Dawa Ltd Business, Business Proposal Example

Introduction

The main purpose of companies is making profits. This can be achieved through different methods like increasing production and sales, reducing costs and expenses, maximizing resources like machines usage and output, maximizing time, and workforce, among others. These steps must be followed to ensure that a business’s revenue is more than its expenses. A company is not profitable when expenses supersedes the revenue generated. That is why a company needs to incorporate strategies that ensure that it remains a going concern. Dawa pharmaceutical is a pharmaceutical company that deals with the production and distribution of human pharmaceutical products. It produces products like oral solid dosages, liquid dosages, creams and ointments, beta-lactams, injectables, and dry powder syrups. This paper will look into strategies and tools that can be put in place to ensure that Dawa Limited improves its operations.

Statement of the problem.

Dawa Limited is a Pharmaceutical company. The company has been in operation for forty years, but its current business performance does not meet the expectations. The pharmaceutical company needs some adjustments in its operation to make the company more profitable. A recent survey was done on the company to determine if the operations of the company were optimum. From the finding, more can be done to improve the operations of the company.

Methodology

The research employed extensive use of quantitative analysis. The study had 500 participants. All the employees at the company participated in the study. The participation was out of their free will. No one was coerced to participate in the research. It was a good beginning because it showed that everyone was willing and committed to improving the operations at Dawa ltd. Different methodologies were used. First, there were questionnaires that were handed to the employees. Other employees participated in interviews conducted in the study team. The interviews were conducted in person, one participant at a time. The contents of the interviews and questionnaires were kept confidential. This is done to prevent any cases of stigmatization or targeting of employees by other employees or the management (Williams., 2007). The names of the participants were not to be indicated in the questionnaires of transcripts of the interviews. The names were kept anonymous to encourage the employees to give truthful answers without feeling the pressure to lie or cover up because of fear of the bosses.

Findings

The questions that were asked in the research are the following.

1. Do you think the company needs improvement in its operations?
2. Should there be improvement in products and process of Dawa Limited?
3. Are external audits necessary to improve the company in general?
4. Is our customer service efficient as of now?
5. Are the pieces of training being carried out now sufficient and effective?
6. As of now, do you think Dawa limited is at par with international standards of pharmaceutical companies?
7. Is it necessary for Dawa limited to use technology in its operations?

The employees were required to give yes or no answers. At the end of every question, there was a comment section on whether they could expound on their answers if they felt it was necessary. The results were presents in pie charts, columns, and bars.

Question 1

Do you think the company needs improvement in its operations?

Question 2

Do the products and processes need improvement?

Are external audits necessary to improve the company in general?

Is our customer service efficient as of now

Are the trainings being carried out now sufficient and effective?

As of now, do you think Dawa limited is at par with international standards of pharmaceutical companies?

Does Dawa limited need to improve in terms of the use of technology?

Discussion

Technology advancement

From the findings in the research, it is clear that change is necessary to improve the company’s operations. The following tools discussed are sure to improve the productivity of the company. The first tool is technological advancement. Technology has become so advanced and is used by everybody today. It does not matter whether it’s office work or fieldwork; technology is necessary everywhere. In Dawa Ltd, for example, technology could prove quite advantageous. Production in Dawa Limited is done manually. As a result, production processes are slowed and the quality of medicines are compromised. The purchasing of automated production machines could make the production process more efficient. During the adding of excipients and active pharmaceutical ingredients, an automated process would mean accurate addition of the required proportions. It would interpret to more quality pharmaceutical products, without non-conformance issues.

Packing of pharmaceutical products is also done manually. Take, for example, the filling of syrups of 100ml in bottles. The process is very slow and takes days to complete a batch. Use of manpower reduces the pace at which the same task would have been completed with fewer people. A lot of contamination is also witnessed when manpower is used to fill the containers with the products. The yield is also low due to spillages. An automated process would decrease operation costs incurred through manpower, time spends, and other overheads.

Technology advancement is also necessary for office work. The office work is still done manually. There are many risks to this. First, important documents can be destroyed by things like fire or water (Schubert, Petra, and Uwe Leimstoll 38). Misplacement of documents can lead to permanent loss of important work because there is no back-up. Adding to this, they are bulky to store and take up a lot of unnecessary space. The use of paperwork also increases the additional cost of buying printers, printing paper, paper pockets, and files, among others. This cost would be unnecessary if technology would be introduced. The unnecessary risk of losing important work would also be avoided. Computers can store a lot of information. The cloud system is a more secure way of storing information.

Buying and selling can also be done online. When purchasing raw materials for production, buying from an online platform would make the cost cheaper. First, the company can compare the prices of different suppliers and choose optimally while considering cost and quality. The digital platform makes it easy to have access to many suppliers, making comparisons easy. Costs that are incurred when going to different suppliers to audit them and inquire can also be eliminated, thus reducing expenses. The same applies to the selling of the finished products. There are many digital platforms today to advertise and market products. The cost incurred is lower, and the number of people reached is high within much less time.

The heart of businesses is the clients. Products are made to address their problems. It is thus important to understand their needs and integrate them into the products being made. Currently, no system allows customers to directly communicate with the company over their concerns or pass congratulatory messages quickly. The digital platform provided for websites to be created where customers can quickly and effectively communicate with the company. Their concerns can be addressed, and suggestions are taken. When the customer is happy, there is customer loyalty and hence a big market for products.

