Importance of TQM in Success of Emergency Services

Agility and accuracy is the key of success of any emergency service. The quality of emergency services includes wide variety of quality aspects, all of which are important. The lack of detailed information about any of these aspects means that we have not able to figure out need of quality control area of vital interest to the people in India. In India awareness towards emergency services is not much in comparison to our western counter parts. But it’s our moral duty to educate them about their right of safety. There is a need of public private partnership (PPP) in this area. The 108 Emergency services of Emergency Management and Research Institute is a good step in this direction.

The traditional perspectives of quality and the familiar view of customer satisfaction are inadequate to manage the complex relationship between the emergency service firm and the victims of emergency. According to one study by Lengrick Hall (1995) victims play four roles in emergency care system –that of supplier, product, participant and recipient. Plek (1995) describes TQM as a cooperative form of doing business, which relies on talent and capabilities of both labor and management to improve quality and productivity continually, using teams.

Three important factors for success of TQM in emergency services:

1. Participative management
2. Continuous process improvement
3. Managing Teams 

Cost management is critical for the sustained quality emergency services because in any agency resources are main concern especially in case of a nonprofit organization. When you are walking on a tight rope, you can’t afford dancing. The cost management is important in controlling a nation’s healthcare expenditure.

Emergency services like fire brigade, ambulance and security and rehabilitation are people oriented, the prevention and reduction of human errors at all level are of vital importance. In case of   emergency people are in trauma and emotionally charged up, this makes them difficult to handle. This means that top priority must be given to human reliability with a set goal of 100 per cent. Progressive movement towards this goal is characterized by emphasis on two “Zs”. The two Zs for human reliability:

 

1.      Zero Error: Emphasis on accuracy

2.      Zero Delay: Emphasis on urgency

Summary:

With increasing awareness and criticality of operations emergency services need to review their quality policies. No service industry, which expects to grow, survive or serve the society in rapidly changing operational environment, can maintain the status quo. In case of emergency services government need to monitor the quality standards in services without promoting bureaucracy. In present scenario speed and accuracy in demand of hour in emergency services and philosophy like TQM will be immense help in achieving these goals.

 

Bakery Industry in India

Bakery industry in India is the largest among the processed food industries, production of which has been increasing steadily in the country. The two major bakery industries, viz. Bread and biscuit account for about 82 per cent of the total bakery products. The annual production of bakery products which includes bread, biscuits, pasteries, cakes, buns, rusk, etc., most of which are in the unorganized sector, is estimated to be in excess of 30 lakh tonnes. The production of bread and biscuits in the country, both in the organised and unorganized sectors, is estimated to be around 15 lakh tonnes and 11 lakh tonnes respectively. Of the total production of bread and biscuits, about 35 per cent is produced in the organised sector and the remaining is manufactures in the unorganized sector. Another wheat based product known by its generic name, pasta products, comprising of noodles, vermicelli, macaroni and spaghetti is gaining popularity.

Economical factors affecting bakery:
The present day consumer looks for new bakery products, better appeal, taste and convenience from bakery foods. With a population of 1 billion plus, India has the largest middle-income consumers, who demand varieties in food, clothing, transport and improved living standards, also wish to eat out. Opportunities, in abundance, exist in Bakery Cafes and Restaurants, those who cater fast foods, are another fastest growing sector in India.

In India bakery industry is booming next to information technology, and other services. Presently all the IT offices such as BPO, call centers, data entry centers has started supplying food in the work spot as it has become a necessity since their work timings and schedule varies according to the project undertaken. Rising disposable income have increased young generation’s pocket money. Middle class children can easily spend 20 Rs per day on product like pastries, tea, cold drinks etc.
Excise duty is the problem that is really affecting bakery. Products have a short shelf life and imposing excise is very unfair. Lately, the rate has been raised to 16 per cent from 8 per cent. Bakery industry is not able to compete with market forces and most of companies are downsizing. Many of bakery products are disappearing and manufacturers are reducing the number of employees. They are economizing; excise is a prior charge on their profitability. The excise rules and regulations are very difficult to follow. They are not at all appropriate for retail manufacturing concerns.

Societal pattern and bakery:
Nowadays, in metropolitan cities Ahmedabad, life style has become a mechanical and people prefer food readily available for consumption without much time for preparation. Bakery products are very popular in school and college premises, students treat their friends with these affordable items to celebrate their happy moments. In double income family mothers don’t get much time to prepare Tiffin for their children, bakery products are now part of school going children’s lunch box also. Bakery products which use maida as a major raw material for most of its varieties is highly preferable as they are highly nutritive, easily digestible and readily available in wide choice preferred by many.

