Proposal for the Renfrey Memorial Hospital Board of Directors Essay

Proposal for the Renfrey Memorial Hospital Board of Directors - Essay Example Quality of service is impacted because the nurse response time to patients increases. The patients also feel that they are not being cared for appropriately. With reduced nursing staff, the workload of the physicians increases further. The hospital’s capacity is impacted because with reduced nursing staff, there is delay is discharge of patients leading to reduction in number of beds available. Many patient care programs also need to be closed down (Buerhaus et.al, 2007). Hospital’s response to nursing staff shortages Most of the hospitals have been implementing two types of solutions for nursing staff shortages – long term and short term solutions. Short-term solutions include increasing their salaries, increasing the bonuses of the nursing staff or filling the vacant positions with temporary staff (May, Bazzoli and Gerland, 2006). Long-term strategies of hospitals include creating favorable working environment and providing opportunities for them to enhance the ir skills (May, Bazzoli and Gerland, 2006). We will discuss both these strategies used by hospitals in greater detail in the ensuing sections. Short-term strategies These include using temporary staffing which involves recruiting nurses on a per day basis on short contracts. These also include using nurses on the move to cover a particular shift (May, Bazzoli and Gerland, 2006). The major problem with these types of recruiting solutions is that they turn out to be very expensive. It also encourages the normal staff to take up more assignments of this type rather than for the permanent job as the former pays better. Another problem with this kind of recruitment practice is the lack of staff quality. This kind of temporary staff cannot be relied for good service quality. Using â€Å"Internal staffing† or â€Å"float pool† is another way of fulfilling temporary staffing needs (May, Bazzoli and Gerland, 2006). Internal staffing solutions are less expensive than staffing th rough external agencies despite the fact that some premium needs to be paid even for recruitment through internal channels. However, this premium is far less than what needs to be paid to external agencies for recruitment. Spartanburg Regional Medical Centre in South Carolina has utilized internal staffing channel very effectively (May, Bazzoli and Gerland, 2006). They allow the internal nursing staff who wish to apply for vacant shifts (to increase their earnings) to apply online at bid rates that are set below the external agency rates but at a premium to the general rates prevailing within the hospital. This helps them to utilize staff that is willing to work extra without compromising on quality as they are all trained and tested employees. At the same time the hospital does not have to force the employees to work extra and then deal with repercussions of overstressed staff. Technology is used very effectively to create an online internet based platform where the employees can a pply and get immediate response. Another short term strategy for fulfilling temporary staffing is by providing higher salaries. This is done not only for the new workforce but also for all previous employees by providing competent increment at all current levels. This has a retaining impact in the short run as external employers may not immediately adjust their

Marketing management and strategy - The UK music industry Essay

Marketing management and strategy - The UK music industry - Essay Example The UK music industry is facing dramatic changes caused by shifts in the patterns people buy music tracks and albums. Online music distribution is changing the rules of the market introducing both major threats and growth opportunities for music labels and distributors. Whereas increased download opportunities and digital format preferences are threatening traditional music specialty stores, legal music websites and music producers have to find creative ways to fight back internet piracy to achieve targeted rates of returns. Online market demand is dominated by teenagers who have shifted their purchases from singles CDs to mostly illegal downloads of singles tracks, stimulated by continually evolving software and P2P networks. In order to survive, market players have to reconsider their strategies and value propositions – by mergers of music labels; flexible pricing and value-added offers by online distributors and active ethical campaigns, the challenge before these companies is to convert the internet medium from a threat to copyrighted material into an effective distribution channel. b. Analysing the competitive impairment using Porter's five forces Rivalry among competing sellers in the industry - rivalry among legal internet music sites is not too intensive, because the legal online download industry is underdeveloped and growing at a very high speed, which means that companies gain market share from a rising number of new customers, converting their downloads from illegal to legal. Apple iTunes has over 70% of the market, which places it into an almost monopolistic position as a market leader. Still, rivalry is expected to increase, as the number of competitors increases, and as customers can easily switch from 1 site to the other (except for Apple and Sony that sell music in formats compatible for their own products). Competitive pressure from substitute products - substitute "products" for online distributors can be considered to be rival traditional distributors for example. The power of substitute distributors is low, because the internet medium provides lower costs, greater flexibility, speed and value propositions as compared to traditional music retailers. Potential entry of new competitors - relatively low costs for set-up and management of web-sites for download mean low entry barriers. Entry of new competitors is likely to be attracted by the growing number of legal sales (from 100,000 to 500,000 by August 2004). The bargaining power of suppliers - suppliers for online music distributors are music producers. Provided there are only 5 major music producers that hold the exclusive rights for famous artistes and musicians, the bargaining power of suppliers is big in terms of price settings - e.g. the music label get 65p of a typical 99 p download. Suppliers include the 5 major labels and smaller independent music labels. Consolidation among big labels (Sony and BMG) is likely to increase bargaining power of suppliers. The bargaining power of buyers of the product - the power of buyers is big in terms that surfers, using new software and P2P networks are shaping the face of the industry. Online distributors have to find ways to attract and retain customers by stimulating them to actually make purchases and switch to legal downloads. c. The impact of the Internet on the competitive environment Internet is the trigger of the digital music revolution. It has changed the whole music industry thus forcing music companies and artistes to reconsider the way music is being sold and distributed. Internet has a number of positive influences on music companies. Through this popular and easily accessible medium artistes and companies have access to a wider global audience and have opened up new revenue streams. Internet has also diminished the bargaining po