Solution
David answered on
Dec 26 2021
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Abstract
The main emphasize of this study is to examine the role and importance of integrated marketing
communication strategies to promote healthcare services in the UAE. In addition, for
successfully attaining this aim, the researcher determined three research objectives. The main
objectives of this study included, identifying the factors influencing the patients' perception of
the assessment of healthcare service quality, importance of Integrated Marketing
Communications (IMC) strategies to promote healthcare services, and the ways to successfully
implement IMC in the organization. This study is also based on a quantitative research approach
along with the collection of primary and secondary data to complete the study successfully.
The results indicate that reliability, behaviour of staff, importance of physical
environment and cleanliness, cost, food, and adequate and timely communication are some
essential factors that impact on the patients' perception of service quality assessment. In addition,
it is also found that IMC strategies are beneficial to involve customers in the communication
process, improve quality, aware customers about the quality and other organizational
capabilities, design an effective marketing campaign, as well as proper utilization of various
promotional tools. Thus, the researcher also proposed that the use of IMC strategies can be
eneficial for companies to create effective promotion of healthcare services in the UAE. The
esearcher also recommended that by developing understanding about the cu
ent advertising and
marketing communication activities, providing adequate management support and other
esources and ensuring flexibility and consistency, the healthcare companies can effectively
implement IMC in the business and ensure long-term growth and survival.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 4
1.1. Background ......................................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Justification of the Topic .................................................................................................... 5
1.3. Research Problem and Questions ..................................................................................... 6
1.4. Research Aim and Objectives ........................................................................................... 6
1.5. Structure of the Study ........................................................................................................ 6
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................... 9
2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 9
2.2. Background of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) .................................... 9
2.3 Factors affecting Patients' Perception for a healthcare service value assessment ...... 10
2.4 Importance of Integrated Communication Strategies ................................................... 13
2.5 Ways to effectively Implement Integrated Communication Strategies........................ 16
2.5.1. The integrated communication strategy development ............................................... 17
2.5.2. The guidance to coordinate IMC strategic implementation ..................................... 18
2.6 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 20
CHAPTER 3: BODY OF THESIS ............................................................................................ 21
3.1. Research Strategy ............................................................................................................. 21
3.2. Research Approach .......................................................................................................... 22
3.3. Data Collection Methods ................................................................................................. 22
3.4. Data Analysis Tool ........................................................................................................... 25
3.5. Limitation of the Methods ............................................................................................... 25
3.6. Research Model ............................................................................................................ 26
3.7. Summary ........................................................................................................................... 26
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS ............................................................... 28
4.1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 28
4.2. Overview of Data .............................................................................................................. 28
4.2 Results ................................................................................................................................ 29
4.2.1 Reliability Test ............................................................................................................ 29
4.2.2 Demographic Results .................................................................................................. 29
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4.3 Analysis .............................................................................................................................. 32
Objective 1 ............................................................................................................................ 32
Objective 2 ............................................................................................................................ 40
Objective 3 ............................................................................................................................ 42
4.4. Summary ........................................................................................................................... 44
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................. 45
5.1 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 45
5.2 Link between Research Findings and Objectives .......................................................... 45
Objective 1: .......................................................................................................................... 45
Objective 2 ............................................................................................................................ 46
Objective 3 ............................................................................................................................ 47
5.3 Recommendations ............................................................................................................. 47
5.4 Research Limitation and Further Implications ............................................................. 48
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................ 50
QUESTIONNAIRE..................................................................................................................... 54
Table 1: Summary of Respondents ............................................................................................... 28
Table 2: Results of reliability test ................................................................................................. 29
Table 3: Cross Tabulation Age and Gender .................................................................................. 30
Table 4: Results for Education demographic ................................................................................ 30
Table 5: Occupation results for the participants ........................................................................... 31
Table 6: Competence or Reliability Factor ................................................................................... 32
Table 7: Importance of Physical Facilities Factor ........................................................................ 34
Table 8: Cross tabulation between the importance of physical environment and cleanliness ...... 35
Table 9: Importance of timely responses ...................................................................................... 38
Table 10: Importance of adequate Communication ...................................................................... 39
Graph 1: Importance of Staff Behaviour Factor ........................................................................... 33
Graph 2: Importance of Cost Factor ............................................................................................. 36
Graph 3: Importance of different Factors ..................................................................................... 37
Graph 4: Importance of Food Factor ............................................................................................ 38
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background
Marketing communication is an important tool of the company's marketing strategy
ecause it enables the business to attain its practical market goals and objectives. The main
purpose of marketing communication is to reach the target audience and influence its buying
ehaviour. (Glowik and Smyczek, 2015). At the same time, marketing communication strategies
are also significant for the marketers to improve the
and image of the product and services,
promoting quality and creating a competitive advantage over others. Moreover, marketing
communication is also aimed to inform, to persuade, to educate, and to remind customers about
their products and services. Integrated marketing communication is also a kind of marketing
communication that is aimed to contribute to the growth of the company by ensuring the success
of the company in the market of choice.
