Key Strategies of Anthem Inc..
One of the top health insurance providers in the nation is Anthem Inc. In early 1940, it was established. WellPoint, Inc., the company’s previous name, was the top provider of health benefits until 2014. The corporation, which has its headquarters in Indianapolis, expanded through acquisitions. It is the second-biggest health insurance payer by market share in the country and the largest for-profit managed healthcare provider in the BCBSA, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
Over 73 million people in the United States are served by Elevance Health and its connected businesses, including about 40 million people who use the company’s proprietary health plans. Through a wide range of health care plans, Elevance Health offers a number of cutting-edge health benefit product options. The health services include a wide range of speciality products, including flexible spending accounts, dental, vision, and behavioural health benefits in addition to long-term care insurance and life and disability insurance benefits. Anthem is authorized to cover members in 14 states and members of speciality plans in additional jurisdictions thanks to various health care regulations.
Here are some of the key strategies of Anthem Inc.
Business strategies
The following goals serve as the foundation of Anthem’s strategy:
- “Build the best value in health care for our sector”
- “Succeed at customer experience” and “Grab fresh chances to promote growth”
The linked health and specialty plans offered by the company are divided into the following clientele groups:
- Local Group for National Accounts
- Programs for Individual Medicare
- Federal Employee Medicaid Program
- Products by Blue Card Specialty
A variety of PPOs, HMOs, hybrid and specialty products, network-based dental products, and health plan services have been developed by Anthem, Inc. affiliated health plans. These products combine appealing features that consumers find appealing with efficient cost control methods. The mission of Anthem is to be the most valuable, inclusive, and inventive partner.
Competition in the Global health insurance sector
The global market for health insurance is experiencing a sharp rise in competitiveness. Companies are under intense pressure to improve their technology-related operations, become more efficient, and change their business models as a result. The United States presently controls a majority of the global health insurance market, which in 2015 accounted for almost 70% of all premiums. In emerging markets, people are more conscious of the value of health insurance. The annual share of health premiums in emerging countries is anticipated to climb in the next years due to rising income levels, greater awareness, and an increase in private health insurers.
The way forward.
Different countries have a variety of onerous regulations governing the healthcare sector. However, Anthem should plan to enter the Indian market given the favorable market conditions and large potential market there. Beginning with exploiting Legato Health technology in India from backend IT office operations to leaving imprints in the market, a two-year timeline is included in this global expansion approach. Through its affiliate Apollo Health in India, Anthem will grow. The board will be composed of leaders of the initiatives from the strategic company and strategic partners of Anthem in the first year of this roadmap, which will be thoroughly reviewed.
The strategic leader will provide Apollo Health’s expertise in market research and possible health plan options that the local people will need and want. Before the end of the ninth month of the plan, the worldwide products will be designed, submitted for insurance regulatory clearance, and launched in the market the following year. Approximately at the same time, Anthem travel-related items will be carefully created based on an initial investigation of the US and Indian markets. Anthem would prioritize leaving its first global imprint for these travel-related items in India and gradually grow into other Asian and international markets through subsidiaries.
Differentiation strategy
Another typical method that is frequently employed to create a competitive advantage is differentiation. To meet its growth goals, Anthem combines differentiation with a cost leadership strategy.
How does Anthem Inc. apply this strategy?
- By focusing on the distinctive qualities of its products, Anthem can increase its consumer base by using differentiation as a secondary generic strategy.
- By integrating innovation, Anthem hopes to stand out from the competition and address the rising health concerns of its customers. For instance, Anthem has increased the range of its products after researching consumers’ shifting preferences in order to set itself apart from rivals and broaden the range of prospects within the sector. Anthem has developed a solid and devoted customer base thanks to its distinctiveness and cost leadership.
- Anthem pushes its product solutions to stand out and be distinctive from competing options through differentiation generic approach. Being an established, seasoned brand, the business employs difference as a technique to lessen competition from other companies. To set the Anthem apart from competing brands, significant marketing, advertising, and celebrity endorsement expenditures are made.
