Impact of Marketing Mix Strategy on Coimbatore Private Hospitals Performance Measured by Patient Satisfaction: An Empirical Study

Health care in India is one of the largest service sectors, with more than 4 million people engaged. The health care services in India, based upon various systems of medical practices such as Allopathy, Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy. Among all the above, allopathy is the widely used medical practice. The infrastructure in the private sector provides at least 80 per cent of health services in the country and can be classified as private dispensaries, private hospitals, charity hospitals and corporate hospitals. The Indian health care industry is expanding at a phenomenal rate. Private hospitals, government investment and foreign aid in the public health programs appear to be driving this boom. More than 300 million strong middle class “health care consumers” are creating unforeseen demand for quality health care. In view of the recognition of the importance of marketing to the private hospitals worldwide, Indian private hospitals have started adopting marketing strategies to improve their performance in terms of profits and patient satisfaction. In the current scenario, marketing is evolving to become a full–fledged function and going beyond traditional marketing services. In view of this, this study is positioned to inquire the marketing strategies practiced by private hospitals and evaluate their effectiveness. Even though there are so many studies related to the marketing strategies in hospitals, services marketing in hospitals, service quality in hospitals and the patients view on services offered by hospitals, there is no exclusive study on the implementation of marketing strategies in hospitals at Coimbatore. Hence, the present study has made an attempt to fill up the research gap. The present study will aim to find the gaps in the marketing strategy of private hospitals in Coimbatore and point out the need for introducing improvements in promotion of hospital services and patient satisfaction. Thereby, it helps management of private hospitals to take steps in the right direction to make their organizations viable and competitive.