MARKET RESEARCH AND SEGMENTATION (SLP)

Brand Audit of UnitedHealth Group

Shaneya Acker

Dr. Eric Oestmann

MHM 525

Trident University International

April 5, 2019

Brand Audit of UnitedHealth Group

There are hundreds of medical organizations in the United States (U.S.), but for this brand audit, the organization selected is UnitedHealth Group Inc. The company is a for-profit organization; this means that the activities it conducts are mainly driven by profit. Nevertheless, the company has its headquarters in Minnetonka, in the state of Minnesota. As of the end of the financial year of 2018, the company was ranked fifth in the nation’s fortune 500, which is a list of the country’s highest revenue generating companies ("Our History", 2019). The company’s operations are mainly medical as they offer healthcare products to its client market as well as insurance services. These services made the company be ranked as the global leader when it came to revenue generation for a medical organization. Data from the company identified that in the year 2016 the company had over 110 million clients relying on their services. The company was formed in the late-1970s by Richard Taylor Burke, through Charter Med Incorporated ("Our History", 2019). The main purpose of creating the UnitedHealthcare Corporation was to reorganize the company making it the parent of Charter Med. The top management intended to take the management position of the newly developed Physicians Health Plan, among the first health management organizations in Minnesota ("Our History", 2019). Regardless, through numerous acquisition of various other health-related organizations, the company the commonly accepted healthcare giant (Dine & Hurd, 2016).

The company’s financial records were hard to attain, but its records showed that from 2005 the company’s income was constantly rising to average at a net income of approximately $4 billion between 2005 and 2007 (Dine & Hurd, 2016). However, during the great recession of 2007 and 2008, the economic downturn also affected its revenue generation. But after the market settled, the company regained its initial continuous revenue generation to that of 2018 ("Our History", 2019). Moreover, with the company’s increased acquisitions its workforce also increased from just over 150,000 in 2013 to over 300,000 by the end of 2018. The same progression could be identified with the company’s stock prices, in 2005 they had an average value of $45.25, but by the end of the 2018 financial year, they were valued at an average of $246.12 ("Our History", 2019). This advancement was a notion that the company was successful in its activities thereby gaining market attention.

From the inception of the company in the 1970s, the company’s logo has seen minimalistic changes with the only addition being the emblem compared to its initial logo compromising of the abbreviation of the company name. Nevertheless, the company’s current logo contains a minimalistic font, and the most recognizable aspects of the logo include the sizes of the letters. Emphasis is stressed on the “United” as well as “Group” identifying the activities of the company with relation to health. The company’s slogan “Helping People Live Healthier Lives,” also promotes the company’s products and services. Similar to its logo, it is short and noteworthy easily identifying the company’s objectives as well as intentions. When it comes to products and services, the company offers a diverse number of commodities for various socio-economic classes. The company offers premium insurance and health-related products to products that appeal to those of low income. This attribute makes the company favorable to many clients as they offer products relevant to the income generated by the potential client.

In terms of competition, it can be stated that the organization has no monopoly over the market. With organizations such as Humana, they offer stiff competition to UnitedHealth Group in the insurance sector for various reasons. When compared to UnitedHealth Group, Humana under several occurrences has been identified as the best company when it comes to insurance plans. Humana offers robust healthcare coverage, but in various regions within the U.S. UnitedHealth Group is deemed the cheapest and health plan (Ginter, Duncan, & Swayne, 2018). Moreover, UnitedHealth offers Health Savings plans that are non-existent in Humana making the company even more attractive to the public. In terms of coverage, UnitedHealth is deemed to have the most expansive coverage area. The company offers not only insurance covers but also a multitude of doctors, hospitals and other medical facilities secured with the contractual agreement with the policyholder (Hernandez, 2013). From retrospect, it can be assumed that UnitedHealth takes advantage of markets that are either ignored by other organizations. This increases not only its market share but also its public acceptance. In comparison, UnitedHealth has coverage that can be deemed as being equally spaced globally if adjustments in data are made for the region. However, the majority of Humana’s market share is concentrated in the southeast region of the U.S (Ginter, Duncan, & Swayne, 2018).

The analysis has identified that UnitedHealth Group is not only a considerate of its market income but also offers more services to its policyholders thereby making them industry leaders. Additionally, it can be identified that UnitedHealth’s vast network of clients can be attributed to the number of acquisitions it made from its inception in the late 1970s. By addressing common issues mostly ignored by other organizations in the same industry, the company has been able to register continuous growth that has propelled it to its current position.

References

Dine, E. E., & Hurd, M. (2016). Health Insurer Merger Frenzy: How the Continued Arms Race Will Disrupt Traditional Market Roles. Annals Health L., 25, 98.

Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2018). The strategic management of health care organizations. John Wiley & Sons.

Hernandez, L. M. (Ed.). (2013). Health literacy: Improving health, health systems, and health policy around the world: Workshop summary. National Academies Press.

Our History. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/about/history.html