Learn Best Practices from Philips Healthcare
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Identify how customer- and market-driven principles are put into practice.
- Spot the three essential activities of customer- and market-driven organizations.
- Spot the levers influencing customer- and market-driven behaviors.
- Explain a story of a successful customer- and market-driven company.
Story Time: Philips Healthcare
Let’s take a look at an example of how these principles work in real life.
Philips Healthcare is part of Royal Philips—a diversified technology company, providing solutions for consumer lifestyle, lighting, and healthcare. The market for healthcare technology solutions is expected to grow significantly. However, it’s also highly competitive—with numerous well-funded companies developing innovative solutions. It’s also changing rapidly as regulations change, competitors release new solutions, and the needs of an aging population become clearer.
So how does Philips Healthcare thrive in this highly competitive and dynamic market? The answer lies in its customer- and market-driven approach. Let’s take a look at a couple of the company’s statements:
As you can see from these statements, both customers and the market are at the heart of Philips' approach to success.
Making statements is one thing, taking correct action is another. In other words, the company must consistently perform the three essential activities of customer- and market-driven organizations discussed in earlier sections, that is, generating intelligence, analyzing and sharing intelligence, and taking appropriate action. Figure 5 provides examples of how Philips Healthcare actively engages in these activities.
Figure 5. Philips Healthcare engages in each of three essential activities
Philips also uses Salesforce to improve the alignment and interconnectedness of internal departments—a key lever to being customer- and market-driven.
In summary, Philips Healthcare is looking to drive success by actively engaging in the three essential activities of customer- and market-driven organizations. The results from their efforts will be noticeable across multiple dimensions, especially in the areas of customers, financial performance, and employees. In the rapidly changing market for healthcare technology solutions, Philips’ approach should serve it well.
While our story is about a large company (Phillips Healthcare), it is important to note that the value of being customer and market driven applies to all organizations, whether large or small, profit or non-profit.
