Launching and Marketing a Private Hospital in Hong Kong: CUHK Medical Centre

Opened in January 2021, the medical centre of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), CUHK Medical Centre (CUMC), was a non-profit teaching hospital wholly owned by the university. In December 2022, Professor Hong Fung, the executive director and chief executive officer, knew that the CUMC board of directors would soon be asking how he was going to ensure that the privately operated CUMC would remain financially sustainable while still achieving its mission and vision—offering quality healthcare services at affordable and transparent package prices—and returning all surpluses from healthcare services to the hospital to support its future development and the CUHK Faculty of Medicine’s research and teaching.

This case is suitable for senior undergraduate- or graduate-level courses in service marketing, public health, and health communication covering segmentation, targeting, positioning, public policy, and marketing communication in the healthcare sector. It is also suitable for postgraduate-level marketing courses at a business school as well as courses in a master of public health program. No course prerequisite is required. This case illustrates the most demanding situation of service marketing in a hospital context because quality is essential to healthcare and management services. The case will teach students how to create new service offerings for the healthcare industry by collaborating with insurance companies to create values and benefits that patients need. Moreover, it teaches students how to develop and formulate marketing strategies to capture the competitive advantages related to healthcare services. The concepts and tactics derived from the case may be extended to other service industries where applicable. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:<br><br><ul><li>Examine the segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategies of a private hospital.</li><li>Evaluate a service marketing environment.</li><li>Identify and innovate appropriate service marketing strategies while ensuring the quality of the service in a hospital.</li></ul>

• Service marketing, healthcare