Pinewood Healthcare Limited - Social Computing - Case Study Example

Social Computing Table of Contents 2. The Strategy Document 3 a.Company/Organisation/Brand Background 3 b. Scoping 5 c. Overall Aim of the Strategy 10 d. Aims, Objectives and Related Strategies 12 3. Critical Review 18 References 21 2. The Strategy Document Pinewood Healthcare Limited has been observed to be a major pharmaceutical product manufacturer which extensively provides antibiotic, analgesic, cardiovascular as well as dermatological products across the different countries. The company provides gastrointestinal, rheumatology, dietetic, urological, allergy and respiratory products which are marketed and sold by the company to its range of global customers. These extensive productions of pharmaceutical and healthcare care products of Pinewood has facilitated the organisation to attain a sustainable growth in terms of its sales and margins over the past few years [1] (Pinewood Healthcare, n.d.). In this regard, the social computing strategy of promoting and marketing of the products offered by Pinewood will be effective for the organisation in terms of coping with the recent increasing development of the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. The strategy of marketing and promoting organisational brands through social computing applications will further facilitate Pinewood to demonstrate its range of products to a large number of users across the world. With this initiative, the company would be able to gather extensive and valuable ideas as well as techniques to efficiently perform its number of organisational activities. a. Company/Organisation/Brand Background Pinewood Healthcare Limited can be recognized as a widely diversified pharmaceutical group which was established in the year 1976. The organisation is well-known as one of the dominant as well as fastest growing corporations within Ireland. The products offered by the company are of superior quality which enables it to meet up with the requirement of offering adequate healthcare support. A few of the major brands under the assortment of Pinewood comprise Acidex, HB12, HG12 Forte, Fenpaed, Lorapaed, Parapaed, HS12 and Pinoplex among others. From the perspective of the production performance of Pinewood, it can be observed that the company produces in excess of 11,000 tons of bulk healthcare and pharmaceutical products and more than 51 millions of finished packaged products every year [1] (Pinewood Healthcare, n.d.). According to the present structure of Pinewood, it has been observed that the company has been characterised into three major divisions such as international division, hospital services division as well as Irish division. The international division of the company is highly focused on sales and distribution activities through trading with different distributors and wholesalers located in diverse countries. The Irish market of the company is one of the major divisions which incorporates manufacturing and distributing of its range of products to different local and foreign markets [2] (Pinewood Healthcare, n.d.). In addition, the hospital services division of the company incorporates two major aspects such as Renal Therapy products and pharmaceutical products. The renal therapy products of the company involve supplying of quality based products as well as therapies which ensure to enhance the efficiency of the medical practitioners’ activities. On the other hand, the pharmaceutical service in the hospital division encompasses the sales of the pharmaceutical products and equipment to diverse healthcare institutions [3] (Pinewood Healthcare, n.d.). In the context of present business environment, Pinewood faces different business challenges that have at times affected its global business operations. The modern healthcare and pharmaceutical organisations seek to involve community support in order to build a long-term sustainability. However, it has been observed that Pinewood has a lack of community involvement initiatives which has led to affect its business performances. The organisation has experienced different problems concerning distribution facility, new product development as well as creativity and innovation related concerns over the past few years. Therefore, an effective incorporation of social computing within the business strategy could be recognised as an important element for Pinewood to mitigate those issues. b. Scoping In the context of identifying the scope of social computing in the business process, it can be observed that various advantages and limitations are prevalent for an organisation. According to the present day context, social computing process has been widely utilised by the global organisations. In order to justify the major advantages and weaknesses of the social computing approach, SWOT analysis has been represented in the below discussion. SWOT Analysis Strengths In general, the social media strategy significantly incorporates four major advantages for an organisation such as communication, collaboration, education as well as entertainment (Safko & Brake, 2009). From the perspective of Pinewood, the strategy of employing social media in the business operations would enable the organisation to communicate its range of healthcare and pharmaceutical products and services to varied users across the world. The proper utilisation of social media can facilitate the organisation to measure the communication relating to its various products and services. The process generates an effective way to recognise the cause and effect of the organisational offerings to its range of