In the views of Glowik and Smyczek (2015), integrated marketing communication (IMC)
can be defined as a process in which an organization integrates and coordinates many
communication channels for communicating a clear and reliable message about the company and
its products and services. An integrated marketing communication facilitate the marketers to gain
attention of the target customer towards the products and highlight the quality and competitive
features of the products. In addition, Pitta, Weisgal, and Lynagh, (2006) defined that IMC refers
to the consideration of the whole marketing process from the customers' viewpoint. It includes
the various methods through which the product and service can be marketed to the customers and
different types of pre-and post-customer services can be given to the consumers to maintain the
and image. Thus, IMC can be defined as a program in which all marketing communication
channels, tools, and sources are integrated and coordinated for maximizing the influence of the
company on consumers and minimize the overall costs (Simona, 2013). Additionally, the use of
the IMC approach can also be beneficial to ensure the most effective, clear, and coherent
communication of messages. In simple words, integrated marketing communication ensures that
all types of communication processes, used by the firm are linked with each other in a careful
manner and the message can be deliver to the received in an appropriate manner without any
manipulation.
Concu
ently, it is also evaluated from the study by Glowik and Smyczek (2015) that in
the context of the international market, healthcare marketing has developed. In addition, the
concept of communicating with the customers has changed dramatically as compared to the
traditional marketing method in the healthcare industry. It is because previously, healthcare
marketing was considered as the simple use of advertising and colourful
ochures (Glowik and
Smyczek, 2015). But, within cu
ent times, it has become important to communicate with the
customers to know about their expectations as well as develop long-term relationships. The
environment of healthcare industry is highly complicated due to the services offered by the
healthcare institutions, Communication is one of the crucial tools in healthcare industry to offer
quality and timely services to the patients. Due to transformation in the marketing tools and
communication process, marketing practices of the healthcare industry has also been changed,
which has influenced the perception of the patients and create awareness among them about the
equality served by different healthcare insinuations.
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Within modern times, healthcare firms utilize various marketing communication tools and design
effective marketing strategies involving the definition of the target consumers, employees'
engagement,
and building, advertisement of services as well as social issues, and the idea of
community development (Simona, 2013). In addition, some new trends have also appeared for
healthcare marketing that promote the effectiveness of organizational communication with the
customers. In the views of Mukherjee (2015), health communication links the areas of healthcare
and marketing communication and is progressively realized as an important marketing element
to better the health of individuals and public. The healthcare institutions mainly focus marketing
communication strategies for promotion of the quality offered by the institutions to the patients
and influences their perception about its services. In order to maintain the competitive pressure
and communicate with the patients and their relatives in timely manner, integrated marketing
communication approaches are highly beneficial for the healthcare institutions.
Thus, it becomes important to examine the use of integrated communication strategies to
inform and influence decisions of individuals and social groups related to health. The main
emphasize of this study is to examine the role and importance of IMC to promote healthcare
services in UAE.
