging services, CAT scanning, MRI and other radiological diagnosis services. The feasibility of the proposed business model for the PCR has been proven using strategic and market analysis and the proposed marketing plan.

BUSINESS OVERVIEW

Name of the venture

Primary Care Radiobiology Center (PCRC)

The prospective customers

Any individual that is in need of a either specialized diagnosis or radiological treatment is a prospective patient for the Primary Care Radiologists. It is hard to establish the precise demographics of New York residents that will need to use radiobiological services during treatment. However, it is anticipated that approximately 90 per cent of the patients seeking radiobiology services will be having health insurance schemes or participating in some sort of cost reimbursement programs.

Needs fulfilled

The main source of revenue for the Primary Care Radiobiology Center will come from MRI, CAT scanning, ultrasound scanning and any other form of radiobiological services offered to the patients using the company’s medical equipment. The PCRC will make use of the latest technology with respect to the radiobiology equipments. The company will employ two radiologists who will be resident in order to offer the radiobiology services. The supplementary source of revenue for the PCRC will be from patients who will need specialized cancer treatments using radiobiology (Cleland, 2003). The company will employ a cancer treatment specialist to undertake this objective. Doctors within the target region will also be allowed to use the facility at an agreed fee.

Business Description

The Primary Care Radiobiology center is based in New York and will be offering mainly medical diagnosis using radiobiology and specialized cancer treatment to the patients in the target market. The company aims at providing complete and considerate care to patients in need of specialized radiobiology and cancer treatments. The radiobiology industry has been untapped owing to the fact it is a capital intensive business, implying that there are few competitors within the target region.

There are limited number of medical institutions that have invested in radiobiology diagnosis, while the very few that are available usually offer such services at high costs that are burden to the patients. Basing on this, the PCRC will offer its services at affordable rates and exploit this aspect to leverage its competitive position in the radiobiology industry.

MARKET ANALYSIS

Targeted market Location

The target market is all the residents of the city of New York

Estimated total number of individual target customers within this market

As stated above, the city of New York has a population of approximately 8 million residents, which represents a total potential market of 8 million customers. However, the assumption is that only 10 percent of this population will require the use of radiobiology diagnosis and cancer treatment at any given trading period (Murray, 2008). Therefore, the adjusted the total number of adjusted target customers is 800,000.

Sales forecasts

A strong growth rate of about 20 per cent annually is anticipated. The following table represents the expected financial outcomes for the first three years of business operation.

Yearly profit and Loss (amounts are in USD)

Table 1: sales forecasts for the first three years

year	1	2	3
sales	655,290	714,266	778,550
Operational costs	212,235	251,173	424,768
EBITDA	212,235	108,901	117,691
Taxes, interests and depreciation	99,649	108,901	117,691
Net Profit	112,586	148,165	164,129

 

Expansion plan

It is anticipated that the business will experience a tremendous expansion during the first three years of business operation. This will be achieved using rigorous marketing campaigns that will be aimed at targeting the doctors who will refer their patients to the radiobiology center. Organizational growth is a key requirement in the meeting the needs of the present business context that is characterized by intense complexity and dynamism (Abell, 2001). As such, organizations are supposed to establish appropriate growth strategies in order to upbeat the competitive and dynamic business environment in the present times. A recent trend that compels organizations to develop organizational growth strategies is the aspect of globalization and liberalization. This implies that the adopted strategies should suit the PCRC in order to facilitate the realization of sustainable growth and foster business continuity in a competitive business environment. The effectiveness of the adopted strategies normally depends on the commitment of the organization towards the realization of organizational development. There are numerous organizational growth strategies that an organization can adopt depending on factors such the scope its operations, financial constraints, and organizational structure (Bogorad, 2008).