Bakery technology:
Compared with restaurant, machinery investment is more for baker and it requires qualified personnel both in the production as well as in administration. Technology and interest brought in innovations in the production of new bakery products and new technocrats evolved in the industry. In 1990 a rapid growth of catering institutes all over the country helped the bakery sector to equip the industry with qualified workers and qualified entrepreneurs.


Government role in bakery:
To help the growth of bakery industry the government can help the bakers to receive the raw material maida in a nominal price. Wheat price is being hiked very frequently which must be controlled to avoid difficulties in producing the bakery products at nominal rates without much fluctuation in the sale price. The government should reduce the import duties for bakery machineries, its preservatives and for raw materials. It will be very helpful if tax is abolished for bread in all states. If bread is included in the Noon Meal Scheme for children it will be very beneficial for the children and also to the industry.
Indian bakery faces challenge to update their information, technology, products and services to meet the changing needs of the Indian consumer. To meet the new challenges, the Govt. of India encourages the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) with very attractive financing schemes, to modernize and up-grade their units. This has opened up opportunities not only to SMEs but also to those in the bakery trade to supply the new technologies.

" Conjoint Analysis Using SPSS"

Conjoint analysis helps organizations understand which factors drive decisions. Analysts determine factor preferences by presenting multiple combinations of factors and asking respondents to rank them. Market researchers often use conjoint analysis to determine which product features are most critical to purchase decisions.

Conjoint analysis must currently be run using syntax. Unlike most procedures in SPSS® for Windows®, conjoint analysis requires the user to invoke two files:

1.Plan File:The plan file contains the combinations that will be presented to the participants.

2.Data File:The data file contains the participants' responses.

The syntax includes the full location of the plan file, but uses an asterisk to alert SPSS to use the file in the data editor as the data file.

You can also save utilities—the values assigned to each factor from the conjoint—using the utility command. Make sure to include the utility command at the end of the syntax run and indicate where to save the file. You can use this to segment customers based on their preference patterns.

Step 1: Generating the Plan file:
Open SPSS ->Data > Orthogonal Design-> Generate

Define factors :

Example : In a Hi-Tech hotel survey, IMNU students defined LAPTOP_CARRY, INT_CONNECT_VIDEO_DEMAND,VIDEO_CONF_VOIP, PRICE_PREMIUM as different factors.
They got 9 profiles by orthogonal design.

Step 2:Data -> Orthogonal Design->Display

This will give you profiles (Multiple combination of factors).Go to your subject and find out their ranking for the given profiles.

Step 3:Generate the data file
This file is generated on basis of ranking provided to different preferences.

Step 4:Run a conjoint Analysis:CONJOINT PLAN='C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\VXLPLAN.SAV'
/DATA=*
/SUBJECT=ID
/FACTORS=LAPTOP_CARRY INT_CONNECT_VIDEO_DEMAND
VIDEO_CONF_VOIP PRICE_PREMIUM
/RANK=PREF1 TO PREF9
/UTILITY='C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Desktop\OUTPUT.SAV'
/PLOT=SUMMARY
/PRINT=SUMMARYONLY.

Step 5: Analyse the output

~Vinaytosh Mishra
(MBA-Marketing & Operations)

Strategic Window in Dynamic Market

Vinaytosh Mishra, Institute of Management, Nirma University

What is a Strategic Window?
The term strategic window is the limited periods during which the “fit” between the key requirements of a market and the particular competencies of a firm competing in that market is at an optimum. In this paper we will use VXL Instrument’s case to elaborate the concept.

What is VXL’s Business?

VXL Instruments is enabling companies around the world build a flexible, secure, manageable and cost-efficient IT infrastructure. Its range of thin client devices helps enterprises beat the cycle of desktop obsolescence, free internal resources from non-productive functions, and save millions of dollars that is spent in securing systems. The thin client is a server-centric computing model in which the application software, data, and CPU power resides on a network server rather than on the client computer.VXL Instruments won “Highest IT-Hardware Exporter Award in Non-SSI category” for year 2006-2007.

VXL’s Dilemma

VXL Instruments is leading manufacturer of thin client devices and commands 11% share in global market. Its major chunk of sales comes from export to US and EU. The company is trying to explore new market in India for its thin client devices. Competitors like Wyse and HP offer diverse range of product not only in west but also in India. Therefore, it’s high time that company starts thinking about Indian market.

How to market TC in India?

