Medmira Case Essay Example for Free

Medmira Case Essay MedMira Case Course: Marketing Planning What changes in the environment made it possible to consider the launch of an OTC Aids Test? Be specific. MedMira is known by developing and manufacturing quality diagnostics to prevent and control the spread of infectious diseases. All tests used a flow-through membrane technology and were fast and easy to use. Medmira was distributing rapid HIV tests in Canada, United States, South Africa, Latin America and China, and selling them to hospitals, pharmacies and aid groups. One of the focuses of MedMira was to expand to Over-the-Counter market as there happened some changes that made it possible to consider this attempt: New infections were happening and about 3.1 million people were dying from HIV. This adds a higher preoccupation to the government and specialists on the health sector and pressure to arrange a solution. During the 80’s, there were few available treatment and when people knew they had the virus they would see it as a death sentence. Nowadays this idea is disappearing as technology is more advanced, it is a â€Å"more manageable illness† and there is an increase of information available about HIV. Due to legal approval of the tests, MedMira was able to distribute rapid HIV tests in Canada, United States, China and European Union. This is a step closer of entering the OTC market. Rapid testing was expected to grow between 20 to 30 per cent of the market. This expected growth was also related to a higher approval by governments as there were changes in the society acceptance and technological improvements on this area. Comparison factor as Medmira’s first rapid HIV test for OTC, Miracare, had a big success in China and this could happen in the rest of the world. Due to this accomplishment, international demand for this product has increased. Prepare a SWOT analysis for MedMira Aids Test. The following SWOT analysis contains the most significant and strategically important internal and external conditions that MedMira faces. The Internal is divided into strengths and weakness and the external is divided into opportunities and threats: Internal Strengths: -HIV test market leader -Easy use Weakness: -Ethical concerns -Cannibalization of revealing G2 External Opportunities: -Partnership with HA -Open door for testing other diseases -Growing rapid test market Threats: -Ethical concerns -Possible partnership of HA with competitors -Entry costs MedMira has some internal strengths by being a HIV test market leader, specially selling to hospitals, and suitable for at-home use. The Aids test is also easier to use and faster on getting the results relative to the competition, result of this was a higher international recognition. Relative to weakness aspects, there are some ethical concerns such as the possibility of testing without another person’s authorization that is a negative aspect. Apart from this, in case MedMira is able to enter the OTC market, there is a possibility of cannibalizing the sales of Reveal G2 to laboratories and hospitals, as the products would be considered as â€Å"substitutes† as they practically have the same objective. One of the opportunities is the partnership with Home Access and develop a revised  version of HA’s Consumer Advocate System. This partnership would eliminate the ethical concerns MedMira couldn’t address and would also help to remain competitiveness, build a barrier to entry of other firms on the phone support system and reduce courier costs. Another opportunity is if MedMira could enter the OTC market, it would be an open door for rapid tests of other infectious diseases that are worth millions. For last, the development of the rapid test market is a favorable trend to higher sales and profits, which is seen as a good opportunity. If Home Access, which possesses a patent on phone support system, joins with one of the competitors, MedMira will eventually lose competitiveness with this partnership, being one of the main threats. For last, entry costs on the OTC market are high and it is not clear if the company could afford the expansion at this moment. To conclude this analysis, the partnership would have a positive impact in the society. Because if consumers are able to buy rapid tests, this could prompt people to be tested earlier in a faster, easier and more accessible way, which would reduce the instances of transmission.