Business level strategies       

A business level strategy can be defined as an incorporated and matched set of obligations and actions that an organization deploys with the sole purpose of achieving competitive advantage by use of exploitation of core competencies in a particular market for its products or services. The business level strategies comprises of three core elements, which include the core competencies, the strategy and the business level strategy. The core competencies includes the various and the capabilities that the PCRC can deploy as a source of gaining competitive advantage over its competitors.  The strategy involves the set of actions that an organization can deploy in order to exploit its core competencies and achieve a competitive advantage (Brian, 2000). The business level strategy comprises of the business actions aimed at providing value to customers, the deployment of the business level strategies takes place within the scope of a particular individual markets for the PCRC services. There are three generic business level strategies that the firm will use to have an edge over its rivals in the market place, they are low cost, differentiation and focus strategies (Debelak, 2005).

The low cost strategy puts emphasis on operating at lower costs, but not essentially offering the lowest prices in the market. An organization that aims at the realization of the low cost strategy should focus on the use of resources that play an integral role in fostering its efficiency. The underlying principle is that an organization that has successfully implemented the low cost strategy can have the lowest costs in comparison to its competitors (Duane & Hoskisson, 2008). Therefore, an organization can use such a position to reduce its prices in order to increase its market share or maintain the current prices and increase its revenue per unit items compared to its competitors. The principal idea of the low cost strategy is that cost and prices are not dependent, and the strategy puts a lot more on costs to achieve a status that it can use to foster competitive advantage or use lower costs to increase its profitability (Haines, 2004).

The differentiation strategy puts more emphasis on the development of a distinctive product or service or the development of a perception of a distinctive product that consumers are keener to compensate a premium for it. If a business enterprise is not getting a premium pay for its products or services, then it has not effectively implemented differentiation. An effective implementation of differentiation requires PCRC to exploit the resources that enhance the responsiveness from their customers, quality service delivery and innovation. It is important to take into account that costs are a vital issue of concern during service differentiation because the costs associated with unique service delivery may turn out to be higher compared to the premium amount that the consumers are willing to pay for it (Woods, 2001). An indicator that can be used to measure the effectiveness of the differentiation strategy is the loyalty of the customers. This is a strategy that the proposed business will exploit to expand its customer base. The principal argument under the differentiation strategy is that the customer should be willing to pay a premium for a given product. There are potential threats can hinder the effectiveness of product differentiation, for instances, customers have a tendency of ceasing to value the difference that they were paying highly during the early phases of service delivery.

The third business level strategy is focus, where by an organization focuses on the meeting the requirements of a particular market segment. This business strategy is usually effective for organizations that do not have an efficient cost advantage or they enterprise cannot get a higher pay for its products. This implies that an organization that makes use of the focus strategy must carefully analyze the nature of its target market in order to facilitate the understanding of the market requirements (Murray, 2008). In order for the focus business strategy to be effective, the firm must exploit the narrow differences of the target market form the overall market place by isolation of a specific buyer group, isolation of the distinctive segment of a specific product line and understanding their niche. Some of the driving factors that can cause an organization to deploy focus strategies include the unavailability of resources to compete in the wider market place; most large enterprises underestimate small niche markets; a small market segment can make the PCRC serve the market more effectively compared to serving the wider market; and finally, focus strategies allow the enterprise to forward its resources to particular value chain activities, thereby fostering competitive advantage. Some of the significant risks associated with focus strategies include a change in the niche market requirements to conform to the wider market; larger organizations can set its operations in the niche market.

The proposed business case will make use of an integrated strategy as a model of business expansion, which entails the use of a combination of cost leadership strategy and the differentiation strategy. This integrated strategy is more effective when organizations aims at adapting rapidly to changes in the market, and control the core competencies of the firm against its competitors. A significant risk associated with the integrated strategy is that it normally entails compromises; as a result, the organization can turn out to be “stuck in the middle” (Debelak, 2005).

