Digital Healthcare service in ASEAN.

Will you
spend for it?
INTRODUCTION:

The healthcare service is one of the most important functions as the foundation,
both in macro and micro scale. Many studies have suggested the fact that
healthcare nowadays does not only provide the welfare to the citizens but also adds
the values to the development of the society. In term of sustainability, it is obvious
to talk about the significant role of healthcare service in the sustainable societal
goals of the world. On the other hand, we look at the rise of technology as well as
how its values can contribute to every aspect of the world. Basically, the term
technology itself is broad thanks to its wide applications and its diversity. In this
paper, the next revolution of technology, digitalization as a part of 4.0 industrial
revolution is seen as a factor.

Currently, from the macro perspective, there is about 95% of the world’s population
have health issues. In other words, there is only person over 20 people that has no
issues with health. This figure is 5% of total population. The report conducted by
World Health Organization (2020) also illustrated that the increase in population
has created the pressure on the medical system of many countries and region
around the world. For instance, the average number of nurses per 10,000 people
are approximately 36 nurses globally. This number is extremely high compared with
this of Southeast Asia Region (SEAR) countries, with only below 20 nurses. Thus,
we clearly observe the gap or the inequalities among the region and societies
created by labor shortages in healthcare service. It is also evident that the human
is looking for the new and sustainable solutions for this, the solutions for the basis
of life which rely on flexibility and adaptability for the new era. To figure the
solutions, people think about the new revolution coming from the technology. The
term digitalization is one of them. With the adoption of technology such as AI-
powered tools, big data, 5G,...in not only manufacturing but also service, people
are seeking the improvement in the sustainable methods that can change the
industry forever. This is proven to be ultimately necessary during the worldwide
pandemic era. Many researchers believe that this is new way of life where people
are connected and connecting to create the new values for the societies. Obviously,
the new social norms discovered with social distance and the low physical proximity
have led to the total digital and technological revolution of many sectors including
the healthcare service (both private and public). McKinsey’s (2021) report found
that generally, among the economic sectors, healthcare sector has most potential
to grow supported by the technology growth despite the effects of Covid.
Furthermore, the digital healthcare, in general, is an important part of WHO’s vision
for the 2020 – 2025 Global Strategy (World Health Organization, 2021).

Baur, Yew & Xin (2021), in the McKinsey’s research predicted the potential of
Digital Healthcare service in Asia, especially APAC and ASEAN countries.
Optimistically, they believe that from $37billion of value in 2020, by 2025, the
market size of the service is forecasted to increase to more than $100 billion. To be
specific, besides the technology factor, one important factor is demographic should
be considered. By 2025, there is about 10% of Asian population is seniors, older
than 65. These figures mean 456 million people will be the users, the customers of
healthcare service in Asia which is seen as the significant rise in demand for future
service. On the other hand, as mentioned earlier, the data from WHO has illustrated
the shortages in human capital for healthcare sector in Asian countries. With the
adoption of the e-healthcare, experts expect the increasing coverage of the service
and hence, improve the accessibility of the service. In line with Baur, Yew & Xin
(2021), Barua (2021), more specifically, focuses on how the Covid pandemic has
changed first, the customer perception toward the healthcare service, second, the
customer purchasing behavior and finally, the customer expectation about the
service. For instance, Callaghan et al. (2021) found that Chinese customers are
willing to spend 45% more for the health and wellness relying on the core values of
better health that can be offered during and after the Covid era. Another factor that
we examine is technological innovation in Asia, especially with the rise in
technological knowledge in emerging markets such as Southeast Asia. The region is
a home of 50% of world’s Internet users and provide the abundant human capital
for the industry. As a result, in 2020, the regional investment and capital in digital
health made up 44% of global investment and capital.
In term of scope, the research will focus on two countries which we reflect the
global trend of the market for e-health service. Furthermore, the Southeast Asia
region has the high potential to be the next technological hub and financial hub in
the APAC region and the world. One factor we think could be a game-changer is
Covid-19 pandemic will be considered.

