This is the second case assigned to this course. Part 2 of the text considers concepts of Business Strategy and Corporate Level strategy in chapters 4 and 6. Chapter 7 incorporates growth strategies related to Acquisitions, Mergers, and Leveraged Buyouts.

The Group assignment for Week 4 provides one example of an organization (HCA) that utilized all three of these strategies over a period of 35 years. Using that information, and the history provided in the attached PDF file, research the HCA organization and after conducting a SWOT analysis, respond to the following Questions.

1. Chapter 6 focuses attention on Strategic Actions and Strategic Formulation and emphasizes Corporate Relatedness and the Transfer of Core Competencies on page 171. What were HCAs core competencies and how did these competencies build Value for the company? What type of Business Level strategy did they pursue when the company began in 1968?

2. Over a period of years (1968-1985), HCA acquired many small rural hospitals; many of which were struggling to fund new technologies necessary to provide care to the citizens of their communities, and responding to new Federal Government regulations related to Medicare and Medicaid (1965). In the late 70's and early 80's HCA began to acquire competing investor-owned health care companies . Compare and contrast these strategies to the text reference relative to Restructuring of Assets outlined in Chapter 6. What role, if any, did the General and Competitive environment play in these strategies?

3. Consider the comments of the author of the text; "page 195, The Popularity of Mergers and Acquisition Strategy". How did HCA utilize strategies of Horizontal and Vertical Integration to exploit these concepts during the 1980s and 1990s. Reference the files and links provided in your response.

4. On page 203 chapter 7, the author describes