Anastasiya Mozgova Alexander Lindgren Kelly Mellethin Kim Ritter Luca Hirschfeld Omar Nazmi Thilo Bhnen Tor

Michael Smith

A0093536Y A0093132N A0093271H A0092978 A0092986 A0093430M A0093107L A0093044L

Inhaltsverzeichnis
I. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................1 PROBLEM STATEMENT................................................................................................... 1 Is there an opportunity in the emergency medical services market in Southeast Asia?.................................................................................................................... 1 II. MARKET ANALYSIS (SINGAPORE, PHILIPPINES, TAIWAN, INDONESIA) ....4 PROBLEMS / REQUIREMENTS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA FOR HELICOPTERS......................................4 Facility requirements........................................................................................... 4 Location issues..................................................................................................... 4 Crewing issues..................................................................................................... 4 Regulations.......................................................................................................... 5 Ownership and management............................................................................... 5 ANALYSIS COUNTRY BY COUNTRY WITH PROBLEM STATEMENT................................................5 Singapore............................................................................................................. 5 Taiwan................................................................................................................. 6 Indonesia............................................................................................................. 7 Philippines............................................................................................................ 8 COMPETITION ANALYSIS: EMS MARKET SINGAPORE (SEA)..................................................9 III. EVALUATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................12 SINGAPORE............................................................................................................... 13 TAIWAN ................................................................................................................... 14 INDONESIA................................................................................................................ 16 PHILIPPINES............................................................................................................... 18 RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................................................... 19

I. Introduction
Every year two percent of a developed countrys population will need emergency transportation to a hospital; many will not live for long enough to see the operating table. Why? Ground emergency vehicles do not have the capability to reach victims in time. Traffic is too thick, response time is too long, and resources arent necessarily available. An American study showed that for every 100-person rescue mission using air services, there were six more survivors than if only ground services were used. If the United States as a developed country has developed air rescue services that reach locations across the whole nation, whats stopping equally developed Singapore, a country only 3.5 times the size of Americas capital? What about other countries in Southeast Asia? The general need for EMS services are clear. EMS saves lives. Is the Southeast Asian market for EMS services an opportunity Eurocopter should pursue, or do the potential pitfalls prohibit such a venture? Lets continue.

Problem Statement
Is there an opportunity in the emergency medical services market in Southeast Asia?

Delivering emergency medical services (EMS) in the context of the helicopter industry can be broadly defined as the use of helicopters to facilitate emergency medical attention and transport patients to hospital . Emergency medical services also incorporate medical equipment for providing in-flight medical attention to the

patient, and can facilitate the use of custom equipment such as winches. These can be used to access sites where the helicopters cannot land. Many helicopters today fill several roles at the same time, (for example, search and rescue or military helicopters that also do EMS work) partly due to the lack of need for pure EMS services. The Southeast Asian region includes a vast amount of small islands and other areas where accessibility is limited. Furthermore, a large amount of the population lives in rural areas, where hospitals are few and far between. In such areas outside of city confines, EMS services can be the only way of getting patients in critical need of medical attention to a hospital in a quick, safe and reliable way. These vast areas that need to be covered, combined with limited accessibility, create a market with a demand for EMS services. However, one cannot generalize between all Southeast Asian countries, making market analysis more complex. There are also several deterrents, which will be analyzed and explained in greater detail later in the report. Amongst the most important are the following: Restricted access to airspace. Air traffic control in some countries can be very restrictive. This severely limits the potential of EMS services by confining them to certain flight routes and air corridors. Identifying the correct buyer. If there is a need for government financing of EMS operations, it could be hard to obtain specifically in developing countries. A coordinating system or network needs to be in place. If not, willingness from the authorities to partake in developing and running such a system is required.

Willingness to pay contra perceived value would vary from country to country, and within each country. For instance, tourist destinations might value the increased safety of EMS services higher than other areas, as they see value in providing safety to visiting foreigners.

It is also questionable whether an underlying social conscience necessary to implement EMS even exists. Some of the countries in the region are very diverse, and people are not considered equal.