Starting and shutting down lines

The second strategy is self-analysis and recommendations. Analysis and recommendations of departments or product lines to start or shut down can be done. Some products have a high cost of production and minimal demand in the market. These lines can be shut down to allow production for other products whose demand in the market is high. For instance the demand for multivitamin syrups given to children is high. A line can be started to produce the syrup and capture the ready market. Beta-lactam products have a high demand and big returns on investments. The production of penicillin can be increased by increasing the lines.

Continuous improvement

The third strategy is a continuous improvement approach in the company. Bench marking ids the initial approach. There are other companies like GSK that are much developed and advanced in the production of pharmaceutical products in the world. Dawa limited can benchmark from companies such as GSK to know what they can do to improve their operations and the company. Benchmarking does not mean copying what other companies are doing. It means studying others and finding policies that work for your company (Anand et al. 444). Dawa LTD can benchmark to get to the quality and business levels achieved by other pharmaceutical companies like Glaxo Smith Kline, Johnson and Johnsons, and Phillips, among others.

The company can also get external auditors to access the company occasionally and give ideas for improvement. Getting external auditors allows the company to get an independent and unbiased view of the company’s operations. After every audit, a report is normally provided by the auditors. The audit includes observations and recommendations on the findings of the audit. They give a company the chance to improve their processes and, in turn, improve the company at large.

The process of continuous improvement is gradual. Should be inclusive of all the people in the company. It is not a management problem but actually should be everyone’s responsibility in the company. It should start by encouraging people to put forward their suggestions on departments or products that need continuous improvement. Prioritizing of departments and products should follow. Everything cannot be done at the same time. The process can start with the top priority products and proceed to the others depending on the priority allocated. Lastly, the results should be measured and recorded for future reference.  Outsourcing of some departments can be done to allow time and attention to other products. For example, the injectables line needs a lot of manpower and expenses like water, electricity, air pressure, and working space. However, the returns from the line are minimal. This line can be outsourced to allow these resources to be dedicated to other lines.

Training of employees is crucial in enabling improvement continuously. It is not just processing and products that need continuous improvement but the personnel as well. Currently, there are pieces of training that are offered every month by the personnel amongst themselves. However, if systems are improving, the personnel should be trained to understand and maintain the improving systems, products, and processes. Pieces of training can be conducted more frequently every week. In addition to this, they can be conducted by outsourced experts on different areas or managers who are knowledgeable on certain topics. To ensure that the person has understood what is being trained, assessments can be given after every training session. Whoever does not meet the pass mark can be retrained to ensure everyone is on the same level of understanding.

When these steps are taken, they will ensure that continuous improvement is achieved. Continuous improvement is necessary for the system, products, processes, and personnel. This is an important process towards improving operations at Dawa limited.

Activity-based costing

Activity-based costing is a strategy that is used to reduce overheads and focus the resources on other important areas. For example, production overheads can be reduced and focused on customer satisfaction. In Dawa ltd, the resources are focused on production. Not many resources are left for customer care and increasing customer satisfaction (Chesbrough 22). The company will decrease the number of resources utilized in production that can be optimized (Gertsen 303). Some lines of products whose demand is not high in the market or those that have accumulated in the warehouse can seize in production. These resources can be allocated to improving the company’s customer care (Trunkvalte 153). Customers are the heart of any business. It is paramount that they are kept happy. Their complaints, comments, and suggestions should be listened to and integrated into the production process. This way, sales will increase, and consequently profits made by Dawa limited.

Conclusion

The study was conducted in Dawa limited to determine the changes needed to improve the systems, processes, products, and people. In this study, there were 500 participants. All the participants were employees of the company and were willing volunteers. The quantitative study was carried out using questionnaires and interviews. Anonymity was maintained through the questionnaires and interviews. The study results showed that it was necessary to improve operations in the company so that it can operate on international standards like companies like Glaxo Smith Kline.

Technology was the appropriate tool to use in the company’s different departments like supply chain, production, sales, administration, and customer care. Continuous improvement of the processes, products, and people are the other strategy that will be incorporated. Finally, product assessment to determine which ones are needed in the market and the ones to be removed will be done. It will be done depending on the demand for products and the resources allocated to the production of certain products as compared to the returns from the sale of those products.

It was encouraging to see willing participation in the study and from a large number of employees. It means that they are committed to improving the company. It will make the process easier. These steps. When taken, it will improve the company’s products and processes. Change is gradual. The process will start with easier steps and progress to complex ones. The changes should start being noticed once the process has picked up. Of course, the process requires commitment. Evaluations will be done periodically, and changes made where necessary.

Work cited

Anand, Gopesh, et al. “Dynamic capabilities through continuous improvement infrastructure.” Journal of operations management 27.6 (2009): 444-461.

Chesbrough, Henry W. “Why companies should have open business models.” MIT Sloan management review 48.2 (2007): 22.

Gertsen, Frank. “How continuous improvement evolves as companies gain experience.” International Journal of Technology Management 22.4 (2001): 303-326.

Schubert, Petra, and Uwe Leimstoll. “Importance and use of information technology in small and medium?sized companies.” Electronic Markets 17.1 (2007): 38-55.

Trunkvalter, ?uboš. “Main Advantages and Disadvantages of Activity Based Costing.” TRANSCOM 2009 (2009): 153.

Williams, Carrie. “Research methods.” Journal of Business & Economics Research (JBER) 5.3 (2007).