APPLYING THE LIFE-CYCLE MATRIX IN AN HEALTH CARE ORGANIZATION
This research applies matrix techniques as a part of portfolio analysis to an hypothetical health care organization. The matrix technique applied in this research is the Life-Cycle Matrix Model. The hypothetical health care organization is a critical care hospital.
Metro Hospital (hypothetical) is a large private hospital that specializes in critical care. The business focus areas of the hospital within the context of critical care are cardiovascular surgery, neurosciences (including neurosurgery), rehabilitation, cancer therapy (including cancer surgery), perinatal services, low-back pain therapy (including surgery), and behavioral medicine (primarily psychological services).
Metro Hospital is a not-for-profit institution, although the hospital is privately-owned, as opposed to being a publicly-funded facility. As a not-for-profit hospital, Metro Hospital does not focus on earning a profit to provide shareholder returns, as is the case with a for-profit institution. This variation in focus, however, does not mean that Metro Hospital can afford to either operate at a loss or operate in the absence of a margin over costs. The hospital must more than break-even on its health business operations if the institution is to be able to retain its market leadership in its business focus areas. The margin over costs that the hospital earns must provide funds for modernization, training, and the acquisition of innovative medical technology.
One approach to the evaluation of strategic planning for organizations with diversified business portfolios is the application of matrix techniques. The matrix techniques used in the evaluation of the strategic planning of diversified typically are structured as 2X2 matrices wherein the interactions of two major variables provide the basis for evaluation (Hudson, 1994). Each of the two major variables is characterized by two cla...