The Hungry for Health Games: Aligning Strategy and Competitive Advantage

Jahani and Associates analyzed over 200 M&A transactions and equity investments in digital health from 2013 to 2016. We mapped a selection of these companies onto a four-quadrant plane to understand their natural differentiators. We considered both the scope of care delivery (for example, an urgent care company versus a software analytics company) and the size of the company’s financials and number of employees.

Quadrant 1: Social Players

These companies typically have a large customer base, but are relatively lean due to the simplicity of their products. These are socially themed companies, like FitnessKeeper and b.well.

Quadrant 2: Analytic Leaders

These are software-dominated companies that built their businesses by providing automation, simplicity, and streamlining to the data-rich and complex USA healthcare ecosystem.

Quadrant 3: Agile Players

Our research indicates that these companies are in the process of competing to transition to quadrant four. They have strong customer relationships and are starting to scale.

Quadrant 4: Tomorrow’s Healthcare Providers (THP)

THPs are the dominant players of today and tomorrow. These are companies that have a proven ability to scale, are generally profitable, and have strong brands. They are challenged to increase their competitive advantage by generating new, innovative digital health products or by acquiring other innovative companies.

Jahani and Associates work with digital health companies to identify, develop, and implement their competitive advantage powered by intangible assets.

You may also be interested in our article Part 2: Developing Intangibles in Ad Tech M&A Value.

Also you can read our article Identify, Develop, and Implement Intangible Assets to Maximize Your Value.