Create brand diversity
Nowakowski joined what was called American Mobile Nurses in
1990, a growing privately held provider of travel nurses. Clients
were beginning to express an interest in contract allied health professionals, and the industry was growing by expanding the contingent work force concept to other health care disciplines. The following year, the company grew organically by launching a mobile
therapist division, and in 1998, the company launched the AMN
Healthcare name. The expansion phase has continued including
overseas nurse recruitment and the more recent acquisitions of
MHA Group, a provider of temporary physicians and physician
direct-placement services, and Pharmacy Choice, which provides
temporary and direct placement of pharmacists.
“Clients were asking for contract physicians,” Nowakowski says.
“The key is to listen to them, anticipate the market, and then get
into the space quickly. Otherwise, someone else will offer the service. To be an industry leader, you have to be a single-source service provider to clients or else you give a competitor an opening.”
Today, AMN Healthcare provides a full range of staffing services
under a multibrand recruiting model. While there’s an increased cost
and a few challenges associated with executing the strategy, each
brand attracts a different group of health care professionals, so
there’s value in retaining the inventory of health care professionals
and the placement team who garners relationships with the contingent workers, following an acquisition. Sometimes, there are multiple suitors for health care staffing firms, so how the CEO handles
the transaction and the integration of the brands often dictates success in maintaining the brand identity and retaining the work force.
“The key to managing multiple brands and keeping them intact is
to respect each organization’s differences,” Nowakowski says. “You
can’t expect to change everything overnight, and you shouldn’t
change everything. You should author the integration plan before
the acquisition closes and involve the key leadership of the prospective acquisition in the assimilation strategy. The process builds trust
and eliminates surprises. Agree upfront which functions and decision-making processes will be consolidated and which will remain
autonomous.”
Agreeing about the future operating model as part of the due-diligence process keeps the acquisition from unraveling once the
investment is made. Each AMN Healthcare brand has its own president and its own profit and loss statement, which ensures operating
independence, and the structure appeals to selling entrepreneurs.
Nowakowski favors integrating back-office functions, like accounting and risk management, while providing new acquisitions with
tools that enable growth, such as improved Web sites and technology capabilities.
“Each brand has its own operating plan, which is approved
by the board,” Nowakowski says. “Of course, we’re looking for
them to fit in to the long-term company goals and cohesiveness
around things like pricing and the types of disciplines they are providing, but they have a great deal of autonomy in how they conduct business. That maintains the brand’s independence and its
ability to appeal to a different segment of the contingent work
force.”
