Case seven. Managing mature operations in a competitive environment.

In this case, a medical center learns how to evaluate each of its services along a Product Life Cycle curve. Each stage of the cycle has characteristics that suggest appropriate strategic growth and action orientations. When services were plotted along the Product Life Cycle curve, many of the services were found to be mature or making the transition from growth to maturity. At the time of the case, Memorial Medical Center's competitors were entering many of its traditional markets creating a strong competition for market share. Greater competitive emphasis on performance and price reduced profits in the medical center's mature services. The case reports the medical center's approach to modifying its action orientation in light of a better understanding of organizational competence.