Physics of Neurons Essay -- physics neuron

The human nervous system is divided into two parts, the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system, CNS, is just the brain and spinal cord. The peripheral nervous system, PNS, includes the nerves and neurons that extend outwards from CNS, to transmit information to your limbs and organs for example. Communication between your cells is extremely important, neurons are the messengers that relay information to and from your brain. Nerve cells generate electrical signals to transmit information. Neurons are not necessarily intrinsically great electrical conductors, however, they have evolved specialized mechanisms for propagating signals based on the flow of ions across their membranes. In their inactive state neurons have a negative potential, called the resting membrane potential. Action potentials changes the transmembrane potential from negative to positive. Action potentials are carried along axons, and are the basis for "information transportation" from one cell in the nervous system to another. Other types of electrical signals are possible, but we'll focus on action potentials. These electrical signals arise from ion fluxes produced by nerve cell membranes that are selectively permeable to different ions. Neurons and glia (cells that support neurons) are specialized cells for electrical signaling over long distances. Understanding neuronal structure is important for understanding neuronal function. The number of synaptic inputs recieved by each nerve cell in our (human) nervous system varies from 1-100,000! This wide range reflects the fundamental purpose of nerve cells, to integrate info from other neurons. Cellular organization of neurons resembles that of other ce... ...ive current flow. Another way to improve the passive flow is to insulate the axonal membrane with myelin. This reduces the amount of current that would otherwise leak out of the axon and increases the distance that the current can flow passively. Myelination, aka axon insulation, increases action potential conduction up to 150m/s compared to 0.5-10m/s conduction velocities of unmyelnated axons! Speedy delivery of current (information) along axons is also due to the nodes of Ranvier. Nodes of Ranvier are gaps between insulated portions of the axon. The gaps create a place where the current can flow out of the axon so an action potential can be generated. Action potentials are started at one end of the node, flow passively through the myelinated axon, and pop out the other side to jump to the next node. This jumping of action potentials is called saltatory.

Aging Workforce in Singapore Essay

Populations in many developed countries are ageing, and Singapore is no exception. The first batch of post-war baby boomers will reach 65 years of age by 2012. The number of seniors will increase from 8.4% in 2005 to 18.7% in 2030 (refer to Table 1). According to the 2010 Population Report,  The proportion of residents (i.e. citizens and PRs) aged 65 and above increased from 7.0% of the resident population in 1999 to 8.8% in 2009. Correspondingly, the number of younger residents aged 15-64 for every resident aged 65 and above (i.e. the old-age support ratio) fell from 10.1 in 1999 to 8.3 in 2009 (refer to Table 2). (Singapore Department of Statistics, 2010, p. 4) Today, one out of every 12 Singaporeans is aged 65 or above. By 2030, this ratio will become one out of five. On January 2011, the parliament has passed down the new employment law of changing to retirement age from 62 to the age of 65 from January 2012. This is a good news to many Singaporeans who felt that they are still capable of working beyond the retirement age of 62 (Nayak, 2011, para. 3). An ageing population brings both challenges and opportunities, having tremendous effect on all parts of our society – individuals, families, communities, businesses and government. Therefore, we ought to prepare early for the challenges of an ageing population to ensure the well-being of our seniors and their families to provide the first line of support. At the same time, we must be ready to seize the economic opportunities that will emerge from the demographic shift. Aging Workforce in the Hotel Industry With relevance to the major demographic trends, aging population, this revolution will change the face of our labour market. Correspondingly, the workforce is not only ageing, but also growing at a much slower pace. Increasingly, companies are facing problems in recruiting replacements for retiring employees. This is a reality that companies have to grapple with and adapt to. Nevertheless, not all companies are being affected equally nor are they moving at the same rate to identify and address how the ageing trend will be impacting their businesses. Impacts In the hospitality industry, service is the factor that differentiates hotels from its competitors. Therefore with a large amount of aging workforce in the frontline, it will bring down the image of the hotel in terms of appearance; a younger worker would look fresher and have a better appeal to guests. As a guest of a hotel overseas, he or she would be preferred to be served by younger workers than people of an old age. As older employees are naturally more prone to illnesses, they would tend to take more medical leaves thus decreasing the manpower. When one gets sick, it