Need for cross-border cooperation in order to successfully coordinate and run operations can hamper development of an EMS network in the region.

Some kind of standard to ensure the quality of service delivered needs to be in place, and an official body needs to take responsibility for ensuring that standards and regulations are obeyed.

The need for EMS is co-based on government spending through hospitals, as well as private parties such as insurance companies that want to provide the best possible service to its policy takers. How widespread current alternative medical assistance is, including ambulance services and local medical personnel, will also greatly affect the demand for EMS services.

Taking these concerns and other relevant factors into account, this report will analyze the potential markets separately in order to identify possible opportunities for Eurocopter in these markets.

II.

Market Analysis (Singapore, Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia)

The emergency medical systems market in Southeast Asia varies from country to country. While more developed countries like Singapore and Taiwan have already established a solid network, there are also less developed countries like Indonesia and the Philippines where the formation of standardized emergency medical systems is under development.

Problems / Requirements in Southeast Asia for helicopters

Facility requirements

Helicopters need helipads, which can be built on the rooftops of hospitals or within close proximity to a hospital. It is imperative to have helicopters near medical institutions in order to be efficient and provide sufficient medical support to incoming patients. Location issues

The importance of helicopter base locations is crucial to helicopter EMS services, since the helicopters need to have the ability to reach areas that are most exposed to inaccessible accidents and therefore require the rapid medical help. In order to reap maximum efficiency, helicopters should strategically be placed near hospitals, with helipads dispersed efficiently across the nation in order to increase helicopter accessibility. Areas of this nature can be found across Southeast Asia, mostly islands, and remote areas that are hard to access rapidly through other means of transportation. Crewing issues
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Through country specific regulations, helicopters need a specific minimum amount of crewmembers on every mission. This crew usually consists of the pilot, a co-pilot for aviation support, and a team of emergency staff. That being said, hospitals which house helicopters will need to provide the sufficient manpower to operate and execute EMS helicopter services at all points throughout the day. Regulations

Air space is regulated differently in, and unique to, each respective country. It is often an issue of national security since the military dictates what can fly, and exactly where it can fly. Therefore every time an aircraft needs to get in the air, there are ample bureaucracies through different departments, impeding on the goal of Emergency Medical Services. Ownership and management

It is important to note that there is different ownership of EMS services across different nations. While some countries offer public health care that is funded by the government, it is often lacking and insufficient. For those who can afford it, there are private healthcare services provided at a much higher price.

Analysis country by country with problem statement

Singapore

With more than 7.5% of the total population of 5.1 million above 65 years old, and a growing rate of emergency calls of 6-8% per year, the emergency medical system in Singapore has to be stress resistant. Starting with an average response time of 25 minutes, the Singaporean Emergency Ambulance Service
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has managed to improve their standards and now boasts an average of 11 minutes response time to emergency calls. A fleet of 40 ambulances in 14 fire departments and 10 satellite stations is operating at the moment to react on more than 90,000 emergency calls per year. Every ambulance is fully equipped with basic airway, monitoring, intra-venous and immobilization devices, as well as AEDs. In addition to these 40 ambulances, another 10 private ambulances have been employed to further increase response time. In order to achieve an even lower first tier response to calls for cardiac arrest or collapses and road traffic accidents of 8 to 15 minutes, a minor fleet of motorbikes has been established. Nevertheless, the rate of ambulances per 100,000 persons in Singapore is only 0.65, which is relatively low compared to 2.78 in New York and 1.83 in Chicago. The Singaporean Emergency Ambulance Service (EAS) is operated by the Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF), which operates under the ministry of home affairs. Only in seldom and extreme cases like long distance transports, obstruction to land transport by traffic, or inaccessible sites especially across miles of sea, helicopters are used for emergency medical services. These helicopters, used for evacuations to Singapore General Hospital only, are military helicopters, coordinated by the Republic of Singapore Air Force. Taiwan

