Overview
The Challenge
M1 focuses significant attention on the extremely important topic of market structure, including environmental surveillance. Among other things, you were introduced to Porter's Five Forces Model, via your readings, which serves as a useful reference for defining competition. Specifically, you are to place yourself in the role of Strategy Officer for a soon-to-be-established diagnostic imaging center based in the city of your choice. (An actual city must be selected as this assignment calls for formal market research.) This entity will be named Continental Imaging and it will offer the usual and customary array of services provided by diagnostic imaging centers. (If you are unfamiliar with diagnostic imaging centers and the types of services offered, conduct associated research and perhaps even visit one to gain a proper understanding before completing the assignment.)
The establishment's owners, new in their role as healthcare entrepreneurs, wish to gain a better understanding of competition in the market and enlist you to prepare an associated assessment. The owners are familiar with Porter's Five Forces Model and feel as though their knowledge of suppliers and buyers is sufficient. Noting the highly competitive market, however, they would like to bolster their knowledge of existing competitors, potential entrants, and substitutes and have requested your assistance and advice. (As the owners indicate that the organization is in a competitive market, the city you select must mirror this attribute. Smaller municipalities likely will not qualify. As such, moderately-sized or larger municipalities should be selected.) Your task is to perform a market assessment, identifying existing competitors, potential entrants, and substitutes in the city of focus for diagnostic imaging services.
Doing so will require you to consult a variety of information sources (e.g., telephone directories, the Internet, industry databases), reflect on your own knowledge of the marketplace, conduct field research, and explore other relevant avenues in an effort to comprehensively identify the noted competitive forces across the three designated categories of Porter's framework. Competitive forces in each category must be explicitly identified (e.g., existing competitors and potential entrants must be listed by their specific brand name, substitutes must be explicitly identified and named). Note that general portrayals will be penalized harshly; specificity is required.
The end result of your efforts should yield a comprehensive overview of the competitive threats in the city of focus, affording details that will help in operational planning.
Submissions must incorporate a minimum of ten (10) references, with at least three (3) being from scholarly academic journals.