Adaptive Strategies In Healthcare Organizations

Directional strategies, adaptive strategies, market entry strategies and competitive strategies are four types of strategies that make up the strategy formulation process. Directional strategies are broad statements that describe the mission, vision, values, and other strategies goals of the healthcare organization (Ginter, Duncan, & Swayne, 2013). Healthcare organizations utilize directional strategies to establish a framework for operational decisions and activities. A directional strategy helps the organization define what it stands for and what it hopes to achieve in future. Adaptive strategies provide more detail than the directional strategies as to how the organization should work towards the vision. This type of strategy formulates a plan which may keep the organization on the same path or modify the path by expanding or reducing. There are three subcategories of adaptive strategies: expansion of scope, reduction of scope, and maintenance of scope (Ginter,
These strategies define how an organization should behave in the competitive market, this is called strategic posture. There are three different types of postures, as defined by Ginter, Duncan, & Swayne (2013): defender, prospector, analyzer, and reactor. Depending on the type of healthcare organization and where they are strategically placed in the market, will better define as to what posture should be maintained. This will provide guidance on particular decisions that the organization has to make, as long as the posture works with the directional, adaptive, and market-entry strategies (Ginter, Duncan, & Swayne, 2013).
Ginter, M.G., Duncan, W.J., & Swayne, L.E. (2013). Strategic management of healthcare organizations. (7th ed.). San Francisco, CA: