Reference no: EM133556273

Case Study: Globally, telemedicine has proved invaluable in the management of the Covid-19 pandemic with many governments and healthcare systems adopting digital healthcare tools and hiring consultants as the first line of care for patients who receive medical advice and assistance (Discovery, 2020). As part of the technological innovations in healthcare, Discovery have partnered with Vodacom to provide free virtual COVID-19 screening and free online medical consultations. The partnership between Vodacom and Discovery is dedicated to COVID-19-specific screening and consultations and the invitation for participationis extended to all doctors, via the Discovery Health ID and DrConnect apps (Discovery, 2020). On these platforms, doctors can receive guidance on how to consult as well as payment for their services from the dedicated fund that Discovery and Vodacom have set up for these specific consultations (Discovery, 2020).

Adrian Gore, Discovery CEO, believes that technology is a great disruptor and enabler in the global health insurance space (Mtongana, 2022). Vodacom Group CEO, Shameel Joosub expressed optimism in the partnership by stating "Our partnership with Discovery can go a long way in alleviating any increased pressure on healthcare practitioners. As a leading technology company, we are optimistic about the capabilities of digital connectivity to transform the lives of our communities" (Discovery, 2020).

Technological advances were especially handy during the unexpected pandemic: "Our core purpose of making people healthier gained new relevance and urgency overnight, and the whole organisation came together to support our own people, clients and broader society," said Adrian Gore. He further reiterated that this change has challenged leaders to think about and plan for the future, through methods such as scenario planning where one considers various scenarios, attach probabilities to them and use that as a guide for decision-making (Discovery, 2020).

In addition to taking full advantage of technological advance to further their agenda of promoting wellness, Discovery also has a long-standing history in innovation and strategic partnerships. The company's expansion into more diverse markets such as Asia, North America, and the UK has been possible through partnerships (Mtongana, 2022) "We wouldn't be able to build an insurer in Asia single handily. Through partnerships we can participate in those markets while changing tens of thousands of lives," CEO Adrian Gore said.

When Adrian Gore started Discovery, in 1992, he believed in human development towards health and wellness (Fortune, 2021). Gore has been described as a passionate and focused leader who concentrates on positivity and encouragement but also believes in pushing people hard. Gore was quoted saying "I believe positivity is the most important attribute of success, as you must essentially believe that there is a future and that there is something to achieve in that future. When you are negative, you make the wrong decisions based on your fears" (Gordon Institute of Business Science , n.d.). When commenting on planning and preparing for unforeseen circumstances, Gore commented, "think about plausibility rather than probability and consider not only the potential bad things but the potential good things that can come out of this time. In my journey, I've tried to do that in the context of our organisation, and personally as well.
The future I'm outlining could happen on a societal level but also extend to that which you would choose individually. The approach is attitudinal - thinking about plausibility and what's possible in the context of leading in your business, your family and community."

Part of discovery's strategy is to incentivize healthy living by rewarding its customers for making healthy choices. One of the company's core programs from the get-go was Vitality Points, which were awarded to customers based on their healthy-living choices, such as exercising and eating healthy food. (Fortune , 2021). In addition, Discovery provides financial support, in the form of loans and grants, and non-financial support, in the form of business development support, training and mentorship opportunities, to selected beneficiaries (Discovery, 2022).

Discovery was built on a very simple but powerful core purpose: making people healthier (Discovery, 2020). Through prioritizing wellness and development, Discovery has been able to expand into life insurance, prepaid health plans and more recently, into banking (Fortune , 2021). Discovery bank's purpose is aligned with the overall Discovery purpose; to get clients to better manage their finances through similar programmes such as their vitality (Claasen, 2022). In February 2020, Discovery bank had signed up to 78,000 clients, and had 180,000 active accounts. It also had R1.2 billion in customer deposits and had
loaned R200 million. More impressively, they have managed to grow their customers base by 477% to a total of 450,000 customers by 2022. Customer deposits have also grown 10-fold to R11 billion. Discovery bank is currently ranked as the seventh largest bank in South Africa - when measured by deposits (Claasen, 2022).
Gore further demonstrated faith in the group's strategy by stating "If anything, our banks have demonstrated resilience in a difficult market. We have a behavioural mindset and a belief that it will help our customers," (Mtongana, 2022). Discovery's core purpose is expressed in each of their health and financial products that they offer to their nearly six million clients across four continents (Discovery, 2020).

Discovery's operating years have not been without challenges in the South African market. Gore has expressed challenges operating in a country with GDP growth of -0.7 and a 50% unemployment rate among the youth, however, he advocates for seeking out positive signals to form a realist vision of where the company is heading (Discovery, 2018). Gore further believes that risk is part of the health insurance game. 80% of the diseases are created by behaviours such as unhealthy eating and the lack of exercise, therefore, by integrating the shared value model, Discovery used behaviour change to enhance their health insurance model. Due to
people getting healthier, claims have been lower so it really does pay to be well (Mtongana, 2022) .

Question: Critically evaluate Discovery's risk management during the COVID-19 pandemic. As part ofyour evaluation, introduce and briefly discuss the four steps of managing strategic risk and apply them to the Discovery case study. You need to support your discussion by integrating therelevant theory in your discussion with practical examples from the case study.