Sunday, January 26, 2020

Hospital Expansion Analysis

Hospital Expansion Analysis Case Study 1: The Case for Open Heart Surgery at Cabarrus Memorial Hospital- Chemplavil Brief Introduction: Cabarrus Memorial Hospital (CMH) is a large, public hospital located in North Carolina, that prides itself in cultivating a never wavering commitment to its community. Having first opened in 1935, over time CMH has found powerful allies in both Mr. Cannon, owner of Cannon Mills with considerable political and financial influence, and Duke University Medical Center, with who they have formed an educational affiliation and unique teaching arrangement. Due to the boards failure to foresee several front-hand issues, CMH finds itself at a crossroad of sorts. Currently CMH does not have their own open heart surgery program, compelling patients to seek open heart surgery or coronary angioplasties elsewhere. Concerned with the tremendous burden placed on the members of their community and their families to travel to such far lengths to receive adequate care, the board of trustees is considering adding a program of this caliber to their repertoire of cardiac services.    A SWOT analysis and service area structural analysis (Porter) was performed to determine if CMH should apply for a certificate of need (CON) to open a new cardiovascular service program moving forward. Discussion of Key Issues: The potential implementation of a full-service cardiac surgery program in CMH required careful consideration of its existing service area, opposition from competition, need for cardiovascular surgeries, the role of Duke in the proposal, relevant costs, and the likeliness of acquiring approval from North Carolinas DHHS for the CON. Evaluation of CMHs current service area was primarily based upon zip code analysis of current cardiac catheterization and radiation oncology patients, pinpointing Concord and Kannapolis as major sources of patient coverage. With Mr. Cannons help, extensive market development strategies should promote their newly enhanced cardiovascular care and help CMH expand their territory to include farther communities like Rowan County and Stanley County, shaking off bordering service area competition like University, Stanly, and Memorial Hospitals. Study of the population epidemiology points to an inevitably growing need for expanded cardiovascular services, namely open heart surgeries and angioplasties. Projections indicated the at-risk population growth over the next ten years will grow by 31.2% in Cabarrus county, location of CMH. The growing rate of the target, at-risk service area population (45-64) will likely lead to higher rates of open heart procedures (1.39 in North Carolina currently). Proposed costs of the program would total at $2.87 million for year one, $3.81 million for year two and $6.24 million for year three. However, it is known that CMH has sufficient reserve cash to finance the whole project without even acquiring a loan! Based on these projections alone, CMH will reach their break-even point rather quickly, likely sometime after year three, making the addition of a cardiac unit a profitable endeavor. The existing open heart surgery programs in Charlotte, Winston-Salem, and Greensboro are 25 to 60 miles from the service population. This incredulous distance has created confusion and an immense burden for many patients who seek continuity of care as travel times may take up to two hours. It may be wise to consider swiftly bring on home town hero, Dr.   Christy, as part of the new cardiovascular surgery medical staff to embolden the communitys support of CMH and put its patients at ease. Duke can continue its educational affiliation with CMH, and cases needing specialized care would still be referred to Duke. The DHHS of North Carolina awards the CON to centers that achieve an 80% utilization rate for the cardiac surgery suite. Unfortunately, open heart cases from Cabarrus County and Rowan County currently however around only around 73% utilization. CMH will need to make use of adaptive strategies such as the expansion of scope planning that would include market development, product development and market penetration strategies to substantially increase their current volume to hit that threshold. Situational Analysis: SWOT analysis provided detailed findings of the strengths and weaknesses of the internal environment, in addition to the opportunities and threats of the external environment, regarding the current cardiac care CMH provides (Ginter, Peter). Exhibit I: SWOT Analysis Recommendation: CMHs status as a modern, well equipped facility implies that it has the necessary infrastructure to build a cardiac unit, pending a few structural additions. CMHs renovation project would total $3,273,180, and no loans will be needed due to its sufficient reserve fund. Pending a two-year trial run, CMH should track the added comprehensive care that would result from the opening of one heart surgical suite for adult patients, while moving angioplasty to the current cardiac catheterization laboratory. The proposed duration of this project would likely take 3 years and would require the assignment of three dedicated cardiac surgical ICU beds as well as seven telemetry beds to support the open heart program with an almost overwhelming 400 proposed procedures per year from the onset of the program. Benchmarks for Success and Contingency Plans: Implementation of this new program will complicated, but justified. The board should create and follow an action and strategic plan to oversee the creation of this new surgery program. Timelines, benchmarks, and a balanced scorecard will be used to monitor the progress of the plan, and to ensure the standards are being met (Bloomquist P, Yeager). Written reports, like a GANTT chart, which may plot the incurred heart operations against time, can also be used to monitor planning, costs, effectiveness, and resources used by the program (Cellucci L, 2009). Taking corrective action will be dependent on evaluation criteria that will be created by the board and redirection will take place if necessary. If added comprehensive care progress is not being met according to the action and strategic plans, program strategies will be outsourced to an outside consultant. If Dr. Christy is not satisfied with CMHs offer and relocates elsewhere, CMH may be pressed to ask the two surgeons from Duke Medical Center to act as interim on-call heart surgeons or even come on full time to continue the program. If the programs restraining forces continue to outweigh its driving forces, and fails to provide the proposed benefits, termination of the program may be likely. References: Bloomquist P, Yeager J. Using Balanced Scorecards to Align Organizational Strategies. Healthcare Executive; Jan/Feb 2008. pp.24-28. Cellucci, L. W., Wiggins, C. (2010). Essential Techniques for Healthcare Managers. Health Administration Press: Chicago. Ginter, Peter M. Strategic Management of Health Care Organizations. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass, 2015. Print.