customers. Collaboration can also be regarded as one of the major strengths of the social media strategy which enables the organisation to build a strong relationship with its potential as well as other groups of users from various disciplines. In relation to this aspect, it is highly essential for Pinewood to collaborate with its range of its external and internal audiences. The process could facilitate to gather information, idea as well as knowledge of the respondents who are located in different geographical locations (Safko & Brake, 2009). Moreover, education can further stated as an important factor through which an organisation can achieve adequate knowledge as well as techniques to improve its business position, strategy as well as its offerings. In the context of offering healthcare and pharmaceutical products and services, Pinewood must need to apparently exemplify its products or services along with other relevant information to a large number of audiences. An effective process of providing education through social computing application can facilitate an organisation to increase the number of its potential audiences. Therefore, providing education concerning various healthcare issues and their appropriate solutions can facilitate Pinewood to enhance its number of users. For instance, using Facebook as well as publishing organisational blogs can be appropriate sources for Pinewood to collect a large number of responses from the global users (Safko & Brake, 2009). Furthermore, entertainment can also be a major element for Pinewood to address the varied queries of its potential audiences along with providing them useful information through compelling contents or providing interesting features and information (Safko & Brake, 2009). Weaknesses The execution of social media or social computing application can also have certain detrimental impacts on the overall process of the organisation. In this context, the implementation of social media strategy may involve the requirement of greater amount of time and cost for the organisation. With this concern, the organisation may engage different privacy and security concerns. From the perspective of Pinewood, the contents distributed in the social media sites may be used by the external audiences and the information can also be misused which might negatively affect the organisation’s brand name and reputation. Moreover, the low level of regulatory control as well as legal guidelines on social computing applications can also be regarded as a major weakness especially for the organisations which typically deal in healthcare or pharmaceutical products and/or services (Forsee, 2011). Opportunities The inclusion of social computing application strategies can generate a range of opportunities for a firm to improve and achieve various advantages in the global market. The emerging growth of social media or e-commerce environment significantly provides ample opportunities due to an extensive growth of potential users. Therefore, Pinewood can achieve a large number of responses from the global users which could facilitate the organisation to improve its global position. Moreover, the implementation of social media strategy would also allow the organisation to gather adequate feedbacks related to their products and services along with facilitating them to improve them according to the preferences and the desires of the customers. In addition, building an effective cooperation with other leading organisations can also be a major opportunity for Pinewood to improve its global standing (Huotari & Nyberg, 2012). Threats It has been observed that the strategy of employing social computing applications of the organisation is widely used by a majority of organisations. Therefore, the existence of competitors is one of the major threats for an organisation. Moreover, the lower amount of awareness of the communities can also be a major threat for the organisation to successfully communicate its different information through social media. With this concern, the possible threat for Pinewood in terms of implementing social media strategy could be identified as the threat of the existing competitors as the modern healthcare and pharmaceutical organisations are highly involved in sharing information through different social media networks (Forsee, 2011). Therefore, according to the observation of various advantages and limitations of social media strategy, it has been recognised that the strategy considerably provides more insights to the business in terms of creating awareness concerning the organisational products or services or any other related information. In order to effectively identify the significance and essential role of social computing applications for Pinewood, ACCESS model is also an effective approach which apparently defines the content strategy to build a beneficial community for the organisation. The following discussion provides a brief evaluation of ACCESS model of social media for Pinewood. ACCESS Model Source: (Novo Access Business Consulting LLC, 2013) Awareness Awareness is the primary and effective element of the ACCESS model which defines and examines the existing potentials including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities as well as threats along with evaluating the present situation of the organisation i.e. Pinewood (Novo Access Business Consulting LLC, 2013). Comprehension The comprehension stage of the model emphasises on conducting an extensive investigation of various operations performed by different divisions of Pinewood (Novo Access Business Consulting LLC, 2013). Connection