1.2 Justification of the Topic
The main reason behind selecting this topic is to aid in the literature by discussing the
ole and importance of IMC in the healthcare sector. Without having an effective communication
and lack of innovative marketing communication approach in the field of healthcare may have a
negative impact on its growth and success. At the same time, it is a crucial topic to emphasize
healthcare industry because it is directly related to the lives and wellbeing of patients. The
Healthcare industry is chosen because healthcare is one of the least researched segments in the
context of marketing communication.
At the same time, it is found that healthcare organizations low invest in the market research
activities, but huge development of various marketing communication tools, encourages progress
and development (Glowik and Smyczek, 2015).
In addition, as competition is also regularly increasing in the healthcare sector, this study
can be significant for healthcare firms to design and implement effective marketing
communication tools to attain competitive advantage in the market.
Moreover, due to the changing perception of healthcare customers, it has also become
important to apply effective communication channels in order to ensure regular communication
with the customers (Padma, Rajendran, and Sai, 2009). Without having latest means of
marketing communication, it is not possible for the healthcare firms to remain competitive and
serve quality facilities to the customers.
It can be highly beneficial to know about customers' expectations about healthcare
services as well as influence their buying behaviour positively. Thus, this study has a wide scope
in terms of discussing the factors affecting patient’s behaviour, as well as the importance of
integrated marketing communication to ensure the long-term success of healthcare organizations.
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1.3. Research Problem and Questions
In the cu
ent marketplace, the consumers are informed customers including the
healthcare sector. It is because within modern times more and more consumers look for
information regarding their health and wellness, a consumerism movement has developed in the
pharmaceutical industry. In addition, due to the availability of information through the internet,
television shows, and health publications, cu
ently, consumers play a more active role in their
treatment decision-making process (Padma, Rajendran, and Sai, 2009). Furthermore, all these
factors caused an enormous transformation in the pharmaceutical industry. It is the reason that,
many pharmaceutical firms use different marketing communication channels to communicate
with the customers, to keep up with the changing times (Gibson, 2002). Therefore, this study
focuses to examine the importance of integrated marketing communication for healthcare firms
to promote their services in the UAE.
The below are the research questions that will be answered through this study:
1. What are the factors that affect patients’ perception for value added and quality services
in the healthcare sector?
2. How the use of integrated marketing communication strategies can be beneficial to
encourage healthcare services in UAE?
3. What are the effective ways that can be adopted to effectively implement IMC in the
healthcare sector of UAE?
1.4. Research Aim and Objectives
The main aim of this thesis is to define the role and importance of integrated marketing
communication for healthcare firms in the context of the UAE. In addition, the below are the
esearch objectives that will be accomplished through this thesis in order to make sure the
attainment of the research aim is successful:
 To evaluate the factors that affect the perception of patients for a healthcare service value
assessment.
 To examine the importance of integrated communication strategies to promote healthcare
services in the UAE.
 To recommend the ways that can be adopted to implement effective integrated
communication strategies to improve the marketing of healthcare in Dubai, UAE.
1.5. Structure of the Study
In order to organize and complete this thesis in an effective manner, the researcher
follows a suitable structure consisting of five main chapters. A
ief discussion on these chapters
is below:
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Section 1: Introduction
The main aim of this section is to summarize the research problem as well as the research
aim, objectives, and questions that are considered throughout the accomplishment of this thesis.
In addition, this chapter is also significant to develop knowledge about the research issue as it
discusses the background of the research problem. Further, the justification of the selected
esearch area is also given in this chapter, so that the importance of this research issue can be
explained to the readers and their interest can be developed. This chapter provides an outline to
the readers about the basic problem identified in the further study.
Section 2: Literature Review
In all the research studies, providing a comprehensive literature review is important to
explore the theoretical framework of the topic. This theoretical framework provides information
about the history of topic and the views of other researchers and scholars on the same concept.
The main emphasize of this section is to demonstrate that the research is grounded
comprehensively and based on a body of published and theoretical information relevant to the
study. To make this section effective, the researcher evaluates a wide range of previous articles
that show the importance of integrated marketing communication for UAE's healthcare industry.
