BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

STANDARD LEVEL

INTERNAL ASSESMENT

Research Question: How can Dr. Sicilia Lozada's private pediatrician

consulting room can improve her incomes after the COVID pandemic?

IB Code: jzt106

Word count: 1.312

 Index

Introduction................................................................................................................................... p. 3

Findings.......................................................................................................................................... p. 4

SWOT Analysis............................................................................................................................. p. 6

Analysis.......................................................................................................................................... p. 6

Conclusion...................................................................................................................................... p. 8

Bibliography.................................................................................................................................. p.9

Annex............................................................................................................................................. p.10

2
Introduction

Sicilia Lozada Tuma started pediatric outpatient care in 1992 in Quito, Ecuador. Like many

private consulting rooms, it was affected by the COVID - 19 pandemic, because at the beginning the

Ministry of Public Health of Ecuador decided to keep private consultation closed and focus more on

hospitals and clinics. Consequently, it had to adapt to online attention, which was very complicated

and therefore not the best option, as the children did not have personalized attention for the different

problems, they presented so external consultation were not considered the first option and therefore

their income was affected. According to Plan V (2021), a media company in Quito, "the lack of

resources is not related to staff. There are cases where doctors have had to send patients to buy sutures

or painkillers because they are not available at the center". The purpose of this study is to be portrayed

how the pandemic affected the economy of this surgery and what would be the best alternatives to

reactivate its incomes and in this way the question: How can Dr. Sicilia Lozada's private

pediatrician consulting room can improve her incomes after the COVID pandemic? can be

answered. I will use a SWOT analysis, profit and loss analysis and an Ansoff analysis to have a better

understanding of the situation of the private consulting room.

3
Findings

The consulting room began its operations in 2011 in Calderón, Quito, where "based on its

excellent service, it gained regular clients over the years” (Lopez, 2022). However, during the

pandemic, many of these patients did not come as usually for fear of contagion so in order to make

this commentary, the researcher performed an interview and ask to the company for its accounts and

reports of operating. The first thing that is going to describe is a SWOT Analysis (fig. 1), where

several points to analyze of this workplace are exposed and to reinforce this, the author use the

documents mentioned above. When the interviewer does the survey found out that the owner of this

medical establishment does not have social networks or a website to help promote her practice. So, it

is a good idea to recommend a marketing approach. A good way to get people's attention is through

these media, making videos like on TikTok platform, illustrative posters of the services on Instagram

or Facebook, or hand booking appointments through WhatsApp platform, in order to streamline the

process and have everything registered. The target audience would be parents, as children are still too

young to use these resources, so it is necessary to make content for this target audience and attract

more customers. The doctor also states that she would like to attract attention in the "old fashioned"

way, for example by means of flyers, so that she would also have enough reach.

For this reason, I also want to analyze a profit and loss account to understand the magnitude

of the impact of the pandemic on the business (Annex 1). "The profit and loss account ultimately

shows the profit or loss that is generated by a business from the company's trading activities. This

applies to companies dealing in both goods and/or services" (Kognity, 2022). The document shows

data from 2018 to 2021. In 2018, the incomes (patient care) were $9.000, with a loss of $5.602,

leaving a reserve of $3.398. In 2019 the net profit was $9.300, where the total loss from administrative

and advertising payments was $5.788, leaving a reserve of 3.512 dollars. 2020 was the best year of

revenues, it shows a growth in gross profit (patient care), $10.200, where the total expenses were

4
$6.020, leaving a total net profit of $4.180. Finally, we have 2021, where in the months of January

and February there was a profit of 1700 dollars, but because of the COVID- 19 pandemic in March

these values began to decline and where she had to look for other sources of income, such as the

online modality. However, as it was not the same attention, the prices per consultation dropped,

leaving an annual cash inflow of 3.500. This is the lowest value of the whole table. It should be noted

that during this time the work was transferred to home.

