MKTG611 Marketing Management

1, Consider the Segway company in the context of distribution and sales. Answer the following questions in your initial posting:

 

Identify and assess Segway's chosen distribution channels and methods. Is it the best choice, or what would you recommend?

 

How would you organize and manage the sales staff at Segway to best reach its target markets?

 

What do you see as the biggest challenges and opportunities for sales at Segway? (250 words)

2, Organizational risk can be managed through many different methods. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) lists many resources to assist with organizational risk analysis, change methods, and applications. There are best practice examples and planning documents, too. This discussion thread will focus on ways to develop a culture of safety through organizational risk analysis.

Go to the IHI's "Develop a Culture of Safety." Scroll to the "Changes for Improvement" section. Choose one of the topics listed in this area. 

3, For all of the efforts put forth in risk analysis and risk management, errors and incidents will continue to occur. All health care organizations need incident and accident reports. This discussion thread concentrates on this type of reporting and analysis.

Based on the discussions in Chapter 6 of the text and the additional resources found on the IHI and HCCA Web sites, create a one-page incident report. Please state the type of health care environment (for example, hospital, physician's office, et cetera), and the type of incident your report would be used for in this environment. 

1. Segway Company

Distribution channels and methods

Segway settled on an integrated sales force PRM and SFA to assist in gathering customer information for within the distribution networks. However, the choice of distribution link seems to be flawed in gaining accuracy and visibility in the potential makes. In such a consideration, new methods should be developed based on market favorable factors to influence the decisions since it determines the manner in which the products are handled and delivered. For example, the nature of the personal transporters would require a direct distribution upfront to get the targeted patient population (Waksman, 2017). On the same note, middlemen would be essential in ensuring a quick and efficient distribution of products based on demands and needs of the customers.

Sales staff

Segway Company sales staffs can be organized and managed in various ways to improve the sales of the products. For example, the staff members should be self-driven to ensure that they have the personal drive and determination to make reasonable sales, which is a key metric in sales (Metler, 2016). As well, the sales team needs to identify their sales territories and nature of the customers to deliver on their targets. Furthermore, sales being a critical part of the organization, the staffs should have the knowledge in managing expectations to avoid failure of the company in the markets.

Biggest challenge and opportunities for sales

Segway Company has encountered various challenges in marketing their products, like deployment of an efficient solution to allow global partners drive to high adoption. As well, the establishment of an end-to-end integrated view for direct and indirect channels within the different distributors poses a significant challenge. However, the company is likely to benefit from the increased usage and adoption of the international partner to provide a wider market for the products (SI, 2017).

2. Culture of safety

Under the IHI, the idea of the culture of safety is attributed to the external factors that are enhanced to show the reliability of organizations as well as their consistency in minimizing the adverse effects in integrating complex or hazardous activities (IHI, 2017). In such a provision, the health system needs to develop the safety culture to maintain its commitment to the realization of a highly reliable safety levels from top managers to the subordinate staffs. However, in the development of safety culture, the organizational members should acknowledge the nature of risks one is exposed to while performing duties, which will influence consistently safe operations (Martinez, 2017). As well, the health facility should be blame-free to allow the staffs report errors or mistakes when encountered without fear for punitive measures. Furthermore, the health staffs should be motivated to enhance collaboration or teamwork while executing their duties to solve patient safety problems that might be realized in the process. Besides, the entire facility should express concerns and commitment to addressing safety issues. Nevertheless, the development of a culture of safety is essential in the prevention or minimization of errors, while improving the quality of health care in the organization.

Similarly, the culture of safety has encountered variations in the perception of care based on the job descriptions of the health workers. For example, in most health facilities, nurses do complain of the absence of a blame-free environment, which creates a challenge with the realization of staff's commitment in the delivery of quality health care (AHRQ, 2017). Besides, some of the reasons for the underdeveloped culture of care in institutions are attributed by the complexities in the personalities and organizational policies, poor team coordination and communications that increase the margin of errors and risks. As well, the presence of a culture of low expectations hinders the development of safety in the organization in addition to the role played by the key figures or authorities in the institution. Despite the challenges, the culture of safety is still prominent in most institutions as a traditional form of improving health outcomes.

3.Incident report

Time: 14:01 CST

Date: 12/8/2017

Location:IT Department

Recorded by: Sharon Knowles ID 786543

Witnesses: Kelvin Martins ID 677342 and Jenny Richards ID 993421

Incident: In the afternoon of August 2nd, 2017, I joined Kelvin and Jenny in the IT department of Mater Hospital, where some changes were being made to strengthen the security of the patient’s electronic medical records. However, during the process, Kelvin who was the IT expert realized a breach of patient’s information by anonymous personnel that threatened the confidentiality and state of the hospital. Such an incident created tension in the facility that an emergency notice was given to the patients not to access their EMRs. Besides, I saw the tension that was built on the patients after the address of the technical problem that caused poor clinical responses to the bedridden patients. As well, I witnessed the relaxed mood on Jenny’s face despite being a developer in the computerized data management system, which was quite surprising. As an oversight officer linking patients to IT department, I was worried about my next move since it would jeopardize the activities of the hospital and compromise the confidentiality, safety and quality assurance in the hospital.

However, Kevin came up with an idea of restoring all the patients’ data, while the system was still out of access to the individual patient to manage the situation without involving the entire organization. Jenny and I supported the idea, and we all quickly worked on EMR data before assessing the possible cause of information breach to avoid future anticipated risks. In such a move, a new database was developed and protected against accessibility by unauthorized personnel except the three of us.

References

AHRQ. (2017). The culture of safety. Patient safety network. https://psnet.ahrq.gov/primers/primer/5/safety-culture

Boles M, Pelletier B, Lynch W (2004)."The relationship between health risks and work productivity".Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 46 (7): 737–45. PMID 15247814

IHI.(2017). Improvement Capability. http://www.ihi.org/Topics/ImprovementCapability/Pages/default.aspx

Martinez, M. (2017). High-reliability leadership: A conceptual framework. Contingencies Crisis Management.

Metler, R. (2016). Sales strategy: challenges in a sales career and how to overcome them. https://www.cpsa.com/resources/articles/5-challenges-in-a-sales-career-and-how-to-overcome-them

Segway Inc. (2017). http://www.segway.com/

Waksman, K. (2017). How to choose the right distribution channel for your business. https://www.thebalance.com/choose-best-distribution-channel-for-your-business-3502272