It emphasises to recognise the existing competences and enables to make adequate adjustment in order to align different functions of the organisation as per its strategic objectives (Novo Access Business Consulting LLC, 2013). Enlightenment Enlightenment represents the overall scenario of Pinewood and its future potential activities to efficiently achieve the organisational objectives (Novo Access Business Consulting LLC, 2013). Strategy The strategy consigns developing a set of actions which could lead to efficiently performing the various operations of Pinewood (Novo Access Business Consulting LLC, 2013). Solution Solution can be recognised as the stage where different policies and functions are executed as per the strategic plan of the organisation (Novo Access Business Consulting LLC, 2013). c. Overall Aim of the Strategy In accordance with the present rapid development of the information and communication technology, it has become quite convenient for the global organisations to communicate, collaborate as well as represent their information to a large number of potential users across the globe. From the perspective of Pinewood, the organisation tends to offer different products and services that are significantly focused on healthcare and pharmaceutical operations. Consequently, the involvement of social media could play an imperative role in terms of enhancing the awareness of the communities (Rodriguez & et. al., 2012). Therefore, the overall aim of the strategy would be focused on implementing Facebook and blogs to represent the various activities, products and services rendered by Pinewood in the global market. An effective practice of social media strategy could also raise the number of potential customers along with other stakeholder groups and it also can increase the expectations of the customers concerning organisational offerings. The process could also facilitate Pinewood to recognise the views of the customers and execute adequate measures to improve its products and services as per the demands and the preferences of the customers. Therefore, it can be stated that the execution of social media strategy in the business model could increase the brand position, image as well as revenue of Pinewood within the global healthcare industry (Oracle Corporation, 2012). In addition, social media also plays an important role in terms of retaining customers along with other stakeholder groups of the organisation. In the context of Pinewood, customer retention is a major initiative for the organisation in order to sustain a long-term position in the healthcare industry. A proper exploitation of social media strategy by Pinewood would enable it to provide better services to its customers through offering value added contents which may lead to build a strong position in its respective industry (Rodriguez & et. al., 2012). d. Aims, Objectives and Related Strategies The aforementioned strategy of implementing Facebook and blogs as the potential social computing applications has been developed for Pinewood. The strategies encompass different aims and objectives in order to market and promote the functions as well as products and services rendered by Pinewood. However, in case of failure of this strategy, the other social media sites such as ‘Twitter’ and ‘Tumblr’ will be executed. According to the present day context, ‘Twitter’ can also be regarded as a major social media application for the global organisations in terms of sharing their messages and information to a range of potential stakeholders and customer groups. Therefore, the aims, objectives and strategies for Pinewood have been provided hereunder. Aim 1 Associated SMART Objectives Online Shopping and Auction Website The intended plan of developing online shopping and auction websites is an apparent process which reflects performances of the organisation in terms of facilitating its range of products to its potential customers. The process can be measured and attained through representing products and services as per the demands and preferences of the customers and distributors. It also ensures to provide adequate facilities to the organisation in terms of offering products and services to a broad number of global users. Related Actions to Aim 1 Proposed Actions in Detail Online Shopping and Auction Website According to the present day context, the online shopping and auction process is highly preferred by the global consumers. Therefore, the organisations significantly can focus on developing social computing applications in order to facilitate customers to acquire products and services in an online basis. With this concern, the concept of developing online shopping and auction website will be beneficial for Pinewood in terms of offering its range of products to its potential customers. Moreover, the process of online shopping and auction can also facilitate global users to share opinions as well as mutually build a reputation management system (Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, 2009) Aim 2 Associated SMART Objectives Commercial Websites Commercial websites often reveals information which enables users to understand and observe the offerings and functions of a particular organisation. Through an effective use of commercial websites, Pinewood can also measure the level of customer awareness and responses in relation to its range of products and services. The process of commercial websites also bears organisational mission and goals which can be identified to increase the value as well as reputation of the firm in the global market. Related Actions to Aim 2 Proposed