From Zoe

Here is what I put together so far. I want to go to the library and see if I can get some information on Pacific Cataract and Laser Eye Surgery's financial status.

-Zoe-

Industry/Competitive Analysis

Forces driving the industry and competitive analysis for Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute: Competing in the LASIK Eye Surgery Market include:

- Competitors from Canada

- Surgery being offered at lower prices by competitors

- Various degrees of treatments

- Locations of eye surgery centers

- Types of competitors – General ophthalmologists, surgery centers, and specialized LASIK clinics

- Before and after surgery procedures

1). Threat of new entrants

PCLI (Pacific Cataract and Laser Institute), a firm who operated a total of eleven clinics throughout the northwestern Unites States, faced threats of new entrants into the laser eye surgery field from Canada and firms within the United States. The largest of these firms was TLC Laser Eye Centers, Inc., based in Mississauga, Ontario, who also had 56 clinics in the U.S. and 7 in Canada. New entrants also specialized solely in LASIK surgeries, and the largest of these firms was a Canadian competitor called Lasik Vision Corporation (LVC), based in Vancouver, British Colombia. LVC operated 15 clinics in Canada and 14 in the United States and was growing rapidly.

2). Bargaining Power of Suppliers

PCLI ‘s clinic provided medical and surgical eye treatments, including laser vision correction, and based the organization’s success on surgical excellence and compassioned concern for its patients and the doctors who referred them. Clinics in Canada, offering the same services as PCLI, were advertising laser eye surgery at a lower price and soon PCLI found themselves in competition. Since most medical insurance programs covered only a small portion of the cost of this procedure people were swayed by the low prices and would travel to Canada to have the procedure performed. Procedures for setting up the surgery date also differed from PCLI and in some cases a simple call to a toll-free number was needed to schedule a time to have the surgery performed. The patient was in and out of the clinic within three days, whereas, PCLI’s clinic would partner with the prospective patient’s doctor of Ophthalmology, who would provide information about LASIK and PCLI to the patient, the OD would perform a pre-exam to make sure the patient was a suitable candidate for the surgery, forward the exam to the doctor at PCLI, PCLI would then discuss payment options, have the risks of the surgery explained, meet with the surgeon and then the operation was performed.

While the recuperation and follow-up to surgery (24 hrs., one-week, one-month, three months, six-months and one-year for PCLI vs. 24 hrs., one-week, and three months in Canada) procedures were somewhat identical the process in Canada was designed to accommodate the patient and differed significantly from PCLI’s services. PCLI did all the follow-up appointments for the patients and Canada was letting their patients see the OD for the follow-up visits.

3). Bargaining Powers of Buyers

The bargaining power of the buyers was that they could go to clinics in Canada, or their affiliates, in the United States and have the LASIK eye surgery done for half the price as PCLI or at a significantly lower price. They were provided with information regarding these clinics through advertisements and even provided a toll-free number to call for information.

4). Threat of Substitute Products

Clinics in Canada, their affiliates in the United States, and other low-cost eye surgery clinics provided a threat to PCLI in terms of offering services at a lower price. This was accomplished by not having to pay a royalty to the manufacturers of the equipment, paying lower fees to the surgeons in Canada, the weak Canadian dollar vs. the U.S. dollar, and speculation among U.S. clinics that some low-priced Canadian clinics were making a variety of care-compromising quality tradeoffs, such as not performing equipment calibration and maintenance as often as recommended by the manufacturer, and reusing the blades used to make the initial incisions.

5). Rivalry Between Competing Firms

PCLI built its reputation by establishing eight core values that were based on the principles of practicing the art of healing through love, kindness and compassion and providing the best possible “co-managed” services to the profession of optometry.

Soon PCLI and other U.S. clinics found themselves in competition with firms who were compromising quality service and patient care for lower prices. To remain in competition and prevent the loss of customers subsidiaries to parent companies were created and offered lower prices for laser eye surgery. This was accomplished by employing their own surgeons or the parent companies providing only the facilities and equipment, and contracting out with independent surgeons to perform the procedures.

INTERNAL ANALYSIS

PCLI’s Tangible Assets

1). Staff of fully trained doctors

2). Eleven clinics

3). Aircraft to travel between facilities

4). Resident optometric physicians

5). Support staff for each clinic

6). Patient counselors

7). Financial team of experts

PCLI’s Intangible Assets

1). Practicing their art through Christian principles of love kindness & compassion

2). Ability to provide a range of medical and surgical eye treatments including laser vision correction

3). Organization success based on surgical excellence and compassioned concern for its patients and the doctors who referred them.

4). The ability to operate eleven clinics in a very coordinated manner.

5). Successful co-management with patients optometrist or OD (doctor of optometry)

6). The quality of service that patients remember—the excellent surgery, exceptional patient care, and professional cooperation with their family eye doctors. Retrieved from: http://www.pcli.com/company/index.html, November 17, 2006

As a result of the tangible and intangible assets the company possesses and integrating these resources they are able to provide the ability of:

Reaching customers

PCLI reaches its customer basis by working closely with a patient’s optometrist or Doctor of Optometry in co-managed eye care. When surgery was needed the family OD referred patients to ophthalmologists (e.g. PCLI’s eye surgeons). PCLI also operates eleven clinics throughout Washington Oregon, Idaho and Alaska.

Richness Dimension

The richness of PCLI revolves around the ability of the doctors and staff to provide the depth and detail of information to their customers on what they can expect regarding lasik eye surgery. Through the operation of their eight core values and the compassion showed their customers the success of their co-managed business provided a relationship of mutual trust and respect built through shared learning, constant communication and commitment to providing quality patient care.

Affiliation

Through interactions with their customers PCLI is able to help their patients make informed decisions regarding lasik eye surgery. Working with patient’s, developed through a network of family OD’s, also provided insurance mutual values existed, between PCLI and the OD’s in the regions where PCLI had clinics.

Financial Analysis

The typical cost of surgery through PCLI ranged from $1750 and $2000 per eye for corrective laser surgery and most medical insurance programs covered only a small portion of the cost of the procedure.