Functional strategies

Functional strategies can be defined as a policy, which describes a way of thinking and decision making guidelines that are applicable in the various functional units of the business. The formulation of these strategies is done at the functional level such as marketing, finance, human resource, and other functional units within the organization. The underlying objective behind functional strategies is to get things done in appropriate manner in order to facilitate the realization of organizational growth and development. Functional strategies are primarily concerned with the development and cultivation of a unique competence in order to make the firm or a specific functional element of the business to gain a competitive advantage (Haines, 2004).

Functional strategies are an important element in organizational growth owing to the fact they enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the decision making process, they provide a framework for delegating authority and facilitate effective communication. In addition, functional strategy offers a simplification towards the control of organizational processes, and most importantly, they offer framework for fostering organizational growth and stability. The core elements of functional strategies that can be deployed in order to compel organizational growth in a competitive environment include marketing strategy, financial strategy, HRM strategy and information management strategy.

The marketing strategy entails pricing, selling and the distribution of a given product or service. There two basic strategies that can be deployed during marketing, they include market development and product development. For the case of market development, an organization aims at increasing its market share in an existing market. This is attained through market saturation and market penetration. In addition, market development aims at developing new markets for the current commodities or services that the organization offers. In order to implement the marketing strategy effectively, organization can deploy the use of advertising and promotion in order to foster market penetration and saturation. Advertising involves the use of various communication channels to manipulate people to pay for the goods and services of a particular brand name. The desired effect of advertising is to influence consumer behavior by use of commercial offering. The marketing mix is an indispensable concept that should be put into deliberation during advertising. The marketing mix comprises of four P’s, which are product, Price, Place and promotion. Aspects such as market duration and service differentiation should be taken into account during the marketing of a service (Cleland, 2003). The price represents the monetary value that the consumers pay to obtain the product or use a service. The place represents the geographical location of the target consumers or a marketing channel used by the marketers. A significant revolution of the place concept in marketing is due to its consolidation associated with the onset of the internet, whereby marketers were faced with minimal challenges associated with geographical limitations.  The promotion element of the marketing mix is also an important element of the Integrated Marketing Communications. The aspect of promotion is applicable across all the four P’s. Advertising forms part of the promotional strategies that a company can deploy in order to reach the target market and appropriate strategies to have an impact on the consumer behavior towards the product. The advent of the internet revolutionized the advertising strategies since it created various opportunities to deploy online marketing, for example Search Engine Optimization, e-business frameworks and other advertising opportunities such as email advertisements and pop ups. The new technological frameworks had a significant impact on the advertising trends deployed by marketers, especially due to the elimination of geographical limitations facilitated by the internet and other digital advertising frameworks (Murray, 2008).

The Research and Development strategy primarily focuses on product innovation and process improvement. In addition, it deals with the assessment of internal development, external acquisition, role or technology in organizational growth and other factors that may revolutionize the way an organization operates. An organization can opt to be a technological leader, in the sense it aims at innovation, or it can be a technological follower, in the sense that it imitates other innovations by other firms.

The Human Resource Management Strategy deals with people management in an enterprise. Human resource is arguably one of the most vital assets for an organization. The financial strategy on the other hand ensures that the financial management of the firm is in line with the business and corporate strategies of the organization, with a principal objective of fostering strategic advantage. Some of the financial strategies include forecasting and planning, the financial mix and liquidity strategies.

Pricing for financial analysis

The primary source of income for the business will be generated by MRI and CAT scanning offered to patients who will be referred to the PCRC by their specialized physicians. It is anticipated that the company will generate approximately USD 2500-3000 of the total revenue from each of the MRI or CAT scans. Another assumption is that approximately 85-90 percent of the clients will be having some healthcare insurance schemes or re-imbursement programs. It is expected that radiobiology services will offer approximately 70 percent of the total revenue.

The supplementary revenue will be generated from radiobiology treatment services to cancer patients. It is estimated that each of this treatment will approximately generate USD 10000-15000 for the business (Maluso, 2010). It is approximated that this will comprise of about 30 percent of the total business revenue.