Actions in Detail Commercial Websites In addition, the commercial websites can also be considered as a major social computing tool for the modern organisations in which the users share their experiences and preferences concerning the organisational offerings. From the perspective of Pinewood, the use of commercial website can facilitate the organisation to identify the market demands and develop business strategies as per the tastes and preferences of the customers. Moreover, the process can also facilitate Pinewood to recognise the demands of its suppliers, distributors as well as other key stakeholders of the organisation. Aim 3 Associated SMART Objectives Data Sharing Websites The process of data sharing is an effective social media tool which apparently represents the information of a particular organisation through displaying videos and images to the users. The process helps the organisation to easily measure the responses of the users. The process can be attained through depicting photos and videos of the products which facilitates users to understand and identify their preferences and tastes. Related Actions to Aim 3 Proposed Actions in Detail Data Sharing Websites The data sharing websites are used by the organisations to share and tag various information including photos, videos along with annotate images of the organisation and its products and services with a large number of global users. The process would be an imperative social media element for Pinewood to share its range of healthcare and pharmaceutical products and services with the end users. The process of sharing organisational information also ensures to enhance the organisational values and rudiments within the growing healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. According to the aforementioned aim of developing social computing tools, the strategies would be more effective in order to draw a large number of audiences across the global market. From the perspective of Pinewood Healthcare Limited, the organisation tends to deliver quality and value-based pharmaceutical products to its range of global customers. Moreover, the organisation also provides effective services for the global healthcare institutions through rendering different renal therapy as well as pharmaceutical products and services. Therefore, it is utmost important for the organisation to involve social computing applications in order to enhance various internal as well as external performances of the organisation [1] (Pinewood Healthcare, n.d.). Therefore, the strategy of developing data sharing websites, commercial websites as well as online shopping websites can also be regarded as a few of the major tools for Pinewood. According to the present business environment, customers are likely purchase or observe their preferred products or services through online services. Moreover, the visual presentation of the products and services can also provide immense support for an organisation to gather an extensive number of customers for its offerings. In this similar context, Pinewood can simultaneously improve its strategies and decisions in terms of serving its large group of global clients along with generating informed solutions which further can increase loyalty of its potential customers. Moreover, through the practice of social media strategy by using data sharing or commercial websites, the performance of Pinewood can be further improved while it is performing Business-to-Business (B2B) activities. In the context of B2B activities, it significantly involves three major functions such as customer retention, prospect development as well as customer acquisition that are highly important for an organisation to attain long-term sustainability in the respective industry. Therefore, the implementation of online shopping and auction, data sharing or commercial websites would be beneficial for Pinewood to build a strong relationship with its potential suppliers, distributors along with customers across the world (Rodriguez & et. al., 2012). 3. Critical Review According to the observation of different social computing applications, it has been recognised that social media plays a pivotal role for an organisation to change or develop the customer behaviour. The incorporation of social media strategy employed by modern organisations is considerably integrated with customer service elements which enables a firm to understand the tastes and the preferences of its potential customers (Safko & Brake, 2009). In the context of Pinewood, the incorporation of social media strategy can be an effective practice for the organisation to recognise, manage, as well as influence the shift of the customer behaviours concerning its range of healthcare and pharmaceutical products. With the proper utilisation of social media strategy for the organisation, Pinewood can further strengthen its position in different communities across the world which can also enhance its operational efficiency within the global healthcare and pharmaceutical industry. Through the execution of the proposal of developing Facebook and organisational Blogs, it can be stated that the social computing tools are essential for the organisation in terms of creating customer awareness. Moreover, the elements are among the major tools for Pinewood to build a strong relationship within the communities. However, the usage of Facebook or organisational blogs may also involve major limitations and drawbacks. In this context, it can be said that if not properly monitored, the practice of Facebook and blogs may negatively impact the organisational position or reputation