affects the employees’ mood to work and thus less concentration when working. This in turn reduces the efficiency of the operations of hotels. In addition, the needs and interest changes with aging workforce. According to the study by Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (TAFEP) (2010), â€Å"rising health and insurance costs, concern about physical abilities, and adaptability/willingness were ranked as the top three challenges† (p. 3). With the ever changing preferences and needs of the society, hotels have to constantly upgrade their standard of services. However, older employees may not be equipped with latest skills and knowledge needed to achieve the hotel’s competitive advantage. Thus, there is a need to constantly upgrade the skills of their older employees. Older employees are more resistant to changes and improvements. This may be mainly due to their thinking of already having the appropriate experience and knowledge and there is no need for further training, especially in the situation of â€Å"leapfrogging†, where a younger worker is put in charge of a more experienced worker. Many hotels will have an advantage by having a large pool of elderly employees. It is mainly because there are many job positions which young employees would be unwilling to take up. Most time, foreigners would be hired to fill up the rest of the job vacancies that do not appeal to the young employees; however, hotels can have another avenue of recruitment – the elderly workforce. This will give hotels a great advantage to handpick the best candidates out of the pool of elderly workforce. In hotels, there are certain positions that elderly employees occupy, for example managerial positions. Being loyal to the company, they would not want to leave their positions easily as compared to the younger workforce who usually job hops for a better pay. This relieves the hotel’s need to constantly recruit and train new workers, thus helping to cut the costs during the process of recruitment and training. Challenges A) The Human Resource (HR) unit has a challenge to allocate the older employees in suitable positions that is beneficial for both the hotel and the aging workforce. The HR unit also has to ensure that the hotel would maintain a good image and increases their productivity. There is also a need for the HR unit to create a supportive culture for the older workers in order to manage such diverse workforce. B) Keeping older employees motivated at work along with the right attitude is important when serving their customers. In addition, with the older employees being more prone to illnesses, hotels have to struggle with ways to keep their costs low and at the same time provide adequate medical benefits for them. During such periods it is more crucial for managers and supervisors to show them care and patience. C) Values tend to change from one generation to another as well as during different life stages. The thinking of the older generation is more conservative than those of the younger generation. It would thus be a challenge for the hotels wanting the older employees to improve their values in their job scope. With a more conservative mindset and thinking, they would be afraid to try new things and be more innovative. In turn, the hotel will lose its competitiveness if new changes are adopted. Hence, the HR unit in a hotel has to place their older employees in the most relevant training to help them prepare for changes in their current jobs. Besides that, older employees would normally take a longer time to adapt to changes, thus the management has to work out appropriate schedules to help their employees to have a proper balance with their job and trainings. D) Older employees tend to have more skills and knowledge in the industry due to the experiences they have gone through. Retaining this skills and knowledge is critical for hotels to ensure that the younger generation will also have these basic skills and knowledge as a platform for them to have an advantage over their competitors. E) Although there is a need to retain these skills and knowledge, there will definitely be a time when one has to retire. However, the aging workforce is usually reluctant to leave their positions as they are emotionally attached to the hotel. This would be a challenge for the hotel to find ways to recruit younger employees, without resulting in excess manpower and high costs, especially for positions in the higher management. If the hotel were to retain most of the older employees, they may miss opportunities on recruiting young employees who can be a more valuable asset to the hotels which helps to bring their standards to a higher level. Solutions It is time for employers to start responding to the potential consequences of the ageing workforce on their businesses. If not well-prepared, employers may find themselves suddenly faced with labour loss, experience and expertise that will be difficult to offset, given the relatively small pool of new employees. With many companies facing the same problem, competition for new talents is likely to surface. A) Hotels can have interviews to know which areas older employees would prefer to work in and the languages they can speak. With the information gathered, hotels will be able to know their strengths and weaknesses which help to determine where to allocate each individual. With