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

Economic outlook

Businesses that are healthcare oriented normally function irrespective of the factors affecting economic stability owing to the fact that people need specialized treatment. In addition, people having cancer are in constant need of radiobiology diagnostic services. The business context is enhanced by the fact that most of medical care costs are paid for by the insurance and healthcare systems, implying that the company is guaranteed to receive the payment for the services rendered.

The competition

The Radiobiology industry is capital intensive, implying that there are minimal numbers of people willing to invest in it. In addition, the treatment offered using radiobiology is usually expensive resulting to a segmented target customers, this discourages people from investing in the same (Cleland, 2003). The following table 2 represents the medical institutions in the city of New York that offers radio biology services.

Table 2: Competitor analysis

Company	Products	Customers	Location	Competitive scale
Syracuse VA Medical Center	CAT, MRI scanning and radiobiology diagnostics	Referred patients	800 Irving Avenue   Syracuse, NY 13210	3
Canandaigua VA Medical Center	CAT, MRI scanning and radiobiology diagnostics	Referred patients	400 Fort Hill Avenue   Canandaigua, NY 14424	2
VA Western New York Healthcare System at Buffalo	CAT, MRI scanning and radiobiology diagnostics and radiobiology 5cancer treatment	Referred patients and specialized cancer patients	3495 Bailey Avenue   Buffalo, NY 14215	5

 

Analysis of competition

Basing on an analysis of the competitive impact, it is evident that VA Western New York Healthcare System at Buffalo is the core competitor because it offers a comprehensive radiobiology treatment that includes cancer treatments and targets the same patients in the same region.

PCRC competitive advantage

The company believes that it is a better position to enter the competitive market. Since VA Western New York Healthcare System at Buffalo is the only direct competitor, market entry will be relative easily and PCRC will capitalize on affordable rates and rigorous marketing to increase its market share (Bogorad, 2008).

FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

Capital requirements

Presently, PCRC requires approximately USD 3.2 million. The following table represents how the funds will be utilized.

Table 3: capital requirements

Initial lease payments and deposits	25000
Working capital	65000
FF and E	7500
Leaseholds improvements	25000
Security deposits	10000
Opening supplies	2500
Company vehicle and Lease Deposits	10000
Marketing Budget	20000
miscellaneous	10000
Total costs for start up	175 000

 

Organizational Budget

The following figure 1 represents the organizational budget for the PCRC.

Figure 1: organizational budget

 

 

Assumptions

1. The PCRC is projected to have an annual proceeds growth rate of 8% per year.

2. The company will petition for $3.2 million of capital to begin the business operations

 

 

Break even analysis

Figure 2: Break even analysis

 

REQUEST FOR COMMITMENT

From the above analysis, the following are obtained:

1. Competition is low
2. Significant target market = 800000
3. Healthcare oriented business are immune from instability in the economy

As such, Primary Care Radiobiology center officially requests the support of the banking establishment, investor, or venture capitalist to provide the necessary capital endorsement to start this business immediately.

 

 

 

 

References

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Cleland, J. (2003). Business writing for results: how to create a sense of urgency and increase        response to all of your business communications. New York: Mc Graw Hill.

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Duane, I., & Hoskisson, R. (2008). Understanding Business Strategy: Concepts and Cases. New   York: Cengage Learning.

Haines, S. (2004). ABCs of strategic management : an executive briefing and plan-to-plan day       on strategic management in the 21st century. New York: Cengage Learning.

Maluso, N. (2010). Business Case Tutorial Series how to write an effective business case.   Retrieved January 16, 2012, from http://www.prosci.com/tutorial-business-case      mod1.htm

Murray, J. (2008). The complete guide to writing effective and award winning business       proposals: step-by-step instructions. New York: Atlantic Publishing Company,.

Woods, A. (2001). Strategic management: a fresh approach to developing skills, knowledge and   creativity. Washington DC: Kogan Page Publishers.