This chapter presents an inclusive background of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC).
Further, factors affecting patients' perception for a healthcare service value assessment are also
elaborated with the help of different scholarly articles, books and authentic published material. In
addition to this, theoretical framework of the importance of integrated communication strategies
is also discussed here along with the different ways to effectively implement integrated
communication strategies.
Section 3: Body of Thesis
By following the literature review chapter, next section of the study if the body of thesis.
This chapter present information about the process of research methodology and the research
strategy and approaches used by the researcher for the collection of suitable data and
information. This chapter mainly reports the inquiry in a detailed manner to examine the research
process. It discusses the implementation of research strategy and the research setting in the
context of the cu
ent situation. In addition, it also discusses the use of data collection methods
and the sources used to answer the research question. Along with the justification of using
specific research strategy, approach, and design, the population and sampling discussion is also
given here. At the same time, data analysis tools, limitations foo the selected research methods
and research model discussion is also available in this chapter of the study.
Section 4: Findings
This is the most critical chapter of the study as it presents a detailed discussion and
findings. These findings are generated by analysing the data gathered through the different data
collection methods. This section presents the outcome of the research by responding to each
esearch question or objective effectively. It also discusses the analysis of all the collected data in
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order to present valid research outcomes. It presents the statistical analysis and result of the study
for the successful achievement of its research objectives.
Section 5: Conclusion and Recommendations
This chapter summarizes the whole research study and presents the accomplishment of
the study by defining the relationship between research objectives and findings. In addition, it
also provides recommendations to ensure the effective implementation of integrated marketing
communication in the business. The significance of this chapter is associated with the
presentation of the information about the extent of the achievement of the research objectives
and the ways to overcome the issues and problems. Lastly, it also discusses the limitations of the
study and further research directions.
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
The main purpose of this section is to present the review of the cu
ent literature in a
critical manner in the context of the research issue. The researcher explores various previous
esearch studies by getting access to a wide range of published information in order to find
elevant literature for this study. The concept of health communication has been recognized as
the complex strategic component in marketing of health care and pharmaceutical sector. This
aspect widely covers the analysis and the application of integrated communication strategies to
influence the customers/patients, make them aware and motivate them to make decisions
concerning the purchase of the health care services.
This section discusses the factors that affect the perception of patients towards healthcare
service value assessment. In addition, it also presents the importance of integrated
communication strategies to promote healthcare services in the UAE effectively. Finally, it will
also discuss the ways that can be applied to effectively implement integrated communication
strategies in the healthcare service sector.
2.2. Background of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)
Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is regarded as the higher and advanced
level of an organization’s marketing strategy which aims to optimize the communication of
company’s
and and its promotion to various stakeholders. It combines various communication
methods together to exploit the potential of each channel as well as generating a clearer and
vaster impact. Here, the marketers are specifically required to recognize the limits or boundaries
that cover the particular promotional mix elements in order to enhance the effectiveness of the
campaign’s message. (Dahlen, Lange, and Smith, 2010)
In the views of Stuart, Sarow, and Stuart (2007), IMC can be defined as a strategic
usiness process, which is used to plan, develop, implement, and evaluate coordinated,
persuasive, and measurable
and communication programs over time with customers, prospects,
and other targeted, relevant internal and external consumers. In addition, Rehman and I
ahim
(2011) defined IMC as an organizational program that integrates everything that is supportive to
promote a business and position its products and services successfully within the market. It is
also evaluated from their views that to ensure the success of the IMC program, it is essential that
it is continuous and strategic oriented. It is also assessed that the main purpose of IMC is to
affect the perception of behaviour and value through communication (Rehman and I
ahim,
2011). Thus, it can be stated that IMC is a communication program that is supportive to
effectively communicate the company's product and services, and contribute in the attainment of
long-term business goals and objectives.
