Growth and transformation of private dental clinics in China: a case study of Deron Dental

Abstract

With great progress of China's economy and the improvement of life quality in recent years, a growing number of Chinese people begin to pay more attention to the oral health and dental aesthetic appearance. Under such circumstances, the demand for professional dental health institutions in China is also rising, so the dental hospitals and clinics in China are mushrooming. However, as the management system and supervision of dental medical institutions are yet to be improved, the whole dental medical market is facing fierce competition and is trapped in a difficult situation. Therefore, in order to survive in such a fierce market and maintain a sound development, a set of scientific and effective strategiesand methods are needed to help dental medical institutions attract sufficient number of customers and grab more market share, and constantly enhance their brand influence.This thesis takes Guangzhou Deron Dental as a case and uses the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities theory to summarize its successful experience of transformation to find out how it maintains its rapid development momentum in more than 20 years of growth, how its market share has been constantly enhanced in face of increasingly stronger competitors and how its profitability and business scope continue to expand, hoping to provide relevant suggestions and countermeasures for the growth of other private dental medical institutions.All the research results in this study aim not only to understand the successful experience of Deron Dental at different growth stages, but also to find out the growth law of the dental medical institutions at different stages in an effort to help the counterparts to solve similar problems and further provide consumers with better and safer dental care services.

Com o desenvolvimento económico da China e a consequente melhoria da qualidade de vida um número, cada vez maior de Chineses começou a prestar mais atenção à saúde oral e à sua estética dental. Esta situação fez com que a procura de serviços profissionais dentários aumentasse e as clinicas dentárias se multiplicassem. A deficiente supervisão das clinicas dentárias faz com que o mercado de cuidados dentários sofra uma forte concorrência e se encontre numa situação difícil. Para sobreviverem neste mercado altamente competitivo e manterem um crescimento sustentável as clinicas dentárias necessitam de melhorar a sua capacidade de gestão. Esta tese toma por base a clinica Guangzhou Deron Dental e utiliza a escola baseada nos recursos e a as capacidades dinâmicaspara estudar a sua evolução ao longo dos últimos 20 anos. Sendo um estudo de caso não pretendemos generalizar as conclusões para todas as clínicas que operam no mercado Chinês mas pensamos que este estudo pode ajudar algumas das clinicas a melhorar a sua gestão.