DB FPX 8710 Assessment 4 Integrating Current and Past Literature

Name

Capella university

DB-FPX 8710 Strategy and Innovation: Theorizing, Crafting, Executing

Prof. Name

Date

Introduction

CareLead Medical is a healthcare facility that provides hospitals, urgent care, and COVID testing facilities. Founded in 1987, the company has grown over the years. Recently, however, CareLead has experienced a decline in revenues and profits. Despite decades of double-digit annual growth, the past few years have seen only a 1-3% growth rate. This has delayed the company’s global expansion plans as the focus has shifted to the current business model.

Business Problem and Gap in Practice

Every business, regardless of its success, faces issues that can adversely affect the company, known as business problems. These problems can have multiple layers, and identifying the root cause can lead to breakthrough solutions (Spradlin, 2014). The source of the problem is known as a gap in practice. Identifying and resolving this gap can pave the way for greater success. Therefore, it is crucial for any company to address the business problem and identify the gap in practice to prevent future issues.

Identified Business ProblemCare

Lead Medical has experienced a loss of revenue and profit in recent years after decades of growth. The acquisition of COVID testing and vaccination sites has been challenging due to a lack of knowledge in executing the acquisition process. Additionally, there is a lack of strategic planning processes within the organization, contributing to the growing problem with profits. The company had been successful until it decided to expand globally. However, a poorly communicated and constructed business strategy has become apparent as financial losses continue.

Identified Gap in Process

The identified gap in process is the lack of direction and consistent messaging within the executive team regarding a clear strategic strategy, especially concerning the acquisition. There is not a clear understanding of the current business model and strategy, leading to confusion among the executive team and the rest of the leadership about the strategic business model going forward. The acquisition of the COVID centers highlighted the breakdown in leadership and strategy. The gap in executing the acquisition strategy not only hurt CareLead financially but also hindered its overall strategy for global expansion. The lack of communication from leadership and a poorly constructed business model created this gap in process.

Current Supporting Articles

Transformation of strategy within corporations starts with communication. Corporate Communication International (CCI) studies have shown that communication approaches are shifting from traditional top-down methods to more agile approaches to adapt to change (Goodman, 2019). This article emphasizes that corporate communication is key to a successful business model. CareLead Medical failed to evolve its communication strategy, leading to team members struggling to understand the next steps to remain successful and expand. Proper communication of the business model and strategy, along with the implementation method, could have altered the trajectory of the expansion and acquisition, leading to further success instead of losses.

Strategy formulation has extensive research support; however, there is a gap in research on executing strategies (de Oliveira et al., 2019). This article supports CareLead Medical’s gap in process, as the CEO had a business model but failed to provide an execution strategy. The model included acquiring COVID clinics, which was successful, but the lack of an execution strategy once the acquisition was finalized caused a downward trend in profits and halted global expansion.

Past Supporting Articles

Business models must evolve with societal changes. Often, business models fail due to inadequate evaluation of their implementation, which hinders successful development (Batocchio et al., 2016). In CareLead’s case, the business model was not adequately communicated. Without proper communication and understanding of the business model, proper execution is impossible. The poor execution of the COVID clinics acquisition caused a rapid decrease in profits. The focus was on global expansion, which had a detailed business model, but for it to succeed, the acquisition needed to be executed successfully. This article highlights the importance of a business model and the steps CareLead could have taken to ensure success.

Removing Personal Bias

To properly support and validate research, it is critical to remove personal bias from literature selection. Removing personal bias helps identify more relevant research to support the topic. If personal bias is not removed, research outcomes are unreliable and inaccurate. For example, if a researcher seeks a desired outcome, they may find research to support that outcome rather than considering research that could challenge it. Allowing personal bias in research negatively impacts the project, potentially discrediting the researcher’s work and reputation. In CareLead Medical’s case, the issue was poor communication and execution of a business strategy. The research in the articles supports the need for clear communication and execution of the business strategy to succeed.

Reflection

This assessment has deepened my understanding of the importance of planning research before starting a project. I have learned to thoroughly evaluate research and articles to ensure they are valid and accurately support my points. Creating a literature matrix forced me to read and comprehend the resources I wanted to use in all my assessments. This kept my thoughts organized throughout the course. Besides gaining knowledge about proper research, I also acquired useful skills for my professional life. I can now identify the true business problem in my daily work, find the root cause, and address the gap in process to make positive, impactful changes using strategy and innovation.

References

Batocchio, A., Ghezzi, A., & Rangone, A. (2016). A method for evaluating business models implementation process. Business Process Management Journal, 22(4), 712–735. https://doi.org/10.1108/bpmj-08-2015-0117

de Oliveira, C. A., Carneiro, J., & Esteves, F. (2019). Conceptualizing and measuring the “strategy execution” construct. Journal of Business Research, 105, 333–344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.03.012

DB FPX 8710 Assessment 4 Integrating Current and Past Literature

Goodman, M. B. (2019). Introduction to the special issue: corporate communication – transformation of strategy. Journal of Business Strategy, 40(6), 3–8. https://doi.org/10.1108/jbs-07-2019-0149

Spradlin, D. (2014, August 7). The power of defining the problem. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2012/09/the-power-of-defining-the-problem