Saturday, January 18, 2020

HP Case study analysis Essay

Hewlett Packard Company was founded in 1939 by Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard. The company was incorporated in 1947 and became a public company in 1957. HP is based in the United States and has its headquarters located in Palo Alto, California. The company has specialized in the development and manufacture of personal computers, computer peripherals, software and hardware. The main products are personal computer hardware, data storage appliances and other related devices. HP markets its products to individual customers as well as corporate customers. The company has adopted both direct and online marketing strategies for its products in the global markets. Since its establishment, the company has encountered stiff competition from other companies in the global markets. In the last one decade, the company has adopted several strategies to improve performance and create sustainable market position in the global scene. The merger with Compaq was established with an aim of improving the global position of the company as well as adopting better technologies (Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L. P. 2010). HP has adopted various strategies to improve its market share in the global scene. Adoption of modern technology has been a major success factor in the efforts to come up with differentiated products. There has been stiff competition in the market leading to decline in the market share for the company. The management has made tremendous change to ensure its brands are acceptable in many markets all over the world (Harris, 2007). External Environment Technology in the personal computing industry has been very innovative and this has been adopted by HP to manufacture competitive products. A team of researchers has been hired to carry out innovative products. The company has a good system which integrates cultural diversity by working with different personnel and customers. The culture of the company is compatible with different national cultures as well as diversified social systems. HP employs people from different cultures to work in regions where they understand the cultural practices. Few cultural conflicts have been experienced at the company. The political climate has been very good in the regions where the company has its operations. Global economic crisis of the 2007/2008 affected the performance of the company since the sales volume reduced by a great margin. The company is recovering from the shock of the economic crisis and profits have been recorded in the recent past (Malone, 2007). Industry Analysis (Porter’s Framework) Bargaining power of buyers There is no single influential buyer in the industry. There are many buyers in the market this does not provide any single buyer a strong bargaining power. Since the company markets its products to both corporate and individual customers, there are a diversified number of customers and in case one customer fails, there are others to support the company (Banna, 2008). Bargaining power of suppliers Suppliers to the company are many and there is no single supplier with monopoly of providing materials to the company. This provides the company with enough control over its suppliers since prices for products are reduced. There is no dominant supplier in the market and the company has adequate control over the pricing strategies adopted by the suppliers (Banna, 2008). Rivalry among competitors Stiff competition in the industry has resulted to rivalry among competing firms. Each company has differentiated its products to attract as many customers as possible. Use of modern technologies to develop market oriented products has been a common practice at the company and this has enabled the management to come up with better products. Rivalry among competitors in the market has resulted into price wars where companies are introducing different pricing strategies for their products (Banna, 2008). Threat of potential entry of new companies There is no regulation on entry of new companies in the industry and this has resulted into many companies entering the market. This has resulted into stiff competition for the available opportunities in the market. There are no barriers of entry to the industry and this has provided better opportunities for new investors to establish themselves in the market. The technology used in the industry is not restrictive and new companies can access ideas and knowledge about production of similar products. High profits made by existing companies in the industry have attracted more potential companies to invest in the industry. In addition, there are no barriers for excess capacity to exit the industry. The potential profits in the industry have made the large number of competitors fail to exit the market and this has resulted into price wars (Banna, 2008). Threat of substitute products Threat for substitute products has been great since there are different products which can be substituted for the HP product range. There are no barriers to introducing substitute products and companies are free to come up with better alternative products in the industry. There are many substitute products in the industry and this has intensified the level of competition (Banna, 2008). Critical Success Factors (CSFs) HP has a strong brand image in the global market. The computing industry has recognized that HP has developed better strategies of promoting its brand image. Brand management has been successfully been done by creating innovative technologies which provide better market position to the company. The quality of the products manufactured by the company is high and this has provided better opportunities to compete successfully in the global market. As the company maintains a high quality profile for its products, it has also managed to increase the volume of output from its production systems. The company has adopted mass production and this provides economies of scale. As the volume of production increases; the cost of production decreases. The company has established strong systems of governance to manage its resources effectively. Project management strategies have been adopted to maintain high technology levels in the company. IT systems of the company have been developed to compete successfully with substitute products in the market. A strong team of research has been established to carry out market surveys for developing products which will provide a large market share in the current market situation and in the future (Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L. P. 2010).

