Page 20 - Provoke Magazine. Vol9

Leadership Corner
Customer Value Proposition
Creating a customer value proposition is most crucial to the making of a business model. With all compo- nents of customer value proposition, the business model should be successful, as it differs from other or- ganizations with like ideas. Mark W. Johnson, Clayton M. Christensen, and Henning Kagermann, authors of Reinventing Your Business Model (2011), define cus- tomer value proposition as, “The model that helps cus- tomers perform a specific ‘job’ that alternative offerings don’t address” (p. 106). Let’s focus on a working model, “OneHR”, for Hospital Corporation of America [HCA] of Nashville, Tennessee.
The OneHR model was implemented with the intent to make human resource processes more efficient by creating optimal candidate experiences, centralizing human resource functions to create a uniform pro- cess, take the work load from leadership so they can focus on different objectives, to streamline efforts, and to provide uniform answers HCA-wide. Accord- ing to authors Johnson, Christensen, and Kagermann (2011), there are four interlocking elements in the business model that create and deliver value: customer value proposition, profit formula, key resources, and key processes (p. 106). Remember that these elements create a cycle, but we must always start with customer value proposition to spark ideas before addressing any other element.
This brings us to the topic of branding. While creating a business model, we want to know the targeted group as we strategize toward successful implementation. As you may know, branding is a marketing mechanism to show differentiation of products or organizations, which yields loyalties to the brand. Per the article, “The branding process. (Executive Outlook)”, director Lynn Smith asks us to establish customer value proposition to guide the brand work and to deliver services in line with brand identity (2016). While cultivating the cus- tomer value proposition, we may assess businesses around us that have the same product we market, but we must ask “How can candidates be hired at a more rigorous pace?”, or “What can the business provide that will appeal more to the customer?”.
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-Robyn Easley
To their advantage, we could find that creating a more centralized human resources and talent acquisition de- partment, could benefit the customers (potential hires and current employees). This would yield uniformity, in terms of deliverables, across all HCA hospitals within the healthcare system. The disadvantage would be in direct correlation with employees (customers) losing their cur- rent jobs, leaving them to replace them with lower ad- vanced functioning (i.e., task oriented, metric measured, etc.) jobs. Reorganizing the current structure could be disruptive to the people, yielding creation of conflict and poor behavior, due to dissatisfaction. Also, patients could somehow become negatively affected by change, if hospi- tal protocol no longer benefits their service and process needs/desires.
Johnson, Christensen, and Kagermann (2011) assert, “The most important job is to the customer, the lower the level of the customer satisfaction with current options for getting the job done, and the better your solution is than existing alternatives at getting the job done, the greater the CVP” (p .107). With consideration of HCA’s OneHR model, leadership strategized based on the need of the customer, which is inclusive of all HR representatives and candidates. Since, May 2015, HCA has successfully hired over 60,000 candidates.
In the age we live, leaders and owners must consider the entire picture before creating propositions, to significant- ly create or change structure. Consider the demographic, the geography, the resources needed, and the age range of those potentially serviced. What will be the customers’ perception of business, if their value to the business is hardly considered? The core of the business should not be in terms of only how to earn money, but to steadily grow valuable relationships, with individuals who foster the mission of service.
Johnson, M. W., Christensen, C. M., Kagermann, H. Har- vard Business Review Press. (2011). HBR 10 Must Reads on Strategy. Boston, MA.
Smith, L. (2003, Apr). “The branding process. (Executive Outlook)”. Business Economics and Theory Collection. Retrieved Sep 22, 2016, from Information Outlook.