- In the company’s marketing and communication initiatives, distinguishing characteristics including extensive experience, the oldest brand, and significant global presence are emphasized.
- In addition to these, the brand logo is employed to establish the basis for distinctiveness. Consumers’ perceptions of the brand are positively shaped by its distinctive and distinctively unique logo. Although the brand has experienced numerous changes, its core has stayed constant, which also acts as a potent differentiator.
The organization also provides a wide range of flavors to meet the diverse palate requirements of customers. To offer distinctive augmented services that might please clients and boost their choice for Anthem over competing companies, it employs innovation as a tactic.
Focus strategy
The third general competitive tactic, focus, encourages businesses to concentrate their efforts on growing the specifically targeted areas. When businesses use the focus strategy, they target certain market segments and use specialty marketing to get a competitive edge.
How Anthem Inc. applies this strategy
- Anthem uses the focus method by keeping costs low and providing the highest value. By meeting a particular market segment’s needs at the most affordable cost, the low-cost focus method is used. While the best value focus strategy emphasizes the flavor, size, and design of the product that may most effectively meet the demands and requirements of the clients.
- Anthem continuously updates its branding strategies and makes modifications to the product design and packaging by concentrating on the product qualities in order to meet the psychological expectations of the customer and maximize value for money.
Intensive growth strategy
When examining these tactics, Anthem’s overarching goal is to increase profitability and market share in order to stay relevant and promote long-term corporate success. The corporation must put up significant effort to implement these tactics effectively, especially if management sees them as a source of competitive advantage. This article examines Anthem’s four intensive growth methods in order to comprehend how each growth strategy helps the company reach its global sales growth goals:
Market penetration
Adopting this strategy necessitates Anthem lowering its costs and use various marketing and promotional techniques to increase sales among its current clientele. To hit its sales growth objective while remaining in the same market, the company offers a variety of price cuts and bargains, often launches promotional campaigns, and presents the product in new, eye-catching packages. In a cutthroat consumer market, this strategy calls for aggressive marketing techniques.
The capacity of Anthem to differentiate its offers in addition to achieving cost leadership is correlated with the choice of market penetration as a key intensive growth strategy. This intense expansion plan is supported by the cost and distinctiveness of generic strategies. The Anthem was successful in its home market during the early stages of its expansion thanks in large part to a market penetration strategy. Later, international markets were targeted using national recognition as a springboard. High market penetration increased brand awareness, which was then utilized to introduce new products to both existing and emerging consumer markets.
Product development
Anthem’s product line has significantly expanded since its launch, and the range of its offerings is now too wide. By making up for losses from one product line with revenues from another, it enables the business to spread its risks. The company currently serves more than Competitor product brands on a global scale. Product creation is a crucial strategy for increasing client appeal.
The strategic goal associated with employing this intensive growth approach is to enhance research and development spending for new product development and innovation. An organization’s capacity to offer novel or new products to grow in existing consumer markets is enhanced by Anthem’s ability to apply the differentiated generic growth strategy, which helps the product development process.
Market development
In order to boost market penetration and product development, Anthem uses market development as a growth strategy. The company has used this technique extensively, and as a result, it is now present in more nations than its competitors. Anthem has become a recognized brand on a global scale thanks to its successful entry into new consumer markets. The main drivers of the global presence are the flavor, brand identity, and reasonable prices. In addition to these elements, effective marketing and celebrity-endorsed advertising efforts have also assisted Anthem in gaining new clients and dominating the industry in several nations.
Conclusion
The capacity of Anthem to select the ideal blend of suggested generic and intense growth tactics based on the current competitive and market conditions is a key factor in the company’s success. The analysis’s overall conclusion is that each intensive growth approach has different risks and costs, and the firm’s decision to use an intensive growth strategy is related to its use of generic growth strategies.