the proper job assignment, hotels will be able to maintain a good image, by reassigning the older employees with language barriers to the backhouse such as room attendant. This allows them to be in their comfort zone and after getting used to their task, the productivity will be maximized in both the frontline and backhouse. B) In order to keep older employees engaged and motivated, it is vital for the HR department to maintain constant communication with the older employees and understand any problems, issues and concerns that they are encountering. By treating their employees like family members, it may be a major job happiness-driver for them and thus motivating them to do better for the hotel. Besides that, communication and treating each other with respect ensures that the spirit of their employees is always high. Through job empowerment, employees will have more decision making responsibilities and hence they will feel more respected as an employee as they are given a chance to handle more difficult situation on their own. As for medical benefits, hotels can pay a certain percentage of their medical fees. For example, the hotels will pay 50% of their employee’s medical fees while the other 50% is paid by the employees. C) Facing the challenge that older generation is more conservative, companies can focus on creating a positive work environment for older employees by allowing flexible hours, more communication and constantly motivating them. Some of the actions can be allowing the older employees to have an option to consider different jobs and different sets of responsibilities. Some older employees may wish to devote their later career years to jobs that allow them to develop new competencies. Others may want jobs that are less demanding, these older employees may be interested in making transitions to different jobs within the company or make lateral moves or even to lower positions with a pay reduction. Other than that, the hotel can allow them to have a choice over the number of hours worked and provide them with flexible schedule for trainings. For example, older employees work on reduced-hours such as part-time or job sharing, so as to schedule the rest of their time for trainings that are a rranged for them. D) To retain the skills and knowledge, the older employees can train and guide the younger employees before they retire to ensure that the skills and knowledge are passed down. After retirement, they can come back and help out by overlooking and having workshops to give further training that is needed. E) To attract the younger people, creative ways are needed. For example, the hotel can come up with a program like the popular show â€Å"The Apprentice† by Donald Trump to search for the best employee. However, we must ensure there is no excessive pool of manpower and costs are kept low. The hotels can allow their older employees to be on-call workers or have flexible work schedules. On-call workers are employees who are called to work only when needed, although they can be scheduled for work for several days or weeks in a row. In days when the hotels need a massive number of employees, the on-call workers will be called back. By providing flexible work schedules, older employees are allowed to plan their work schedules with the choice over the number of hours worked. This will prolong the retirement period for older employees by allowing them to work but at a lesser duration, so that younger employees have the chance to excel and there will not be a surplus or shortage in th e manpower. Case Study: Royal Plaza on Scott The Royal Plaza on Scott is a 5-star leading hotel in Singapore. 50% of the hotel 300 employees are classified under the mature and older category. The company recognized the importance of mature employees and has sets out strategy as Singapore faces human capital challenge of managing a mature and older workforce. According to Fiat (2010), The mature employees are valuable assets to the organization as they are able to share their wealth of experience with the younger employees. The hotel taps on their expertise by pairing the mature employees with the younger generation of new hires to provide guidance and encourage cohesiveness. The hotel also implemented a buddy system where a new mature employee is paired with a younger co-worker or vice versa to work together and learn from each other. For example, younger employees may learn from mature and older employees on how to handle difficult customers while guiding their older colleagues on the effective usage of technology at the workplace. (TAFEP, p. 45) Royal Plaza on Scott has developed recruitment strategies like implementing Flexible Working Arrangements (FWA), where there is a flexible work arrangement which includes flexi-time, part time, job shares and compressed workweeks. Health benefits and programmes will also be implemented including regular health screening, health talk, yoga courses, sushi-making classes and others. This is to encourage for a healthy work life balance. Another great strategy used is to set up a Recreational Committee that was assigned to take care of the well being of co-worker. This committee will be in charge of organizing health awareness events, initiatives to create awareness of healthy lifestyle as well as to bond employees of difference generations (TAFEP, 2010, p.46).