In Taiwan, land ambulances are the most common transportation devices for emergency medical services. The healthcare system is both governmental and private. The governmental system offers a universal dialing number and firestation-based ambulances offering Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)-1, EMT-2, and EMT-P levels of care. This service is free for patients. The private

system usually only offers EMT-1 and EMT-2 levels of care and is mostly used for inter-hospital transport of patients, which is however not effective enough for providing EMS in any case of emergency. The need for EMS services in Taiwan rapidly increases with a rate of about 10 % every year, but the efficient governmental system still is able to operate at an average arrival time of 4.1 to 4.9 minutes in Taipei and about 6.6 minutes in rural areas. The funding of the EMS is sustained by the government through taxation, and is supported by religious donations from Taoism or Buddhism temples. Indonesia

Today Indonesia provides ambulance service in its five biggest cities, Jakarta, Palembang, Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Makassar. The service is public, however is not funded exclusively by the government. Those that can pay for the service are charged the full amount. However more often than not patients cannot afford the full expense of the ambulance service in which case they pay about 50 % of the costs, the remainder comes from courses that the paramedics and doctors teaches. The statistics for emergency medical services in Indonesia are drastic: in 1991, 50,000 people died from injuries, but only 4,000 of them died in hospitals. This number has only risen in recent years. The most common causes of death in Indonesia are infectious disease, coronary heart disease or trauma. Although the different standards of emergency systems in hospitals vary, the AGD emergency ambulance service (former 118) has established in Jakarta, Palembang, Yogyakarta, Surabaya and Makassar. Although ambitious in its goal this service lacks sufficient coverage. For example, Jakarta with its 10 million inhabitants has only 55 functioning ambulances and 10 motorcycles, positioned at 10 strategic points across the city. This number recently dropped to only 9-15

operating vehicles, as funds to operate the vehicles are insufficient. Thus the response time to emergency calls is more than 30 minutes within the city of Jakarta. In addition to that, out of the 9-15 ambulances, only 5 are equipped with defibrillating devices and electrocardiograms. Due to these circumstances, the awareness of available emergency medical services has drastically sunk, and emergency calls for the whole city have dropped to only about 30 per day. For an effective coverage of the city, about 100 fully equipped ambulances would be necessary. The situation in Yogyakarta looks somewhat better: The average response time is only about 10 minutes, which however might be due to the lower population of only 425,000 people.1 When the ambulance fetches the patients, they are usually brought to a teaching hospital. As most ambulances are no more than a white van with a stretcher inside, there is also no guarantee of sufficient medical care during the transport. This situation is hard to overcome, as ambulances from abroad are very expensive for the government to purchase. Their new strategy now is trying to develop an own prototype with sufficient equipment with lower costs. Philippines

Hospitals and medications are overall very cheap in Philippines, with private hospitals being a little bit more expensive than the public. About 1700 hospitals exist, and 60 % of them are private. If the patient can pay for the medication and service he will be billed, but there are social services set up to help those who cannot afford it.

http://www.paramedics.org.au/media/media-coverage/the-fatal-flaws-in-indonesias-responseto-medical-emergencies-jakarta-globe-indonesia/)

The countrys emergency medical system is still in the process of formation, pushed forward by the Philippine Society of Emergency Medical Technicians (PSEMT). In 2009 their efforts have been culminated in the senate Bill 3485 and 3579, both acts focusing on institutionalizing an EMS system and providing for the establishment and regulation of professional emergency medical technician standards in the country. The aims of PSEMT are the provision of an effective 24-hour EMS (initially to communities of Cubao, Quezon City), to set up a highdependency patient transport system capable of safely and effectively transporting acute care patients from non-specialist medical facilities in the provinces to specialized medical facilities in metro-Manila, and to provide a monitored teaching base where emergency medical technician graduates can develop. 2However, these developments are strongly financially limited and not yet passed by the House of Representatives3. One of the largest problems in the country is corruption, reaching up to the highest levels of government, which is why a the union and formation of a lobby of all the different small ambulance services spread across the country seems to be the only possible option for forming a centralized law. Once this has happened, chances for introducing helicopter EMS in the Philippines may improve.

Competition Analysis: EMS Market Singapore (SEA)

The following section will provide an overview of the EMS market in South-East Asia with Singapore as the main focus. This analysis will be illustrated in congruence with Porters five forces: threat of new competition, threat of substitute products, bargaining power of customers, bargaining power of suppliers, and intensity of competitive rivalry.

