Bain Cup · Taiping Pension

The growth question

The 2024 Bain Cup case examined growth opportunities for Taiping Pension’s senior-living business. The work connected an industry-level view of senior care with a customer-level question: what was limiting growth, and which opportunities could the business pursue?

The team sized institutional, community, and in-home care markets and benchmarked insurer-run communities, including Taikang and China Life. This established the competitive context for the customer research and growth proposal.

Understanding the competitive context

The market analysis identified undifferentiated offerings, alongside competitive barriers associated with early entry and service coverage. It also identified in-home care as an opportunity for expansion.

These findings put both existing-business growth and service extension on the agenda. The proposal needed to consider how customers encountered the current offering and how existing service capabilities could reach additional care settings.

My research contribution

I designed a research approach that combined a SERVQUAL survey, buying-decision interviews, and site visits. The three methods brought different perspectives to the same growth question:

1. 01

   Service experience

   The SERVQUAL survey provided a structured way to examine customers’ perceptions of service quality and satisfaction.

2. 02

   The buying decision

   Interviews brought the customer’s decision process into the analysis, complementing feedback on the service experience.

3. 03

   The service setting

   Site visits added an on-the-ground view of the offering to the survey and interview work.

The diagnosis that shaped the proposal

The research found high satisfaction among existing residents but very low brand awareness among target seniors. This distinction was central to the diagnosis: a positive experience among current customers did not automatically translate into awareness among prospective customers.

The growth bottleneck was identified in brand awareness and entry barriers. This directed the proposal toward customer acquisition, access to the offering, and ways to extend services beyond the existing community.

Three growth pathways

I co-developed the growth strategy with the team. The proposal connected customer entry, community reach, and in-home needs through three pathways:

1. 01

   Hotel-style stays with insurance-linked pricing

   Connect the form of the stay and the pricing approach to the customer-entry question, alongside the broader brand-education direction.

2. 02

   Modular services for nearby communities

   Package premium services into modules that could reach neighboring communities and extend the use of existing service capabilities.

3. 03

   Aging-in-place home renovation

   Extend the growth proposal into the in-home care setting through age-friendly home modifications.

Team outcome and my contribution

The submission received an Outstanding Report award in the Bain Cup Case Competition. My contribution combined research design with the co-development of the team’s growth proposal.

The case shows how I connect market context with customer evidence. The resulting strategy was grounded in the distinction between current customer satisfaction and the barriers facing the target audience, with recommendations addressing the specific growth problem.