In addition, early empirical studies on the issue of IMC confirmed the growth of
integrated marketing communication strategies in the UK, US, India, New Zealand, Australia,
etc. It is evaluated from the study by Adetunji, Nordin, and Noor (2014) that although IMC is
developing around the world, however there are little differences on the actual implementation of
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IMC. For example, the author defined four stages for the implementation of IMC including
tactical coordination, outside-in, IT base, and management level (Adetunji, Nordin, and Noor,
2014). Additionally, Kliatchko (2008) defined IMC as a business process, which is directed to
audience. Furthermore, the author described four stages of the IMC implementation including
'stakeholders, content, channels, and results. It shows that IMC is a strategic process and to
ensure its effective implementation, the companies must follow all the factors and different
usiness levels.
The various factors of IMC can be stated as follows:
 Foundation: The stage involves the detrained studies concerning the product or services
along with the target market. This is actually the analysis of the requirements, attitudes,
expectations and activities of stakeholders, especially the clients and competitors
(Borkowski, 2005).
 Corporate culture: It represents the vision of an organization and also the line-up
presentation of the features of the products and services of the company in order to show
up the work culture in the mind of marketers (Hogan, Ba
y, Burke and Joyce, 2011).
 Brand focus: It is an overall aspect of the corporate identity of the
and.
 Consumer experience: It is basically the level of client satisfaction about the products
and services. According to Casado-Asensio and Steurer (2014) the product meeting with
the maximum customer expectations certainly keeps them loyal and attract the new ones
also.
 Communication tools: The factors include the various promotional methods using the
traditional and highly advanced modes of communication. Lan Linton further adds the
equirement of strengthening the relationship with the various stakeholders, including
existing customers and external clients (Corcoran, 2007).
 Integration tools: A consistent observation of customer feedbacks and reviews is an
essential part of IMC and helps the management in measuring the effectiveness various
tools and modes used by the organization in the marketing process.
2.3 Factors affecting Patients' Perception for a healthcare service value assessment
A patient’s prime health care service expectation from a provider is the right, efficient,
appropriate and affordable cure. Patient satisfaction is the major ground to evaluate the service
dimension provides by the health care facility (Linder-Pelz, 1982) and is certainly considered as
the actual outcome of the facility and services. In this way, the patients’ satisfaction level must
e figured out co
ectly in order to deliver the right quality assessment for health care
management (Turner and Pol, 1995). So, the improvement of patients’ satisfaction level is the
crucial in order to enhance the image of the health care service which reflects in flourishing
popularity and increased market share (Andaleeb, 1998).
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From the review of literature, it is found that there are several factors that impact on the
perception of patients about effective healthcare services. For instance, Tucker and Adams
(2001) defined two important variables such as performance of the provider and access that
significantly impact patients' evaluations. In this, the provider performance (the relationship
etween healthcare service provider and patient, as well as interpersonal relations) is an
important factor affecting the patients' evaluations. Furthermore, access refers to the patients'
ability to gain good quality services. Thus, both these factors are significant, as these are
assessed by the patients to evaluate healthcare service value.
At the same time, from the study by Swan, Richardson, and Hutton (2003), it is also
evaluated that the patients' perception and satisfaction is also affected by the room appearance
and the overall decor. The main reason behind this is that the room appearance affects different
healthcare dimensions including expertise and physician skill, courtesy of doctors and nurses,
food, general hospital evaluations, and experience. It is also the reason that customers also
consider this factor while evaluating healthcare service quality.
On the contrary, it is assessed from the study by Naidu (2009) that reliability,
esponsiveness, tangibles, and empathy are the most important factors that affect the perception
of patients for a healthcare service value evaluation. It is identified that when customers perceive
that the service provider's competence is of a high level, it concu
ently helps in increasing the
patients' satisfaction level. Similarly, physical facilities and staff demeanour are also important
factors affecting service quality perception. It is because patients evaluate the availability of
modern equipment, cleanliness, and good physical conditions in the hospital to assess the
healthcare service quality (Naidu, 2009). Thus, it can be discussed that there are various factors
such as availability of effective physical facilities, behaviour of the employees, and
communication that are considered by the patients to evaluate healthcare service value.