2 3

http://www.psemt.org/foundation.php http://www.senate.gov.ph/lis/bill_res.aspx?congress=14&q=SBN-3579
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Eurocopters main competitors in the SEA civil helicopter market are Bell Helicopter and Augusta Westland (further referred to as AW). Eurocopter leads the market with 43% market share, followed by Augusta Westland (18%) and Bell (16%). Hence, this market is rather consolidated in the region. Augusta Westland is an Anglo-Italian helicopter company owned by the Italian company Finmeccanica. The company has set up a local subsidiary and support center in Malaysia and is involved in partnerships in Japan and South Korea. Although AW is not present in the Singapore EMS market yet, it is seen to be a serious threat for Eurocopter through its special capabilities in the military market: its rotorcraft systems design, development, production and integration capabilities, its experience in the training business and customer focused Integrated Operational Support solutions. Its worldwide success in the military market is based on technological excellence and innovation. The threat AW poses on Eurocopter can particularly be seen in the companys huge network of alliances, allowing the company to strengthen its product range to increase global presence and enhance its business opportunities in other markets for example the EMS market. AW can very easily leverage its brand name and good will with customers and introduce an EMS helicopter model. Particularly the companys focus on training can be used and leveraged to seize market share with its global training expansion partner, Era Training Center, posing a threat to Eurocopters expansion within the region. Bell Helicopter has a market share of 16% in the South East Asian market and was founded in 1935 as Bell Aircraft Corporation. Bell is a strong player in this market setting. As the overall industry leader, Bell was the first manufacturer to obtain a certification for a commercial helicopter. Its unique innovation of the tilt rotor aircraft (an aircraft like a helicopter but it flies like an airplane with twice the speed) sets it apart from its competitors. In June 2011, Bell has set up a logistics supply and service center in Singapore, serving the South East Asian market. Buyers in the EMS market are relatively weak due to the high degree of industrial

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collaboration, also leading to consolidation of the market. The South East Asian market is characterized by having a strong need of helicopter services due to the geographical setting with many islands where helicopters are the most convenient way to reach clients (civil or patient). Helicopter manufacturers in the EMS market in South East Asia are strong as a result of industry consolidation and scope. Ambulance vehicles possess a considerable threat as a substitute more often than a compliment to the EMS helicopter market. Especially in Singapore, where infrastructure is very developed and ambulance vehicles can easily find their way to the required destination. Helicopters are faster, but also much more expensive to operate. Eurocopter needs to provide a strong value proposition to its potential customers to enter the market. Entry barriers are found to be high in the EMS market. Eurocopter, as the leading helicopter manufacturer in South East Asia has established a strong brand image. Furthermore, Bell has established itself as a well-known helicopter manufacturer. This has led to a higher degree of customer loyalty, making it difficult for new entrant to catch customers attention in this market. Also, the incumbent helicopter manufacturers in South East Asia (through their long operation in the region as well as through numerous partnership and alliances) have managed to achieve economies of scale. This is especially critical in this market since design, development and production are very capital intensive, which contributes to higher entry barriers for new small players. Due to the brand equity given in this market as well as the high financial commitment of customers, switching costs are rather high. Customers in the South East Asian market established a relationship with their respective suppliers providing training, advice and customized offerings. Here, Eurocopter does very well by emphasizing its focus on safety and reliability. Ultimately the high number of partnerships and joint ventures further strengthens the main players position in this market, preventing new players from entering.

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III.

