Stage of Product Life Cycle

Stage of Product Life Cycle

According to Berkowitz (2017), all services and products have a life cycle that consists of four key stages; introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. The Relay Health’s e-platform is in its introductory phase and is in the process of entering the growth stage that will get it established into the market. The introduction stage occurs when a product has been rolled to the market, and it is yet to experience growth. Although the e-platform has many benefits to patients and providers, its adoption has been slow. Due to its slow performance, there is a need for Relay Health to build a position in the market.

Relay Health is, however, facing a tough completion from companies offering similar online care services like American Well. In the introduction stage, the company needs to conduct extensive market research to help it in deciding on the services to offer, who the services are to be offered to, and the cost of the services (Berkowitz, 2017). To ensure that the online care service provided by Relay Health grows, this is the appropriate stage to establish if people will be willing to adopt online care in Relay Health’s current market by studying how they respond to the service.

Differential Advantage

There are three major areas in which an organization can seek a differential advantage, and they are product, cost, and market (Berkowitz, 2017). Considering product, Relay Health has the clinical expertise and a unique technological ability to be competitive in the offering of online care services. While online care is an emerging service, Relay Health already prides itself on having information and technology as one of its key competencies. Its recognition as a leader in developing and supporting key IT improvements in health care can give it a differential advantage over its competitors (Neirotti & Raguseo, 2017).

It can expand its scope beyond patient-physician to provide connectivity of patients, health providers, insurers, and pharmaceutical companies such that it streamlines health care interactions. Due to rapidly evolving technologies, Relay Health should consider acquiring new technology or updating the existing ones to improve access of the e-platform to gain a differential advantage (Uscher-Pines et al., 2016). It is important that Relay Health removes access barriers to make it easy for patients to gain access (Berkowitz, 2017). As such, it should partner with critical players like providers and insurers to come up with highly sustainable services. Relay Health requires security to protect the information of patients as per the HIPAA requirement that patient information should be secured from unauthorized access. The confidence that their information is safe and secure can make patients be attracted to the company.

After studying the growing health concerns in its present market, Relay Health can provide services that address them to expand its line of products and scope of opportunities. It should also position its products in a manner that they stand out differently from other alternatives that are available in the market (Berkowitz, 2017). However, e-visit platforms are highly competitive, and since it is still in its initial stages in Relay Health, it will have to create public awareness of the new service by offering promotions that highlight the new service in the defined geographical areas. For instance, this can be achieved by investing in celebrity endorsement.

Relay Health does not seem to have defined a specific group that it is targeting for its online care services. Focusing on a particular market segment would give Relay Health a differential advantage (Berkowitz, 2017). It has the chance to market the new service to the public, including the services that are offered to individuals already having coverage by particular insurance companies and services available to individuals who are not covered. It is important to define the geographical area and the particular population for which the company is offering online health services. This makes it easier to market and promote the services and also gives the company uniqueness that makes it stand out and easily identifiable.

To gain a differential advantage with its costs, the company can adopt a skimming whereby it can open up its services to those who do not have insurance covers and offer them high-quality services at cheaper costs of going to visit a physician. Providing high-quality care services at lower prices than primary care physicians or going to the emergency room can be immensely appealing to patients (Berkowitz, 2017). Besides, offering low-cost services can attract more insurance companies to partner with Relay Health as the lower costs will save the insurers money.

Growth Market Strategies

There are four major strategies highlighted by Berkowitz (2017) that can guide the growth of an organization. The strategies focus on both the internal and external organization. The dimension of products is critical for the internal organization, while the market dimension represents the external organization. Market penetration is a strategy involving the increased sales of present products and services in the present markets. It is highly useful when the existing markets are strong and expanding.

Through this strategy, organizations can attract new users. Also, an organization can conduct more aggressive promotions, intensely distribute its services or products, or adopt competitive pricing to attract more customers (Berkowitz, 2017). Adopting this strategy may require Relay Health to reduce its prices and employ more intensive strategies of marketing and promotion to increase its sales in its present customer market. This can be done through price discounts and running promotional campaigns and offers in the current market. As it is in its initial growth stage, this strategy can give Relay Health success in its home market.

Market development strategy is the initiation of the sale of existing products and services to new markets. It is mainly followed when the present market is stagnant with regard to market share gains and growth due to the existence of high competition (Berkowitz, 2017). Organizations, therefore, can resort to relocate services to new areas where it was not offered previously. Similarly, from the case study, American Well employed market development through its decision to provide its existing online care services to new markets by expanding its online portal nationally

Relay Health may consider entering new markets where e-service platforms do not exist already by offering online care services in new geographical locations or offering a new service that has never been offered by its competitors in the telemedicine industry (Berkowitz, 2017). Alternatively, the online health company can appeal to new market segments that it has not attracted yet; for instance, it can establish pediatric programs to enroll children into the program. Focusing on pediatric care and ensuring quality in its services can make Relay Health get recognized as a market leader in pediatrics.

Product development strategy involves the provision of new products to the existing markets (Berkowitz, 2017). This mainly works when an organization has a strong customer base, and in an effort to retain them, it offers them new services or improves the quality of the existing services. Relay Health can apply this strategy by expanding its products line to offer an array of services. Besides retaining customers, offering a broad range of services can help the company to hedge risks by compensating losses incurred by one line of services with gains from another (Berkowitz, 2017). To achieve this, Relay Health will have to invest more in research and development for the creation of new products and innovation of the already existing ones.

The final strategy, diversification, is whereby an organization develops new services or products for new markets. It is often adopted when the growth rate is slow in existing markets or in case there is a technological, societal, competitive, economic, or regulatory environmental change that makes it risky to remain in the current markets (Berkowitz, 2017). Relay Health can adopt this strategy if it is overwhelmed by the competition in its current market by companies like American Well.

To successfully enter a new market, the company can enhance its research and development to continuously produce highly needed products for specific markets (Berkowitz, 2017). Specializing in delivering the essential health services that a market needs can help Relay Health to reduce the risk of not being able to penetrate the new market. When getting into new markets, it should consider how culturally diversified the markets are and develop appropriate products and integrate the market’s values and norms in its promotion and marketing campaigns.