Sales and Marketing Strategies of MIP - Essay Example

?MIP Table of Contents Introduction 3 Organisational Culture in MIP 4 Quality Management in MIP 5 Sales and Marketing Strategies of MIP 6 Challenges Faced By MIP 7 Conclusion and Recommendations 8 References 9 Introduction MIP or Med-I-Pant (UK) Ltd is a worldwide manufacturer as well as distributor of healthcare textile and related products since 1977. It was the founder of the company; Jerry Friedman with his partner David Schreiner recognized the needs of reusable healthcare products. MIP has three manufacturing facilities along with their head office in Canada. It globally supplies its products through the network engaging UK, France, Germany and the North American Markets. MIP serves the continents with its reusable products such as sleep knit, traditional bedding, linen protection clothing, clothing protection, breathable protection, pillows and duvets, bed accessories, laundry bags, laundry equipments, and towels among others from its international clientele mostly located in Canada, Portugal and Germany (MIP UK Inc., 2012). This paper will focus on the key operations of MIP with the objective to assess its strategies. In this regards, the organisational culture perceived by MIP and its quality management initiatives will also be taken into account in this paper. The discussion will also intend to identify the various challenges faced by MIP in dealing with its operations, especially in the UK market. Organisational Culture in MIP The organisational culture is often regarded as a collection of perceived values, standards, and behaviours shared by its employees that control the way of interacting with each other. The organisational culture of MIP focuses on the motivated people who are passionate about their tasks, as was stated by the Human Resource Director of the organisation, Gail Perowne. It can be noted that the organisational culture in MIP is developed in a way so that the employees can support the organisational growth productively. The substantial growth rate attained by the organisation can be regarded as a major reward of the extensive training sessions rendered to the employees which again contributes to its overall organisational culture. Every segment of the organisational structure emphasises on the encouragements to the new hired members by the company. Organisation culture is the way in which the entire workforce performs the tasks contributing to the overall organisational productivity. In this process, the employees fundamentally perform tasks related with problem solving, conflict and query resolutions, and customer handling as well as efficiently dealing with the individual members within the organisation (MIP UK Inc., 2012). The organisation should involve with some functional activities to maintain a suitable culture within the organisation which can be regarded as the behavioural control encouraging stability and providing source of identity. Social norms are one of the most compulsory and most obvious elements of cultural control mechanisms. A social norm is basically a behavioural expectation that the people will proceed in a specified way for a particular situation (Bicchieri & et. al., 2011). It is in this context that culture is a quite strong force in the organisation, which is consciously passed among the incoming employees within the organisation. It plays a vital role in reflecting the true nature and personality of an organisation. The organisational culture involves the employees, the customers, the suppliers, and the community which MIP follows in a way maintaining the company ahead on its productivity to generate a good position at the international dais (MIP UK Inc., 2012). Quality Management in MIP The elements of quality control show the quality of all existing factors which are involved with the production of any plant or any organisation. Elements such as control, job management, task specification process, performance criteria and identification of previous records among others play a major role in quality control aspects of MIP. Furthermore, soft elements such as confidence, integrity, organisational culture, motivation, team spirit, and quality relationships are also a few of the major contributors to the quality maintained by MIP. The concept of quality has existed since its instigation, though it’s meaning has changed and evolved over time (MIP UK Inc., 2012). MIP certified BS EN ISO 9001: 2000 operating an effective Quality Management System in the market segment of ‘speciality textiles’ as well as ‘related materials handling products’. The management has always been committed to develop and improve the quality management system which assured customer satisfaction to a significant extent continually improving the effectiveness of the Quality Management System and enhancement of customer satisfaction. Interacting and studying each and every customer regarding their needs and requirements is also considered to be quite significant by MIP. Extensive emphasis is also rendered by the organisation which ensures the customer requirements and expectations to achieve the satisfaction level. The quality policies are regularly reconsidered by the management itself in order to ensure the satisfaction of the customers. Establishing the quality policies and its objectives also play an important part in the Quality Management of MIP which in turn needs to ensure the availability of the resources, needs to comply with all relevant statutory and regulatory requirements, and monitor its performances generating improvement or alternative actions as and when appropriate. The total quality management in MIP involves the product contents, the materials, the packaging elements and the distribution channels (MIP UK Inc., 2012). Sales and Marketing Strategies of MIP Sales service part of MIP covers a wide spread network connecting its major markets, so that the products can easily spread and full fill the specific customer requirements. The product range offered by the organisation can be observed as widely diversified relating to the laundry segment, healthcare segment and distributing markets. MIP is committed to best serving the needs and requirements of customers in 30 different countries. MIP involves with the marketing strategies according to the classification of its product priorities. The European business strategy developed by MIP was consolidated in 2004 with the purchase of Loning Hospitex, which was later engaged with hospitality segment under the plant of MIP Hamburg, Germany. The long term benefits yielded by the organisation in this regard is made up of a good relationship among the suppliers around the countries (MIP UK Inc., 2012). Hence, it can be stated that the company renders utmost concern to the efficiency and sustainability of its supply chain while dealing with its marketing strategies. Challenges Faced By MIP A few major challenges faced by the organisation include increasing dependency on technology, and influence of environmental as well as legal factors among others. It is due to the fact that the company focuses on recycling method to manufacture healthcare textiles which requires advanced technology support increasing the dependency level of the organisation on the technology sector. Moreover, the recycling process also gives rise to environmental issues owing to which legal barriers can act as a challenge for the company. Thus, by adopting energy efficiency technology the organisation can improve its productivity and sustainability in its future aspects amongst the other competitors present in the market. The textile industry has been condemned as being one of the world’s worst offenders in terms of pollution because it requires a great amount of two components, i.e. chemicals and water. With this concern, most of the countries follow the environmental aspects accordingly with the expenses incurred by the plant (Owen & et. al., 2003; Czajka, 2005). Conclusion and Recommendations In the supplier market of textile and related products segment, MIP is recognized as one of the premier suppliers of healthcare textiles and related products, to the International Healthcare Community. However, with due consideration to the major challenges faced by the company in relation to environmental issues, MIP needs to be more conscious in terms of using chemicals to recycle the raw materials. It should also revitalise its product line for different segments according to the trends in the daily consumable global apparels market. The product varieties also can generate high revenue contributing to the overall growth of the organisation (Weber & Hemmelskamp, 2005). From an overall point of view, it can be stated that MIP considers quality control initiatives as well as its supply chain management initiatives with utmost significance which in turn plays a vital role in contributing to its overall competencies. In the similar context, the organisational culture inhibited by MIP also assists it in enhancing employee productivity to a large extent and thus contributing to the sustainability yielded by the organisation. References Czajka, R., 2005. Development of Medical Textile Market. Fibres & Textiles in Eastern Europe, Vol. 13 (49), pp. 13-15. MIP UK Inc., 2012. Offices of Supply Chain. About MIP. [Online] Available at: http://www.mipuk.co.uk/en/about/offices/index.php [Accessed March21, 2012]. MIP UK Inc., 2012. Quality Policy. About MIP. [Online] Available at: http://www.mipuk.co.uk/en/about/profile/index.php [Accessed March 21, 2012]. MIP UK Inc., 2012. History. About MIP. [Online] Available at: http://www.mipuk.co.uk/en/about/history/index.php [Accessed March 21, 2012] Owen, N. & et. al., 2003. A Comparative Study of the British and Italian Textile and Clothing Industries. DTI Economics Paper No. 2. Weber, M. & Hemmelskamp, J. 2005. Towards Environmental Innovation System. Springer. 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