Evaluations & Recommendations

Upon analyzing the aforementioned, it is evident that Eurocopter must be very prudent when approaching the EMS market in South East Asia. Without a doubt the barriers to entry are extremely high, and each country it is exploring has a unique set of problems, which must be isolated and approached separately. That said there are several factors which must be present in a given market for Eurocopter to consider operating in successfully which are explored in the following: 1. Open airspace regulations: This refers to the government permitting the open use of helicop ters within the state, allowing aircrafts to take off and land without extreme bureaucracy. Many countries stringently regulate or even ban the use of aircrafts within the state as National Security measure. That said, it is imperative that the markets, which Eurocopter enters, allow the open use of registered helicopters for the purposes of emergency medical services. 2. Infrastructure: This refers to the overall development of the country, especially pertaining to the availability and possibility of setting up helipads for takeoff and landing purposes. Furthermore this criterion refers to the availability of qualified helicopter operators in the country. 3. Need: This refers to the amount of people who suffer injuries, which need helicopter EMS services/year. Factors such as average retrieval time, concentration of hospitals, and the overall degree of development of the medical system, will be taken into consideration upon evaluating this metric. 4. Finance: This refers to the government budget (if public healthcare), the amount of individuals in a country who carry an insurance company, and

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wealthy individuals who are willing and have the ability to pay for helicopter EMS services. Each of these factors is of equal importance and they all must be prevalent in the markets where Eurocopter aims to operate. The report will continue giving each criterion a rating out of five in its respective country, and the nation with the highest summed rating at the end of the analysis will will be the one most worth exploring for Eurocopter's expansion into the South East Asian EMS helicopter market. Singapore

1. Open Airspace Regulations -- under the CAAS (Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore) there must be several licenses and warrant-esque documents issued prior to the take off of any aircraft on Singapore soil. That said the Singaporean government has explicitly increased bureaucratic barriers when operating an aircraft in the country. This has been done as an Air Traffic Control regulation that will ...improve the National Security of Singapore. That said, until these controls are relaxed there can be no future for Eurocopter in the EMS market in Singapore. Singapore will receive a rating of 1/5 under this criterion. 2. Infrastructure: In regards to infrastructure Singapore is seemingly one of the most developed countries in Southeast Asia and offers plenty of opportunity in terms of helipads with its sky scraping buildings set up across the entire city. Furthermore Singapore is home to the state of the art School of Air Traffic Services which graduates dozens of pilots, and hundreds of Air Traffic control specialists every year. That said, Singapore will receive a 5/5 under this criterion. 3. Need: Singapore currently operates one of the most wholesome EMS fleets in the region. With a fleet of 40 ambulances and, 14 fire

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departments and 10 satellite stations Singapore is currently operating to react on more than 90,000 emergency calls per year. That said there is always room for improvement with unfortunately many instances of fatal incidents not making it to the hospital in time as a result of traffic jams. It is also important to note the significance of Singapore as a medical hub across South East Asia which will be further explored in the 'our vision' section of the report. For these reasons Singapore will receive a 4/5 under this section. 4. Finance: In regards to finances, Singapore has the 3rd highest GDP/Capita in the world, and the Ministry of Health in Singapore has an affluent $4.2 billion budget. With such an affluent budget, Singapore will receive a 5/5 rating for this criterion. Upon considering the above criteria, Singapore has scored a 15/20 in terms of being an attractive market for Eurocopter to consider entering. With the right infrastructure, need and finance situation; it is only an issue of open airspace that is stopping the Singaporean market from flourishing. Eurocopter must show hospitals the value of helicopter EMS, in order to have them lobby the government to loosen the countrys stringent Air Traffic Control regulations in order to save more Singaporean lives. Eurocopter should also look into its database of affluent Singaporean customers to see if there are any which would make useful allies in lobbying the government to allow the use of EMS helicopters in Singapore. Eurocopter must work hard now in order to unlock this market for future endeavors. Taiwan

1. Open Air Space: In regards to open air space Taiwan is a safe haven. Currently there is approximately 20 helicopters operating the skies of the metropolitan city. Furthermore the EMS helicopter market has already