Describe something in my home - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 3 Words: 897 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/09/17 Category People Essay Type Argumentative essay Tags: Home Essay Did you like this example? English Description Essay In this essay I will describe something in my home; I have chosen to describe a Cheez-It box. Many people own Cheez-It snacks in their homes. The color of the Cheez-It box is red, white, orange, yellow, and black. The front of the box has a big label reading Cheez-It. Above the label it shows the company’s name which is Sunshine. It has a picture of a little fat chef on the left of the company sunshine’s name. Directly underneath the Cheez-It label it declares that Cheez-It’s are baked snack crackers. Underneath the Cheez-It label and the baked snack cracker label is a large photo of the Cheez-It crackers piled next to a large wedge of cheese. To the left of the wedge of cheese is an advertisement for a car. The advertisement reads â€Å"You could INSTANTLY WIN A NEW RIDE† underneath it shows a 2011 Ford Edge and says to see back for details. Underneath the advertisement it says â€Å"Contains 100% real Cheese† w ith a picture of a wedge of cheese in the middle of the words. The Color of the front of the box is a red background, the words of the Cheez-It label are white, the sunshine company name is yellow background with red letters, the backed snack cracker label is yellow, the picture of the cheese crackers and wedge of cheese is orange, the advertisement is yellow words with picture of a red car, and the â€Å"containing 100% real cheese† label is black with orange wording. The Left side of the box is red with a large white Cheez-It label. It has a yellow and red Sunshine label at the top left hand corner. It has a yellow baked snack crackers label underneath the large Cheez-It label. It also has two pictures of the Cheez-It crackers on both sides of the Cheez-It label. On the left side of the Cheez-It box it has the Cheez-It label at the top. With the yellow and red sunshine label above it and the yellow baked snack crackers label underneath it. A large white Nutrition Fact s box takes up most of the right side of the box. The Nutrition Facts box says the serving size is 27 crackers and there are 13 servings in every box. It says there is 150 calories per serving and 70 calories from fat. It says total fat is 8g which is 12% of your daily value. Its Saturated fat it 2g which is 10% of your daily value. Its Trans fat is 0g, its polyunsaturated fat is 4g, and its Monounsaturated fat is 2g. Its Cholesterol is 0mg which is 0% of your daily value. Its Sodium is 230mg which is 10% of your daily value. Its total Carbohydrates is 17g which is 6% of your daily value. Its Dietary fiber is less than 1g which is 3% of your daily value. Its sugars are 0g and its protein is 3g. Its vitamin A is 2% and its vitamin C is 0%. Its calcium is 4% and its iron is 6%. The chart says the percent daily values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs. It then says all the ingredients which are enriched flou r, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, vegetable oil, cheese made with skim milk, enzymes, annatto extract for color, contains two percent or less of salt, paprika, yeast, paprika oleoresin for color, and soy lecithin. The back of the Cheez-It box is a picture of a family eating in their car, and it describes the details of the car giveaway portrayed on the front. Says at the top â€Å" Look inside for your chance to win a new ride and other great tailgate prizes! † and under the picture towards the bottom it reads grand prize: 2011 ford edge, first prize: meet Kirk Herbstreit, second prize: cooler for all your tailgate favorites. If you get tired of that same old taste of the original flavor of Cheez-Its then don’t worry! There are many different flavors to choose from. There are a total of 18 Cheez-It flavors which include Sunshine Cheez-It Cheddar Jack crackers, Sunshine Cheez-It Disney Pixar Toy Story crackers, Sunshine Cheez-It Hot Spicy crackers, Sunshine Cheez-It Italian Four Cheese, Sunshine Cheez-It Nickelodeon SpongeBob SquarePantsâ„ ¢ crackers, Sunshine Cheez-It Original snack crackers, Sunshine Cheez-It Parmesan Garlic, Sunshine Cheez-It Pepper Jack, Sunshine Cheez-It Reduced Fat crackers, Sunshine Cheez-It Reduced Fat White Cheddar crackers, Sunshine Cheez-It Scrabble Junior, Sunshine Cheez-It White Cheddar crackers, Sunshine Cheez-It Whole Grain crackers. There are also party mixes and variety packs which include Duoz: Sunshine Cheez-It Duoz Sharp Cheddar and Parmesan, Sunshine Cheez-It Duoz Smoked Cheddar Monterey Jack. Gripz: Sunshine Gripz Cheez-It crackers. Party Mix: Sunshine Cheez-It Party Mix. Snack Mix: Sunshine Cheez-It Baked Snack Mix, Sunshine Cheez-It Double Cheese Snack Mix. Next I will tell you the history of Cheez-Its. According to the United States Patent and Trademark Office trademark records, the first Cheez-It Cheese Crackers were sold by Green Green Company of Dayton , Ohio in May 1921. The Green Green Company was acquired by The Sunshine Biscuit Company, founded in 1902 as the Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company. The Keebler Company acquired Sunshine in 1996, and Keebler was also acquired by Kellogg in 2001. Cheez-It crackers are still sold under the Sunshine label. That is all I could find on the history of Cheez-Its. And this is all I know about Cheez-Its! CHEEZ-ITS RULE! Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Describe something in my home" essay for you Create order