Profit and loss analysis (FIG.1)

5
Analysis:

SWOT ANALYSIS: (FIG. 2)

According to the SWOT analysis, is visible that the strength is the sector in which the

consulting room is located, as it has been attracting people from the sector for a long time and has

regular patients. In the opportunities we can see that it can ally itself with other doctors in the

neighborhood, this to increase its patients when they start to recommend each other. On the other

hand, the weaknesses are that the practice does not promote its services through media such as social

networks, only through regular clients who recommend its services to others. Another weakness is

the fact that there is a lack of someone to help with the work such as a nurse or secretary, including

for example the implementation of vaccinations. Finally, the threats due COVID make very

complicated to raise the value of the consultation, which can affect the annual profits and those

patients often prefer social security or hospitals.

6
 For this reason, I believe that one way to improve profits and therefore clientele is to apply

the E-Commerce strategy. For Calderón (2001), the new information and communications

technologies are leading to a transformation in business organizations with the arrival of a new society

in which the management, quality and speed of information have become key elements for electronic

commerce. For the practice, this would be the best option to recover its profits from 4 years ago as

social media is the best option to attract people. That is why it is important to learn how to manage

them and to know which market segmentation to target. In this case it would be parents and even

grandparents. Creating an account on the social network LinkedIn would help to expand your work

and even clinics or hospitals know about your work.

7
Conclusion:

It is important to know how to handle these strategies and tips to answer the question:

How can Dr. Sicilia Lozada's private pediatric practice improve its revenues after the COVID

pandemic? The best way to increase profits is to know how to use marketing strategies, especially

e-commerce to offer this service and how to better reach a specific target group (market

segmentation). On the other hand, it is important to note that the company has been able to cope with

the situation and although it declined in the first year of the pandemic, it sought ways to maintain its

revenues and thus be able to cover the costs of running a business. Therefore, E-commerce is the best

solution, since the market must be expanded to new marketing strategies, as social networks are

essential to get more customers and thus obtain a new capital income from this new population sector.

On the other hand, it is recommended to expand what the clinic offers, as this will increase income,

as people in this sector need comprehensive services. Partnering with nearby doctors or clinics will

make your practice more popular in this sector. The last option would be to start attending online, as

due to the COVID pandemic this is an option, however it would not be comfortable for both the

doctor and the patients, as it is not the same experience of care.

8
Bibliografía

Plan V. (2021). Los médicos de los barrios también batallan contra la pandemia. Quito: Plan V .

https://www.planv.com.ec/historias/sociedad/medicos-barrios-tambien-batallan-contra-la-

pandemia

Mas que medicos . (2010). Mejores pediatras Quito . Quito.

https://masquemedicos.ec/pediatra_quito/sicilia-federica-lozada-tuma/

Kognity. (2021). E-commerce. https://app.kognity.com/study/app/2022-business-3c-2bi/sid-92-cid-

107748/toc/

Ramirez, C. M. (2011). “EL COMERCIO ELECTRÓNICO: ESTRATEGIA PARA LA INCURSIÓN

DE LAS EMPRESAS COLOMBIANAS EN EL MERCADO INTERNACIONAL” . Obtenido

de Repositorio de la Universidad Militar:

https://repository.unimilitar.edu.co/bitstream/handle/10654/3623/VargasRamirezClaudiaMa

rcela2011.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y

9
Annex:

Annex 1: Interview with Dr. Sicilia Lozada

1.- What is your specialty? Pediatrics

2.- How long have you been working in your profession? Since 1992

3.- How was your work before the pandemic? It was a great affluence, there were approximately

15 to 20 patients daily, therefore the day was very busy, and we had a very high monthly income.

4.- How did your work change during the pandemic? The first few months I decided not to work,

because I had saved money to support my family, however, there came a time when I needed to go

back to work, so I started working online, through an application for doctors called Medesk, where

there was very little influx of patients.

5.- What is your post-pandemic work like? It has changed a lot, now I must allocate a certain

amount of money for biosafety supplies such as alcohol, masks, biosafety suits, slippers, among

others. And it is difficult to obtain the same profits that were obtained in the past, as people have

preferred to go to public consultations.

6.- Do you use a social network to promote your work? No, I prefer to keep a low profile and the

way I promote my work has been by having patients who have been loyal to the practice for several

years and who recommend me to friends and family.

10