Friday, January 10, 2020

Many advertisements use fallacies to boost their effectiveness and impact on readers and the audience

To a larger extent, advertisements use fallacies such as gift pitches, shills and testimonials. However, to a smaller extent, advertisements use other forms of psychological mechanisms that do not involve fallacies, such as persuasion psychology. Gift pitches are used to attract customers with the prospect of receiving an additional free gift, making them feel that they are gaining from the purchase. For example, a Baygon advertisement claims that customers can win a hundred times of what they spend on Baygon, making readers feel that they gain rather than spend by buying this brand. It also encourages customers to start â€Å"winning† instead of â€Å"buying†, adding to the psychological effect that they are gaining from this promotion. However, the seller or manufacturer may not be in actual fact giving a free gift. He may have simply increased the selling price so that his profits can cover the cost of the â€Å"gift†. However, gift pitches are very attractive as they mislead customers into thinking that they are getting something for nothing. Shills are used to assure a customer that the product is worth buying, since another customer has given feedback that he approves of it. For example, a tuition advertisement by BrainFit Studio states that a customer is satisfied with its services, and its effects include reducing the time to learn a subject from three days to two hours. The statement is written by a parent to satisfy other parents who want to send their children for the course. However, the â€Å"customer† may be a false customer, who has been paid to pose for the advertisement. Alternatively, the statement may be conjured up by the advertiser. Testimonials are used to convince potential buyers by making fallacious appeals to authorities. Authorities can include celebrities who endorse the product, or scientific authority. For example, an advertisement by BEST selling laptops claim that a notebook or a tablet uses less than half the amount of electricity used by a desktop computer. This will lead potential buyers to believe that their product is more efficient that a computer, and thus buy it. However, the statement may not be scientifically accurate. Still, customers may accept it without any suspicions and buy the product. However, not all advertisements use fallacies. They may use other forms of psychological mechanisms. Telemarketers contact customers to demonstrate a product's effectiveness, hence persuading a customer to buy the product. However, the customer is able to judge for himself the effectiveness of a product and is not misled in any way. Hence, to a larger extent, advertisements use fallacies to advertise products. However, not all advertisements mislead customers to sell their products. In such cases, customers can judge for themselves the effectiveness of the product, making a well-informed decision.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

Jordanian Women in Political Parties - 1618 Words

The Jordanian National Commission for Women Affairs prepares the strategy and studies the difficulties and problems facing in the execution of strategy and implements it with concerned institutions. The committee of the commission submits reports about the extent of progressing achieving the objectives of the strategy, mobilizes the necessary resources through continual coordination and effective partnership between the Jordanian National Commission for Women Affairs and different governmental authorities that could provide financial and technical support to implement the programmes and projects for women. The strategy for 2012-2015 includes training program on how to prepare its projects, reports of following up and evaluation in order to measure the extent of the progress and achievement in light of strategy aims with participation of women and men and representatives of official governments, civil and private community organizations, academic and media institutions.. 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