University Report: Development of a New Product Case Study

This report presents a case study on the development of a new product, 'Total Muscle Treatment' (TMT), by a multinational hospital. The assignment details the decision analysis process undertaken to address a market challenge posed by a competitor's innovative product package. The process involved extensive market research, financial analysis, and stakeholder participation, including employees, suppliers, and branches in different locations. The report highlights the importance of transparent communication and the collaborative efforts of various departments, such as marketing and finance. The outcome was the TMT product, which offered comprehensive muscle treatment, check-ups, and dietary advice, attracting health-conscious customers and strengthening the hospital's community image. The report also includes the references used during the development of the product.

Running head: DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW PRODUCT
Development of a New Product
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW PRODUCT
Decision analysis process is the systematic, quantitative and visual procedure of
analysing a challenge and finding an appropriate solution. The business organisations and the
non-profit seeking organisations often face challenges due to various factors like new product
by a competitor, new government policies and changing tastes of customers. These
challenges require the apex management and the middle level management in the business
organisations take decisions regarding ways to counteract the challenges. I was a part of one
such decision analysis process, which led to introduction of a new product by the
multinational hospital where I work as a part of the product and innovation team (Bell et al.,
2014).
The problem that required decision analysis process was that another multinational
hospital had introduced a very innovative product package. The product package combined
insurance from one of the most reputed international insurance companies and treatment
facilities. The product allowed the patients and their relatives to buy insurance packages from
one the leading insurance companies, which allowed them to avail discounts in certain
medical services in the hospital like hospital cabin charges, medicine costs within a specified
limit and pathological tests. They could get up to two people covered by purchasing the
insurance packages at subsidised rates. This product introduced by the hospital led to some
loyal customers shifting to this competitor hospital. This led to reduction in the revenue
generation in the hospital I am employed. This losing of customers and reduction of revenue
demanded action from all the three levels of hierarchy within the organization, namely the
apex management, the middle level management and the teams of medical services providing
staffs. There were several meetings, which the three levels of employees attended that
continued for around a month (Muennig & Bounthavong, 2016). The marketing team
conducted market researches to gain information about the products the leading hospitals
especially the multinational hospitals in the American market. Then they studied the

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DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW PRODUCT
customer satisfaction and customer loyalty these competing hospitals enjoy. They finally
conducted an analysis of our products to recognise the areas improvements can be introduced.
They came up with various alternative products combining attributes similar to the other
hospitals (Malczewski & Rinner, 2015).
The marketing teams presented these proposals of alternative products before the apex
management and the medical teams. The apex management asked the finance department to
prepare budgets to find out probable investments these would require and future return on
investments they can generate (Self et al., 2014).
The finance department presented the budget after analysing these alternative
products suggested by the marketing before the apex management. They also put forwards
the findings of risk analysis while the marketing department presented the results of the
market analysis. The important stakeholders like suppliers and shareholders also participated
in the decision making process which stretched over three months. The branches of our
hospital located in various locations like London and Tokyo participated in the process
(Drummond et al., 2015).
This extensive research and decision analysis resulted in smooth communication. This
transparent communication helped the apex management maintain clarity throughout the
entire decision analysis process between the large number of participants like suppliers,
employees and managers. The outcome of the decision process analysis was a unique
product, which helped our hospital to win back its consumer base. The product was named
‘Total Muscle Treatment’ or TMT. The product allowed the patients who came with
muscle ailments to get treatment and workout advices. The product also allowed check-ups
by other specialists like cardiologists and neurologists to ensure the root cause of those pains,
in case painkillers fail to cure these ailments. The package allowed the patients diagnosed

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DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW PRODUCT
with muscle injury due to work out and sports could obtain free check-ups form our in-house
dietician. These packages were not only cost effective but also aimed to achieve sustainability
(Self et al., 2014). The hospital authorities started acquiring towels, high quality hand
sanitizers and floor cleaners from the local suppliers. They often hold free health check-up
camps in the low budget gymnasiums who could afford to have in-house dieticians. They
spoke to the members, the local and more importantly to the instructors about the importance
of proper diet to recover from muscle injuries, so common among the people working out
(Konijeti et al., 2014). Thus, TMT on one hand attracted health conscious people and earned
huge revenue for the hospital. Second, it supported health awareness initiatives in the local
community which furthered strengthened the socially responsible image of the hospital.
Decision analysis process helps organisations to tide over market challenges and find
use in large number of organisations. They help the apex management in these organisations
to gain support from both internal stakeholders like employees and external stakeholders like
suppliers. This participation of the stakeholders helps organisations to take appropriate
business decisions and deal with these market challenges.

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DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW PRODUCT
References:
Bell, M. L., Ebisu, K., Leaderer, B. P., Gent, J. F., Lee, H. J., Koutrakis, P., ... & Peng, R. D.
(2014). Associations of PM2. 5 constituents and sources with hospital admissions:
analysis of four counties in Connecticut and Massachusetts (USA) for persons≥ 65
years of age. Environmental health perspectives, 122(2), 138.
Drummond, M. F., Sculpher, M. J., Claxton, K., Stoddart, G. L., & Torrance, G. W.
(2015). Methods for the economic evaluation of health care programmes. Oxford
university press.
Konijeti, G. G., Sauk, J., Shrime, M. G., Gupta, M., & Ananthakrishnan, A. N. (2014). Cost-
effectiveness of competing strategies for management of recurrent Clostridium
difficile infection: a decision analysis. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 58(11), 1507-
1514.
Malczewski, J., & Rinner, C. (2015). Multicriteria decision analysis in geographic
information science. Springer.
Muennig, P., & Bounthavong, M. (2016). Cost-effectiveness analysis in health: A practical
approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Self, W. H., Talbot, T. R., Paul, B. R., Collins, S. P., & Ward, M. J. (2014). Cost analysis of
strategies to reduce blood culture contamination in the emergency department: sterile
collection kits and phlebotomy teams. Infection Control & Hospital
Epidemiology, 35(8), 1021-1028.