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been penetrated with an assortment of luxury hospitals operating EMS helicopter fleets. This gives Taiwan a rating of 5/5 in regards to open air space. 2. Infrastructure: Taiwans infrastructure for helicopter operation is perfect. Although the country is currently operating only 4 helipads in its downtown core, it has the infrastructure with its concentrated downtown to handle many more. Furthermore, Taiwan is investing heavily in a flight academy upon realizing earlier this decade that the overwhelming majority of its commercial airline pilots were foreign; with the locals being sent abroad to train (which proved to be expensive). The Taiwan Flight Academy just opened earlier this year and is looking to fill the skies with well trained and skilled aircraft operators. This gives Taiwan a rating of 4/5 in regards to infrastructure. 3. Need: Despite its extremely overpopulated capital of Taipei, and crowded outskirts Taiwan has been very efficient in responding to emergency medical calls with an average arrival time between 4-6 minutes. That said, at the moment there appears to be little need for emergency helicopter medical services. This gives Taiwan a rating of 2/5 in regards to need. 4. Finance: Taiwan is a prominent country with one of the highest GDP/Capita ratios in the South-East Asia region. However the National Health Insurance (the current healthcare system which has a 99% coverage) is under going a national healthcare reform. The country finds itself allocating financial resources to reestablishing hospitals, and ambulances with things like helicopters taking a back seat. That said, Taiwan scores a rating of 3/5 in regards to Finances. Upon considering the aforementioned criteria, Taiwan has scored a 14/20 in terms of being an attractive market for Eurocopter to consider entering.

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Ultimately the mix of factors for Taiwan is not yet ripe enough for Eurocopter to make a profitable entry into the Emergency Medical Services market. That said it would be vigilant for Eurocopter to monitor developments in this Taiwan closely, since the potential future it carries in the helicopter EMS market is extremely lucrative. Indonesia

1. Open Air Space: Concerning the open air space in Indonesia there are no current restrictions that would limit the use of EMS helicopters in the country. Furthermore, due to the natural layout of Indonesia as many different islands air travel is a frequent, fast and very useful measure of transportation that would prove to be useful in the EMS market. That said, Indonesia scores a 5/5 in regards to open airspace. 2. Infrastructure: With regard to infrastructure one has to consider the vastness of Indonesia. Helipads are not established at any of the public hospitals in Indonesia. Although the biggest cities might possibly have the resources to build helipads at reasonable locations, this would cover only a fraction of the country. Thus helipad infrastructure could only be assured on Java in the future. This however is not sufficient to cover the other islands and these do not have the resources or the population to deem such changes reasonable. Furthermore the country lacks sufficient infrastructure in basic healthcare services, such as fully equipped and functioning ground ambulances. That said the country will be focusing on establishing a sufficient health care infrastructure covering the basics, before it considers investing in helicopter ems services. Finally the country lacks a piloting school, as such there is not sufficient individuals in the country to man a helicopter. As a result Indonesia scored 1/5 in regards to open airspace.

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3. Need: As the country consists of about 6000 inhabited islands the need for quick response EMS vehicles, that can reach out of the way places, is prevalent. However, considering the people in Indonesia do not even use their limited ambulances and other EMS services as a result of them being extremely inefficient and unreliable, it is unlikely that the public will accept this new type of service any time in the near future. It would be of value to inform the public of the benefits of using EMS services, once there has been sufficient improvements in their healthcare staples. As a result Indonesia scores 3/5 in regards to need. 4. Finance: When looking into current medical services offered and the quality of hospitals, ambulances and the medical system in general it seems unlikely that the government and hospitals will spend their limited resources on large non staple luxuries like EMS helicopters. It would seem more likely that any funding would go towards improving the foundations of the current health system. That said, Indonesia scores 1/5 in reagards to finances. Upon considering the aforementioned criteria, Indonesia has scored a 10/20 in terms of being an attractive market for Eurocopter to consider entering. Having examined the four factors, it seems unlikely that Eurocopter will have success in the EMS market in Indonesia. Even though the geography of the country would be perfect for implementing EMS helicopters, the lack of financial prowess and infrastructure pose serious barriers. However, these barriers with time and improvements will be overcome in the future; thus it is of importance that Eurocopter continuously analyze and assess the situation in Indonesia; and to evaluate when the country is ready for EMS helicopters.

