Business organisation and policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business organisation and policy - Essay Example Both large and small firms are confronted with huge demands to step up output but must stay creative and pioneering as they face mergers of immense scope, escalating health care costs, cost-control efforts, fast-changing population demographics and high-speed evolution of new technologies. Such development has pushed several major players in the pharmaceutical sector to persistently invigorate and maximize their R&D expenditures in order to enhance their pipelines and keep abreast with their competitors in the pursuit for high level, large scale operations. This is in harmony with the perception that for large companies to keep on satisfying its shareholders’ expectations, undoubtedly, it is not acceptable and tolerable for them to stick with the status quo. However, the cost of taking in a new active substance (NAS) into the market, projected at US$600 million (Kettler 1999) and the plummeting number of these substances launched lately (Van de Haak 2001) explicitly describe t he scope and magnitude of this challenge. The US$600 million figure per NAS introduced consists of a considerable contribution from the expenses of all NASs that didn’t make the grade in the R&D process. So as to minimize and lower the high gnawing cost, a lot of firms have put portfolio management systems into operation. Since development projects eat up 10 times or more the capital needed for a research project, project selection and prioritization have been strongly emphasized, before entry into the development process. For specific corporations, the expenditure per NAS is greatly influenced by the firm’s character and distinctiveness -- its product profile, type of technology being used, and the kind of activities the firm opts to conduct in-house and those it decides to outsource (Findlay and Kirmani 2000). For so many years, large pharmaceutical companies had wished and anticipated that the greatly increased number of compounds

Customer Relations Management in the British Petroleum Company Essay

Customer Relations Management in the British Petroleum Company - Essay Example This type of treatment makes me feel that the company is not apprehensive about their customers because the employees do not put in an extra effort in associating with them. The behavior of staff members towards their customers also makes me feel that the company neglects and demoralizes its customers from consuming and frequenting their stores. This negative image results from their staff members’ lack of concern for customers and unfriendliness. According to the treatment that the company staff gives their customers, I would suggest that the company does keep a centralized repository for their data. This is because their respective branches do not share information concerning their customers. This is evident from the fact that despite visiting a specific branch for a certain amount of time and purchasing large amounts of the product, I still receive no recognition from the other branches. Their customer management strategies do not also seem to emphasize on the importance of strengthening their customer relationships. This is clearly depicted from the indifferent behavior that their members of staff have on their customers including me every time they come to their business premises. The Bank of England, which was officially incorporated in the year 1694 as a joint stock company is another company that I frequently visit. The banking institution is responsible for offering cash along with credit facilities to a wide range of customers across the nation. The bank has opened branches in several areas of the country and their staff members regard their customers with high esteem. This is evidenced by the reception I receive any time I visit any of their branches across the country. Their reception is warm, friendly and caring with most of their staff seeming to know me despite them being strange to me. This tends to make me feel valued by the company and it has increased my confidence when dealing with them. The company seems to keep a distributed reposit ory for their data as evidenced by their staffs’ ability to know their customers and having their personal details. The bank’s values emphasize on putting their customers first along with making their main objectives customer oriented. The Bank of England involves itself in several activities to fully identify their customers in the broadest possible form. These include the activities of brainstorming, conducting market research, marketing, creating their customer profiles, and the provision of questionnaires. It also includes the activities of evaluating customer needs through carrying out of surveys, conducting interviews directly with them and offering promotions. Finally, the bank involves itself in the activities of strategizing and copying recruitment activities of their competitors in the industry. These activities greatly assist the bank in the identification of their different customers across the country. The bank involves itself in the activities of knowing their customers by interrogating various groups of experts and technicians concerning their most likely markets. They gather information concerning their customers’ financial abilities along with their sources of income. This greatly helps the bank to determine how they will manage and retain their customers whilst remaining profitable. Performing market research involves the evaluation of their customer’