Company’s products like TC23xx and TC73xx are reliable and cost-effective. The (thin client) TC can help in eradicating various pain in server based computing. It is very useful in case of SME’s (Small and medium scale enterprises) where computing requirements are pretty specific. In case of sectors like hospitality, we need to explore various value unlocking features so that they can charge a premium.

The major challenges are following:

1. How to provide maximum utility without making product too much complex?

2. How to convince existing clients to change from fat clients to thin clients?

3. How to market TC in India?

Actually the answer of third question will give us a frame work for finding the answers for first two questions.

I will consider VXL a minimum risk taking company. It’s more product centric than customer centric. Therefore, its products are world class but market penetration is not that impressive. Presently, VXL markets its products through client interaction and third party distributors like Priya Limited. This approach reduces marketing expenses but the approach has its own limitations.

In 2005, Mumbai-based distributor Priya Ltd invested $2 million (around Rs 10 crore) in equity in VXL Instruments. The investment was part of the trade finance arrangement that gave VXL $9 million (around Rs 45 crore) aimed at funding its growth.

VXL chalked out expansion plans and a growth strategy with a view to increase its market share of thin client to 25 percent by 2007-2008. It has made inroad in different verticals like ERP, Health, Telecom, Education and Banking with client list including SAP Belgium, Birmingham City Hospital UK, DOT India, British Telecom, IIM Lucknow, IIT Roorkie, Haga Bank Jakarta and HDFC India etc. But presently its market share is much below its target.

Product Awareness & Customer Perception

We can roughly divide the customers into two categories:

Techno Savvy Customers with financial Muscle: These type of customers, already know about the products (TC) and we need to convince them that thin client is a better option over Fat client. For example Velankani group’s upcoming 5-Star hotel in Electronic City, Bangalore. The Velankani’s are in IT and infrastructure and they are aware about technology and its implementation. According to Mr. R. Shiva Kumar (Manager Information System, Velankani), these types of customers should better be approached when the product is in its embryonic stage. Once they acquire fat clients (FC) for their project, they won’t be interested in TC due to switch over cost. Here we need to market TC as a device which will not only reduce the total cost of ownership but also provide simple solution for all comfort requirements.

Less Techno Savvy with Medium Range Investment Capabilities: These types of customers don’t have their own IT department. They generally play safe and go for the fat client technology being used by other players in their segment. More over they consider their computing needs are minimal and don’t find IT investments much attractive. Here, we need to educate them about various advantage of server based computing and advantage of TC over FC. These types of firms should be approached for providing total solution.

Market Redefinition

Frequently, as markets evolve, the fundamental definition of the market changes in ways which increasingly disqualify some competitors while providing opportunity for the others. The trend towards marketing “system” of products as opposed to individual piece of equipments provides many examples of this phenomenon. We will discuss this point with the help of Docutel case.

Docutel: This manufacturer of automatic teller machine (ATM’s) supplied virtually all the ATM’s in US up to late 1974. In early 1975, Docutel found itself losing its market share to large computer companies such as Burroughs, Honeywell, and IBM as these manufacturers began to look at the banks’ total EFTS (Electronic Fund Transfer System) needs. They offered the bank a package of equipment representing a complete system of which the ATM was only a component. In essence their success can be attributed to the fact that they redefined the market in a way that increasingly appeared to disqualify Docutel as a potential supplier.

Conclusion

Market redefinition is not only limited to the banking industry; similar trends are underway in scientific instrumentation (Steel, Cement, and Aluminium Industries), process control equipments (Siemens, Vesuvius and SMS redefined the market); the machine tool industry, office & household equipment (VXL is already a player) and electronic control gear as some of the other examples. In each case, manufacturers basing their approach on the marketing of individual hardware items are seeing their “strategic window” closing as computer systems producers move in to take advantage of emerging opportunities.

HP has capitalized sufficient TC market by virtue of some aggressive M&A. In India companies like HCL Technologies and Satyam are planning to enter in TC market as a total solution provider. Wipro is also exploring opportunities in SME. We can expect Wipro to venture in this segment, in near future.

As the competition grows SME’s are also becoming lean. Most of firms are following make-to-order philosophy of manufacturing. All these need free flow of materials, information and finances imperative. As the practices are changing, many new applications of networking technology have evolved. Here, we can see a scope for VXL being a consultancy provider and not a mere product manufacturer.

~Vinaytosh Mishra







References:

1. http://www.vxl.net/
2. The Windows Embedded Family: An Integrated, Scalable Platform for Building Thin Client Devices(Microsoft)
3. Strategic Window: Derek F. Abell(Journal of Marketing)