in case of any misrepresentation of data or information. Contextually, marketing and representing organisational products and services through community based websites may also involve various security concerns due to the lower amount of legal guidelines present with such methods. Therefore, the misuse or malfunction of organisational information can also hinder the overall process of the organisation. The community based social computing applications such as Facebook can also obstruct the employee activities which further can cause lower productivity of the workforces (Farooq & Jan, 2012). According to the increasing competition in the global healthcare and pharmaceutical industry, organisations seek to execute different social media strategies to attain a large number of its targeted audiences. With this concern, the usage of social media is also an important tool for Pinewood to make aware its range of healthcare and pharmaceutical products to a large number of its potential users. Moreover, the process can also facilitate the organisation to build strong relationships and attain a large number of responses from the different communities across the globe. As it has been observed that Pinewood also involves major functions in its hospital services segment including renal therapy and pharmaceuticals hence the organisation must need to focus on increasing the number of potential healthcare institutions using its offerings such as dialysis products. In this context, an effective use of social media strategy can influence the existing performance of Pinewood with the addition of a large number of hospitals within Ireland who would be users of the company’s products. Furthermore, the process can also facilitate to increase the number of the organisation’s cooperative groups through sharing different information. According to present business performances of Pinewood, it has been observed that the company supplies its range of ‘Renal Care Products’ accumulating around 77% of the overall Irish market. Therefore, it is utmost important for Pinewood to effectively practice social media strategies in order to assimilate under its service jurisdiction the varied global healthcare and pharmaceutical industry players. The representation of various major healthcare activities such as water treatment services and blood component technological facilities to a broad range of communities and customers can severely increase the organisation’s position in the global healthcare industry [3] (Pinewood Healthcare, n.d.). In this context, it can be stated that the various activities that were performed such as creating a Facebook account as well as preparing an organisational blog was relatively a less time consuming task. These activities were developed conveniently by using the support provided by Facebook and blog creating website. The activities such as Facebook can be stated to have worked as this media is extremely popular amid global users. The interactive scope provided by Facebook offered greater options to identify the views of the users as compared to blog posts. References [1] Pinewood Healthcare, No Date. About Pinewood Healthcare. Home. [Online] Available at: http://www.pinewood.ie/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3326 [Accessed February 27, 2013]. [2] Pinewood Healthcare, No Date. Irish Market. Home [Online] Available at: http://www.pinewood.ie/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=3327 [Accessed February 27, 2013]. [3] Pinewood Healthcare, No Date. Hospital Services. Providing Services to Every Hospitals in Ireland. [Online] Available at: http://www.pinewood.ie/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabID=33279 [Accessed February 27, 2013]. Farooq, F. & Jan, Z., 2012. The Impact of Social Networking to Influence Marketing through Product Reviews. International Journal of Information and Communication Technology Research, Vol. 2, No. 8, pp. 627-637. Forsee, 2011. SWOT Analysis on ICT Theme e‐Health. European Union. [Online] Available at: http://forsee.eu/documents/Montenegro_OC_FORSEE_SWOT_Analysis_eHealth_v11.14_long_162.pdf [Accessed February 27, 2013]. Huotari, M. & Nyberg, E., 2012. Utilizing Social Media in a Tourism Company. Oulu University of Applied Sciences. [Online] Available at: https://publications.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/39053/Huotari_Milla.pdf?sequence=1 [Accessed February 27, 2013]. Institute for Prospective Technological Studies, 2009. The Impact of Social Computing on the EU Information Society and Economy. European Commission. [Online] Available at: http://www.ifap.ru/library/book457.pdf [Accessed February 27, 2013]. Novo Access Business Consulting LLC, 2013. A.C.C.E.S.S Model. About Novo Access. [Online] Available at: http://www.vik.cc/novoaccess/access.html [Accessed February 27, 2013]. Oracle Corporation, 2012. Is Social Media Transforming Your Business? Applications. [Online] Available at: http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/social-trans-bus-wp-1560502.pdf [Accessed February 27, 2013]. Rodriguez, M. & et. al., 2012. Role of Social Media and Its Impacts on Sales Performance in B2B Marketing. Hypothesis Development. [Online] Available at: http://www.ncsmweb.com/2012-NCSM/media/pdfs/Roundtable/6_Rodriguez_Peterson_Krishnan_3%20pageroundtableabstract.pdf [Accessed February 27, 2013]. Safko, L., 2012. The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success. John Wiley & Sons. Safko, L. & Brake, D. K., 2009. The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools, and Strategies for Business Success. John Wiley & Sons. Read More