Zhongshan Hospital was one of the best medical institutions in China, maintaining a leading position in domestic rankings thanks to its extensive capabilities. From 1992, the hospital leveraged information systems to efficiently manage daily operations. In recent years, amid sweeping digital transformation across Chinese hospitals, Zhongshan Hospital pioneered the development of a smart hospital. Achieving this vision required investment and a robust organizational framework. Three pillars thus underpinned this initiative: patient-friendly healthcare, functional resource management, and smart business management. In February 2022, Shanghai entrusted Zhongshan Hospital with the critical task of shaping the future of hospitals. This served as the primary focus of this case study. Building on its previous accomplishments, the hospital faced three significant challenges: 1. How would Zhongshan Hospital define its own "hospital of the future?" The definition should be applicable to all hospitals for future implementation. 2. How should it realize this goal using its experience to build a smart hospital? 3. How would the smart hospital initiative help digital transformation become part of industry culture, especially in changing how people think and behave?
This case begins with an overview of China's healthcare system, followed by an introduction to the country's hospitals' pursuit of digital transformation and a profile of Ruijin Hospital. The case then focuses on how Ruijin Hospital laid out a vision for the digital hospital and translated it into strategic goals that addressed the needs and concerns of multiple stakeholders. It covers how the hospital explored technology solutions for smart services, healthcare, and management to drive its smart transformation. Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to the School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University inaugurated the Shanghai Digital Medicine Innovation Center (hereinafter "Innovation Center") on October 27, 2021. The Shanghai Municipal People's Government expected Ruijin Hospital to lead the way in setting national standards and benchmarks for digital transformation in healthcare. At the inauguration ceremony, Ning Guang, the director of Ruijin Hospital, addressed the guests as head of the Innovation Center. He noted that the Innovation Center would play a pivotal role in spearheading the digitization of healthcare, exemplifying smart hospital practices, and extending them to other medical institutions. Ruijin Hospital needed to leverage internal and external resources to help the entire healthcare industry go digital as it moved forward with its smart transformation. However, achieving these dual objectives would prove to be a formidable task. Internally, it had a long way to go to apply its new technologies and digital solutions across the healthcare industry. Externally, the varying levels of informatization and smart technology application across medical institutions hindered the seamless integration and sharing of medical data. To complicate matters further, digitization in healthcare also varied from region to region. Ruijin Hospital faced challenges in extending its standards for digital transformation to other institutions. In this context, how would Ruijin
This case describes Ant Financial's pursuit of innovation and landmark achievements in the field of finance. These innovations not only made up for its shortcomings in traditional financial services by providing inclusive finance, but also created new segments such as credit leasing. These new services posed a great challenge to traditional financial institutions and, by doing so, helped these institutions become more competitive. However, despite all these achievements, Ant Financial also faced many challenges. As a trailblazer in uncharted territory, it faced great technical uncertainties and had to overcome numerous hurdles, including regulatory blind spots, pressure from competitors, and the need to define new boundaries in innovation. Ant Financial's senior management had always been aware of these challenges: in May 2019, they held a two-day meeting to discuss the sustainability and boundaries of innovation, seeking to answer questions about the meaning of sustainable innovation today, what legacy Ant Financial would leave for posterity, and why.