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Philippines

1. Open Air Space: There seems to be no open air restrictions concerning EMS helicopters in the Philippines and regarding the usefulness of aircrafts, a similar reasoning applies as it did with Indonesia due to the widely dispersed geography of this island nation. As a result the Philippines scores 5/5 in regards to use of open airspace. 2. Infrastructure: So far most hospitals do not have helipads. Though it is likely that privately owned hospitals implement them, if they see the value added of EMS helicopters. However, the question will remain who has to do the first step, either helipads need to be built to accommodate helicopters or helicopters need to be a part of the EMS service in order for helipads to be built. Similar to Indonesia the infrastructure would be limited to major cities and islands thus limiting the usefulness of helicopters. Thus the philipines ranks 2/5 in regards to infrastructure. 3. Need: The need for a EMS vehicle that can reach out of the way places in a quick way is definitely there, however the question remains how many people in the Philippines are able to pay for such a service and whether the government is willing to help. Giving the Philippines a score of 4/5 in regards to infrastructure. 4. Finance: It is possible that private hospitals would be interested in EMS helicopters and could afford them, the question remains however if the demand is large enough among their clients. Public hospitals face the same resource problems mentioned when analyzing Indonesia and the few resources they do have usually go into improving the health care staples. Giving the Philippines a score of 2/5

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Upon considering the aforementioned criteria, the Philippines has scored a 12/20 in terms of being an attractive market for Eurocopter to consider entering. Despite there being some demand and financial backing within the private hospital sector; and there being no issues regarding air space it would be difficult for Eurocopter to build a substantial customer base, due to the relatively low wealth level of the overall population which affects the demand of EMS helicopters.

Recommendations
Despite an extremely competitive landscape and seemingly insurmountable odds for the EMS helicopter market in South East Asia, we still believe that it can be potentially lucrative in the long run. In regards to selling EMS helicopters to hospitals, (be it government run or private medical institutions) we feel that Singapore bears the most potential. Having ranked the highest score in our analysis with its established infrastructure, sufficient need and well established economy it is ripe for expansion. We emphasize once more that Eurocopter should leverage all that it can in order to lobby the government into loosening its air traffic restrictions and we believe this will happen in the near future. Already the effective use of helicopters in saving lives and being seen on Singaporean soil. Just on Thursday April 5th a Chinook military helicopter was seen landing on NUS soil in the science field. The helicopter was transporting a man who was evacuated from onboard a commercial vessel in the South China Sea, and was being taken to the National University Hospital for treatment Had a helicopter not been used to evacuate this man, his life would surely have been lost at sea. Eurocopter should be keen on raising awareness for the usage of predetermined air routes (similar to roads in the sky) which will fly clear of high security zones which the government will be aiming to protect for cases like these. With this solution, the government still maintains sovereign control over its skies, while allowing its citizens to receive the immediate medical attention they needsaving Singaporean lives.

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Furthermore Singapore has developed a reputation as a medical hub in South East Asia, this can also be leveraged in Eurocopters expansion within the region. Along with being a Medical Hub many VIP patients from less developed neighboring countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand etc.) often come to Singapore because of its extensive line of world class hospitals. For example Singapore is home to Gleneagles Hospital and Medical Centre (which treats over 450 international patients a year). That said, there is a market opportunity for Eurocopter to offer its clients to use their products as VIP EMS Taxi services transporting these wealthy patients from their respective home countries, straight to the doors of the hospital to receive world class treatment. In addition to transporting patients between hospitals as mentioned and acting as air ambulances, EMS helicopters can also be used to transport critical equipment or organs that need to be transported quickly and safely between locations. Finding alternative usage patterns can help warrant the initial investment, potentially broadening Eurocopters potential market. This perspective fosters cooperation amongst the most promising medial institutions in South East Asia (something hospitals value) and can will foster new relationships and developments that can potentially lead to ground breaking discoveries. Singapore is essentially the best market for this type of expansion considering that it is a medical hub in the region. Furthermore Singapore is a country high in foreign clout, while its neighbors are high in foreign susceptibility. Meaning that Singapore often influences its neighbours, and is often seen as a region trend setter; further strengthening the fact that Eurocopter should expand into Singapore first. Ultimately we feel that Singapore is the key to the South East asian market, and once this air traffic regulation has been lifted it will lead to exponential growth within the region.

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