Moreover, from the study by Brady and Cronin (2001) it is found that Parasuraman et al.
(1988) also considered reliability, responsiveness, etc. as important variables for evaluating the
service quality (See the below figure). The authors summarized these factors under the
SERVQUAL model.
Figure 1: The SERVQUAL Model
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(Source: Brady and Cronin, 2001).
The above figure shows that perceived service quality is a result of perceived service and
expected service. It is because when patients notice that the healthcare services belong to high
level of reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurances, and tangibles, they perceive the
healthcare services as of high quality and high value (Brady and Cronin, 2001). Thus, it can be
stated that to positively influence customers' satisfaction level, it is essential to improve
communication, develop competencies, and effective physical environment. It is because all
these support in developing high value perception towards the healthcare service provider.
In addition to this, Choi, et al. (2004) argued that the perception of service value is
significantly influenced by the perceived healthcare service quality. It is because when patients
elieve that healthcare organizations maintain effective physical environment, cleanliness, and
positive employees' behaviour, they perceive the healthcare services of high value. It shows that
patients' perception of service value is an important factor for evaluating the quality of healthcare
organizations. On the other hand, it is evaluated from the study by Ross and Venkatesh (2015)
that in the context of healthcare quality, physical facilities are one of the most important factors,
followed by food, staff behaviour, and other factors.
Thus, it can be stated that in order to positively influence the perception of patients
towards healthcare service value assessment, it is necessary to provide effective quality of
services and maintain clean hospital environment with the availability of adequate facilities.
A satisfied patient often presents the positive behavioural intentions to the health care
facility, which helps the service provider to attain the long-term success. The customers satisfied
with the services and care, usually tend to react favourably, for example, appreciating, praising
and recommending the service over the others, which is beneficial for their increasing demand
for and overall income generation (Silvestro, 2005).
All these show that there are several factors that affect the patients' perception for a
healthcare service value assessment. The main factors include behaviour of the staff, hospital
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environment, proper communication, accessibility, food, etc. that affect patients' service quality
perception.
Moreover, it can be stated that it is essential for the organizations to promote the
healthcare services by considering all these factors to positively influence the patients' behaviour.
Thus, it becomes essential to understand the importance of implementing effective
communication strategies in order to promote quality and value of healthcare services. The next
section describes the importance of integrated communication strategies to promote healthcare
services in the UAE.
2.4 Importance of Integrated Communication Strategies
Due to the technological advancements, the equations of an organization’s interaction
with the different stakeholders and with the existing and the potential customers are consistently
changing. Furthermore, the changing marketing scenario is filled with a great deal of marketing
and promotion options, which often creates a complex situation to choose a right strategy. In
order to get the maximum advantage and balancing the risks involved, it is essential to integrate
them. (Hogan, Ba
y, Burke and Joyce, 2011). The research performed by Adetunji, Nordin, and
Noor (2014) proves that the pre-existing marketing theories are completely overtaken because of
the present-day intricacy of multi-channel, real-time communications.
In order to communicate with the target markets, integrated marketing communication
(IMC) is the guiding principle organizations. In the views of Mangold and Faulds (2009), IMC
efforts to coordinate and control different elements of the promotional mix including direct
marketing, advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, publicity, and public relations so that a
unified customer focused message can be produced resulting in attaining various organizational
objectives. Thus, it is evaluated from the above authors' views that IMC can be important to
promote healthcare services in the UAE by ensuring the effective utilization of various
promotional mix elements.
Additionally, to this, it is also identified from the views of Junwen and Aronsson (2007)
that IMC makes sure about the working of different marketing communication activities in order
to provide the consistent messages to the consumers through the use of different information
channels. It also indicates that IMC can play an important role in effectively marketing different
healthcare services and strengthen the
and image of high quality service providers in the UAE.
