Monthly Archives: September 2013

Five Steps to Money and Drugs

Roughly 25 percent of pharmaceutical costs and over 40 percent of medical-device costs stem from supply chains. If the industry cuts inefficiency and issues concerning supply chains, they could save an estimated $130 billion of dollars according to McKinsey&Company consultants.

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To transform the supply-chain takes 5 adjustments as outlined by McKinsey&Company. The three internal adjustments include segmenting their supply chains, aligning their production cycle to demand patterns, and maintaining a solid measurement of supply chains. Two external adjustments, noted the most impactful, are aligning to a set of global standards that facilitates data and processes, and developing collaboration within partnerships by improving cultural relations and being ambitious.

 “At a recent meeting of senior supply-chain executives in the pharmaceutical and medical-device industries, we asked attendees which of these five supply-chain changes offered the greatest opportunity. More than 70 percent specified improved collaboration,” states McKinsey consultants.

My thoughts is that the hardest approach would be keeping a solid measurement on responsiveness, manufacturing frequency, reliability of supply, and stability. However, I agree that collaboration will provide a significant improvement on supply-chains because when a strong partnership is established and maximizes each other’s use, the results will be favourable.

 

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Can the Modern Business Lifeguard Stay Afloat?

As a leading consulting firm, the name McKinsey has become synonymous to an elite lifeguard for business companies. However, in the past 15 years, McKinsey has drowned its reputation with involvements in scandals and by losing its competitive edge. Will McKinsey share a similar grim future of the mid-sized consultancy, Monitor Group, went bankrupt last year? Or will they remain afloat?

McKinsey was closely tied to the Enron scandal with Jeff Skilling being Enron’s CEO and a McKinsey veteran. Also,

“In 2010 Anil Kumar, a McKinsey consultant, [and in 2012], Rajat Gupta, a former McKinsey managing partner, admitted passing inside information to Raj Rajaratnam of Galleon, a hedge fund.”

Without a doubt, these scandals are detrimental to the company, especially when the success of McKinsey stems from their reputable integrity.

Other problems McKinsey faces consists of focusing solely on traditional industries such as oil and gas, and by offering little senior advice in a costly consulting package.

I believe that McKinsey will continue to be a strong, leading competitor in the consulting industry having been established since 1926. Since then, they have created a strong brand name to reassure the partnerships they have with numerous leading companies to stay in business. However, if they swim towards the Internet industry, such as Apple and Google, McKinsey will gain a larger target market and help rescue itself in the process.

 

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Fashion Statement or Mocking Statement? H&M Removes Headdresses in Canada

What seemingly appears to be faux feathers on a headband on the shelves of H&M, instead angers a Ojibwa-Mohawk woman, Kim Wheeler. The $15 headdress was in the new line of a summer music festival collection, “H&M Loves Music” and based off the trend of experimenting with wild, exciting accessories.

While others viewed it merely as a statement piece, Kim was baffled to see an item that represented her Native culture be exploited.

Kim Wheeler states, “Headdresses are a sign of respect and leadership,” “You wouldn’t find a colorful hijab or a colorful yarmulke on the shelves as some sort of fashion accessory to wear out to a nightclub or to a music festival.”

As a result, she emailed the company to express her negative views and her complaint was heard by H&M Canada. The following Tuesday, the company promised to pull the “hipster headdresses” from all 61 stores in Canada. A spokesperson for H&M comments:

“Music festivals these days are really about experimenting with fashion and dressing your personality. And they’re very heavily based on accessories, really accessorizing your look… Of course we never want to offend anybody or come off as insensitive. We’re always about being there for our customers.”

I admire the actions of H&M for respecting the 3 complaints that they received over this matter. However, the public needs to understand that while an item seems inoffensive, others view it differently. We should be understanding of the feelings and cultures of others and H&M Canada has done the right thing in listening and acting upon it.

The issue now is, why do the headdresses remain on the shelves at other H&M countries?

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