In emerging countries, however, is not apart from the 4.0 digital revolution. In this
paper, we consider Vietnam as one of the main emerging markets in the region for
digital healthcare. Obviously, the market size of the healthcare service, in general,
is expanding. The data on service expenditure collected by KPMG (2021) predicted
that by 2024, the market value increase dramatically to $19.5 billion from $14.4
billion in 2014 due to the significant change in demographic. Moreover, having one
of the most impressive economic growth and recovery rate, with 7.09% in 2019
and 4.8% in 2021 (The World Bank, 2021), Vietnamese customers are nowadays
demanding for the better private healthcare service. Unfortunately, one of the
problems of Vietnamese healthcare system is that the human resource for the
industry is facing shortage, with the lower ratio of service coverage compared with
Singapore, having less population, and Indonesia. Importantly, this is supported by
the technological improvement and innovation. Being one of the biggest technology
hubs in the region, the market has its capacity to provide the best supporting
industry for the innovation of healthcare service. In general, all these factors are
considered as the opening for the deeper analysis about the customer factors and
service factors in Vietnam, a representative from emerging and developing market.

One of the most developed countries in APAC region, Singapore, from our
perspectives, has very different standards and momentum from Vietnam. At first
glance, the high entrepreneurial setting of the country is most effective fuel for the
technological innovation creating the step for service innovation. Our findings figure
that compared with other ASEAN countries, the technological advantages and high
entrepreneurship have provided Singapore the intangible and valuable resources for
the rise of startups in e-health service. Secondly, the high living standard has
impacted on the customer demand for the better service. In other words, we will
discover the expected values behind the service and how it could be the future for
Singaporean healthcare sector. The demographic factor of Singapore is also
considered, an increase in older and senior population as well as the high
percentage of urban population is important driver because every customer
segmentation has its own concept and value.

The table below will enlist the e-health service providers in Singapore and Vietnam.
We will mention the origin of the companies and the services:

Names Countries Services

Doctor Anywhere Singapore Teleconsultation
Biofourmis Singapore, the US Digital Therapeutics
Homage Singapore Home Healthcare
Obviohealth Singapore Clinical Trials
Jiohealth Vietnam Teleconsultation
BuyMed Vietnam Consumer Marketplace
Table 1. E-health service providers.

We enlist some common topics and articles regarding the e-health service:

 Digital healthcare: The only solution for better healthcare during COVID-19
pandemic? (Kapoor et al., 2020)
 Big data in digital healthcare: lessons learnt and recommendations for
general practice (Agrawal & Prabakaran, 2020)
 Digital health is a cultural transformation of traditional healthcare (Meskó et
al., 2017)
 Critical Perspectives on Digital Health Technologies (Lupton, 2014)
 The digital transformation of the healthcare industry: exploring the rise of
emerging platform ecosystems and their influence on the role of patients
(Hermes et al., 2020)
 The future of healthcare in Asia: Digital health ecosystems (Baur, Yew & Xin,
2021)

There are a lot of studies have focused on the changing customer behavior,
customer perception which shapes the customer new-normal demand conducted by
the market research firms. Besides, a huge number of research focus on
demonstrating the conceptual framework of e-health service have been published.
However, we realize that there is lack of research about the new values, the current
values which customers currently expect and the values that the e-health service is
providing universally. There is even less studies on e-health service in specific
countries that reflect the customer factors. Finally, we have no article to compare
the potentials, values and market criteria between Vietnam and Singapore which
can create the strategic advantages for the e-health service providers. We are
going to examine the value differences between the emerging and developed
market and answer the question whether in the era of globalization, a service
provider can build up the universal values applied in the universal markets. This
question is significantly important because it directly comes up with the strategic
points of view and practices.

To sum up, by conducting the research paper, we focus on the main aims of the
paper. First, we will provide the analysis and deeper understanding about the
potentials, the roles of e-healthcare service in Singapore and Vietnam. The
differences between two market are enlisted and compared. The effects of Covid
will be strongly considered as the drivers for the service in general. Secondly, we
are going to extract the insight about digital healthcare service. In other words, we
will seek the answers for the question about the values and the new-normal values
that the customers and users of the service are looking for. More importantly, from
the firm’s perspective, we figure out the values offered by the companies, especially
Doctor Anywhere. Thirdly and most importantly, we are going to understand the
strategies of Doctor Anywhere and how its values can match with customer values
to enhance the engagement in emerging Vietnam and developed Singapore.
Understanding the customer perception toward the service is significantly important
and we will conduct the data analysis for that. Finally, we will come up with the
recommendation for the strategic practices which are based on the research and
analysis for the firm to minimize the current gaps, in term of values, and the
strategies could be applied for future market expansion.

REFERENCE LIST:
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