Page 17 - CIMA MCS Workbook February 2019 - Day 2 Tasks

PROJECT AND RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (E2) ‐ PRACTICE TASKS

TASK 2 – INTERNAL ACTIVITIES

Trigger

From: CEO
To: Finance Director
Date: Today
Subject: Internal activities

I attended a conference at the Varentian Dental Council (VDC) yesterday where one of the
keynote speakers raised the issue of “added value” in the internal activities of a dental practice or
as he referred to it a “commercial business”. The presentation concentrated on focussing on what
we as businesses do well.

It was a brief session but contained some interesting ideas about the use of the value chain
diagram which I have attached. The speaker made the point that it was important to establish
which of an organisation’s internal activities are consistent with their distinctive capabilities and
should be retained, and those which may be better outsourced or insourced.

An extract from the narrative of the presentation covered the following:

“When you think about the business side of your dental practice, you may wonder where and how
you could make adjustments to increase your profit margins. In my experience, dentists do not
focus on an overarching strategy. Instead, we focus on specific tactics to achieve a specific goal,
such as obtaining new patients, scheduling more efficiently, increasing hygiene levels, or gaining
better pricing on supplies. Although these tactics are suitable ways to improve individual parts of
the practice, focusing on a big picture strategy might provide a more effective way to increase
your practice's profit margins long‐term”. However, secondary "support activities" can also have a
significant effect on practice margins if viewed and managed intentionally.
This led me to think that Crowncare might benefit from a review of all its internal activities; after
all we have seen costs increase in the recent budget report so we can’t afford to be complacent. I
think this is something which Crowncare should look at in more detail.

Could you prepare a briefing note on this for discussion at the next board meeting?

Alison

KAPLAN PUBLISHING 37