Wallick Senior Living is relatively new to the Senior Living industry and gaining establishment. Though the company is functioning and growing with a promising future, corporate leadership openly acknowledges the need to "run faster," as the Red Queen might say. (Ginter, 2018).

The services offered to senior citizens by Wallick communities are strategically planned at the Corporate Level, in some instances fueled by ideas generated at the Unit Level and spread throughout the entire organization. In that sense, it is the team residing at the Corporate Level who orchestrate the support activity that manifests in the execution of the service delivery. In the case of a Senior Living community, the Service Deliver can be generalized as the overall customer experience to the resident and their families.

Service Delivery must be 100% focused on the resident and family members. By their nature, residents of an assisted living facility are frailer than the general population, and as such the value of a Senior Living organization must be to provide a comfortable, smooth, everyday life to the resident to combat the increased difficulties associated with aging.

The shared organizational culture must strive for universal perfection across the organization. Currently, individual facilities that are struggling to maintain a census are more intensely focused upon than those who are thriving. In other words, corporate involvement is reserved for struggling communities. This is a gap in the organizational culture. Corporate leadership must be involved with each community, equally. There is a known saying across the senior care industry, "Over Budget, Under Radar," which essentially means if a community is thriving, corporate leadership does not get involved.

A strategic resource in which Wallick is lacking is personnel. As with many organizations, staffing is at a critical level particularly with nurses and nurses' aides. The current hiring process is centralized at the corporate level for all communities, which results in a time-to-hire that cannot keep up with high turnover. Retention is low, and recruitment is slow. Facilities therefore end up understaffed and overworked, which manifests in care failures. This is another critical gap in the support activities. It can be modified by adjusting the corporate structure to decentralize the hiring process.

At the service delivery level, Marketing is critically important. Much like the Red Queen must run faster than her fastest, the most cutting edge of Marketing tactics is still cutting edge enough. Facilities with a seamless customer experience will naturally close sales, but the critical factor to opening the sales process is getting the target audience to come in the facility door. Due to the intensely competitive market, this is easier said than done, therefore making Marketing a key link in the value chain.

READ THE ABOVE and ANSWER THE QUESTIONS BELOW)

Acting (hypothetically) from Michael Porter's perspective, support or oppose the adaptations of the Value Chain.

Which ideas or thoughts did you read that you found interesting or insightful? How did these ideas or thoughts inform your own thinking?

Are there any sections that you think you read that could expound upon? (e.g. "I'd really like to hear more about how you think political corruption is a primary factor in this case.")

What thoughts or questions does your reading response trigger for you?