Pricing Strategy in the American Cancer Society
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Pricing Strategy in the American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is a United States national health organization aging over a hundred years ago to eradicate cancer and is the oldest and largest health organization (Cancer.org, 2015). The society is set up in different locations with over 3000 units across the country within which the provider professionals offer cancer care services. ACS sole commitment is on providing treatment services, creating cancer awareness to the public, educating the healthcare practitioners, and prospecting service providers on cancer management and care. The organization, therefore, requires resources and equipment that aid in its processes and service delivery and efficiency of its operations in meeting demands.
According to Cancer.org (2015) the number of people seeking services in the organization has grown and as a, not for profit organization; the society must develop a pricing strategy that gives attention all the aspects of its goal. From the society reorganization in 2013 to ensure centralizing of services, the plans for ACS must fit both the primary and affiliate organizations for the course. The main activities of the organization are promotion of research on cancer through funding, providing treatment and care for cancer patients and giving information on cancer to the public through national information center. The funds for the society are majorly external generated from public health campaigns, with the spending much on program activities.
Holcombe (2015) argues that the organization continually tops the list of national accreditation for meeting the standards for charitable organization and higher quality service delivery and commitment within the US. The quality service delivery with no doubt couples with better structure and facilities that meet the target of the institution and expectation of service seekers. The organization committing to capacity building and establishing collaboration with other groups must get a reflection on the pricing strategy that offers the opportunity to end cancer.
As a non-profit organization, pricing strategy has to take into consideration the interest of the government, beneficiaries, and donors to the programs having suitable moral of pricing. By conducting analysis and audits, the society is capable of identifying appropriate pricing strategy for its product or services appropriate to the client base it serves (Bredenkamp, & van 2013). As an institution that complies with set standards and presenting positive audit results, it is evident that the society is pricing its services appropriately as per the requirements and appropriations of accrediting bodies. The organization pricing strategy can transform clients’ experience about services and products and ultimately having possible effects on the consumers.
As an institution that commits to research to inform its development and decisions, data and statistics available present clues on an appropriate strategy that will serve best the interest of all stakeholders of the society. The ACS is working tirelessly to save lives and reduce cases of cancers globally at maximized operatives and utilization and therefore as the pricing that gears towards serving the purpose of the organization, it has to shift towards consumers. Based on the general cancer disease burden, cancer society tends to focus on products and services that raise revenues to provide services and that benefit the cancer patients (Cancer.org, 2015). The pricing of the products that benefit cancer patients should be those that attracts the patients and portrays the actual picture of the society and promoting its brand.
Pricing is an element of marketing mix that can generate turnover for an institution and must have ability to give the society advantage in the competitive environment. Pricing takes into consideration all aspects of the process that a product undergoes to reaching the customer or cost of delivering service to a client (Davidson, & Simonetto, 2005). Pricing strategy must reflect on the relationship between the supply and demand, and if not properly undertaken then the body may fail to deliver its mandate to the public and cancer patients.
Pricing Cancer Services
With increasing cases of cancer in the recent, it is obvious that demand for products or services related to the care for cancer is high, and the pricing strategy may inflate prices. The Society therefore must have a balance of all aspects to ensure that pricing for its services fits the market range and has the moral consideration to pricing of healthcare products and services (Bredenkamp, & van 2013). ACS must have consideration on the willingness of people to pay for their product and service based on the price set, and formulation of the strategy must give account. Commonly, the services offered are necessity rather than luxury and pricing may affect the demand at some point deteriorating progress in controlling cancer.
Davidson & Simonetto (2005) argue that while the society sets the optimum price of its product, it must incorporate marketing principles of a healthcare institution or product in the process that will ensure generation of profit in the process and maintaining and attracting consumers too. It is important that facts from the research on users and decision by the firm on population inform the pricing strategy. The society focuses on saving lives rather than profits, and its pricing strategy may not be common to businesses as a non-profit organization but reflect the realities and cost containment of its programs.
According to De Rosa, Messori, & Pani, (2015) the American Cancer Society would not focus on competitors or addition of the profit element of products or services while pricing but on what clients are able and willing to pay. ACS has diverse service and product offerings, and the strategy would depend on type or stage of the service or product available. Penetration strategy is apt for the society as it employs it while releasing new product in the market to attract consumers and monitor consumer reaction towards the product. The price may have subjection to change after achieving the purpose of intention or monitoring consumer response (Jones, 2003).
Under penetration pricing strategy, the Society can tend to offer service or product with minimal extra of the cost or reasonable price depending on the cost of providing the product or service. If the cost is too high, the Society can set the appropriate rate in addition to the cost, which a later alteration can apply depending on the clients. If the cost is low, and the Society requires larger client base for the service, it may set minimal additional to the price (Davidson, & Simonetto, 2005). Most often, the Society offers subsidized products and services to customers who cannot afford, and the institution may have to recover it elsewhere. This element brings the other strategy that the society adopts for its services that involves product line and categorizes similar services or products in different classes depending on the card a person holds.
Product line pricing strategy provides a plan where similar goods or services are provided at various levels within the society to different people at different charges. The services may not be that exclusive, but with the effort by the company to recover costs and the desire of some patients for separate handling; this strategy applies to the institution (De Rosa, Messori, & Pani, 2015). In this essence, a percentage or extra charges can be included in the cost of the service or product provided to cater for the gaps and subsidy for other patients who cannot adequately afford similar items. The pricing strategy for the Society product and services cannot be a single one, but a combination of two or more works best to serve its purpose and ensure that every individual accesses the services.