Moreover, it is evaluated from the views of Mihaela (2015) that in the cu
ent business
environment, the value of the IMC has grown considerably as consumers use many more
information sources. Therefore, the use of IMC can be beneficial for healthcare organizations to
improve communication with the patients.
It is because IMC supports organizations to increase involvement of the final consumers
in the communication process. It shows that the use of IMC can be supportive for healthcare
organizations to develop strong relationship with patients and provide them a good quality of
services.
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Brady and Cronin (2001) strongly emphasizes that the application of IMC benefits an
organization with its cross-channel functionality through combining the media and modes of
communication to spread the messages. This combination enables the marketers to ensure the
delivery of the message to the larger number of people and leverage the different methods in the
most effective manner to support the public relation efforts. (Borkowski, 2005) further points out
the power of IMC as it generates the best results applying the traditional advertising measures
while infusing the advanced online communication tools such as social and digital media.
According to Coiera (2006), it supports the health care facility to
idge the gap between the
commonly used marketing communication practices, including PR and promotions, and
delivering the information to the larger group of clients using the combined approaches.
Alsadan, et al (2015) argued that integrated marketing communication tools are also
important for healthcare facilities in the UAE for private and security issues. In addition, it is
also found that almost all healthcare organizations in the UAE address privacy issues. The use of
Information Communication Technology (ICT) involves secured information systems and
maintains confidentiality and integrity of healthcare data. Moreover, it is also evaluated that in
the cu
ent rapid changing environment, integrated healthcare systems has become the challenge
of this era as patients require attention of healthcare professionals (Alsadan, et al, 2015). It is
expected from the healthcare system that it should provide timely, reliable, comprehensive,
elevant, and accessible information in order to improve healthcare service value assessment.
Thus, it can be stated that there is a potential to enhance the effectiveness of the healthcare
system through the use of integrated marketing communication channels.
At the same time, from the article by Deland, Gordon, and Kelly (2015), it is found that
at the present time, healthcare organizations are facing financial and quality issues and it is the
eason that most of the service providers are findings ways to develop new programs and tools to
foster greater communication. In this situation, the use of IMC can be helpful for healthcare
organizations to improve communication with the patients and overcome various quality issues.
It is also evaluated from another article by Insead (2016) that due to the global trend in the
healthcare system, the delivery of healthcare services is changing. It is because cu
ently,
healthcare organizations use enhanced communication technologies and digital and video images
for providing effective services to the customers. At the same time, these organizations can also
use IMC for promoting the effectiveness of healthcare system in the UAE.
The study results by Coiera (2006) indicates the marketing challenges due to an equal
amount of strengths and weaknesses of each channel of communication. With the application of
the combined strategy, it is much easier to offset their each other’s weaknesses, improvement of
effectiveness and reduction in costs. Coiera (2006), however, suggested to find out the best
suitable mix of marketing ideas so that the communication channels may be used in the highly
efficient way to provide maximum health care service satisfaction to the patients, driving more
patients to the facility and increasing the amount of return on the investment.
Zulekha Healthcare Group is one of the major healthcare service providers in the UAE.
The group has successfully implemented IT in its business to improve both internal and external
communication and provide good quality of healthcare services to the customers (Jivex User
Report, 2013). The Zulekha Group includes a new hospital in Dubai, three pharmacies, and four
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medical centres. It is evaluated from the analysis of the company that the investment in the
information technology and communication tools supported the Zulekha Group to reduce the
costs and improve the availability of medical information to the doctors (Jivex User Report,
2013). It shows that ICT is important for healthcare services to improve the knowledge level of
staff and doctors consequently contributing in the betterment of the healthcare service quality.
For example, it is found that the Zulekha Group has different software for the effective
management of hospital, information, PACS, and lab information. In addition, the effective
management of infrastructure also enables the hospital to manage data and information in
Sharjah and Dubai in an effectual manner (Jivex User Report, 2013). Moreover, it enables the
hospital to provide effective quality of services.
In addition, Emirates Hospital in the UAE also effectively implements IMC in its
usiness that supports the company in developing long-term...