Question

Porter’s five forces model was developed by Michael E. Porter of Harvard University in 1979. Its purpose is to
analyse the industry in order to determine the level of intensity regarding the competition and attractiveness of
the industry.

1.1 Using the five forces model, discuss a competitive environment of your choice (20 marks)

QUESTION 2 (30)
ICT has played a role in some way or the other, every single day in our normal daily routines. ICT affects your life
and will continue to do so for a very long time. Discuss the role of ICT in:
2.1 Education (15)
2.2 Healthcare (15)

Answer 1

Regarding Question Number-1

Before moving onto the case study for "Porter's five forces model", we need to know what actually is this model, what are the five forces which actually draws or  tries to draw a competitive analysis of a particular scenario regarding to an organization's work proceedings.

Let us have an intrinsic and formal definition of Porter's five forces model as follows:

Porter's Five Forces of Competitive Position Analysis were developed in 1979 by Michael E Porter of Harvard Business School as a simple framework for assessing and evaluating the competitive strength and position of a business organisation.

This theory is based on the concept that there are five forces that determine the competitive intensity and attractiveness of a market. Porter’s five forces help to identify where power lies in a business situation. This is useful both in understanding the strength of an organisation’s current competitive position, and the strength of a position that an organisation may look to move into.

Strategic analysts often use Porter’s five forces to understand whether new products or services are potentially profitable. By understanding where power lies, the theory can also be used to identify areas of strength, to improve weaknesses and to avoid mistakes.

Along with the definition of the model, next let us elaborate the stipulated five forces which come into play whenever there is/are sense(s) of determining the competitiveness of a market.

The five forces under consideration are as follow:

1. Force of Supplier power. An assessment of how easy it is for suppliers to drive up prices. This is driven by the: number of suppliers of each essential input; uniqueness of their product or service; relative size and strength of the supplier; and cost of switching from one supplier to another.

2. Force of Buyer power. An assessment of how easy it is for buyers to drive prices down. This is driven by the: number of buyers in the market; importance of each individual buyer to the organisation; and cost to the buyer of switching from one supplier to another. If a business has just a few powerful buyers, they are often able to dictate terms.

3. Force of Competitive rivalry. The main driver is the number and capability of competitors in the market. Many competitors, offering undifferentiated products and services, will reduce market attractiveness.

4. Force of the Threat of substitution. Where close substitute products exist in a market, it increases the likelihood of customers switching to alternatives in response to price increases. This reduces both the power of suppliers and the attractiveness of the market.

5. Force of the Threat of new entry. Profitable markets attract new entrants, which erodes profitability. Unless incumbents have strong and durable barriers to entry, for example, patents, economies of scale, capital requirements or government policies, then profitability will decline to a competitive rate.

In addition of the above five stipulations of forces, "regulation", "taxation" and "trade policies" often make government a sixth force for many industries/organizations.

Next, regarding the analysis or case study on the model, let us have a discussion on the "Application of Porter's five forces model" on singular market environment in India.

The first force covered by the analysis framework is the threat of new competition. Unless the barriers to the market of our consideration are formidable, new players can enter and poach our share of the business under the circumstances. If one wish to enter a new market place, he/she would obviously want these barriers to be low, of course. If Porter were Indian, he would have recognized that certain factors such as state protectionism and a lack of infrastructure are a greater barrier to entry in India than they are in more developed nations, where market forces are more powerful. This is because governments of emerging economies are usually very reluctant to open the doors to new
players in many sectors. Even if that is the case on a positive note, it’s likely that they will adopt more interventionist policies at a later stage. For example, India’s airline sector is poised for growth, but the
fact that it has recently been deregulated makes it more difficult for competitors to develop long-term strategies, because all such strategies will collapse if the government feels that new entrants are
threatening its home market.
One factor that could play a crucial role in India is public opinion, which exerts a considerable influence on the government.
A good example of this is the campaign by local retailers, which feel that the arrival of US retail giant Walmart could put them out of business. Walmart has made huge investments in India, but is having to find the ways to penetrate the Indian market place just because of the stringent regulations that prevent it from doing things as basic as putting its brand name on stores.

The psychological profile of the stakeholders can be crucial to the long-term competitive strategy,
because it means that we have to handle the regulators before we have a deal with our competitors inside the market place. This is not so true in developed economies, where regulators are more prepared to let the market prevail. They don’t rely entirely on market forces to determine competition, of course, and there can be opposition to takeover bids for household names, which is what happened in the UK when Kraft acquired Cadbury, for example, but developing nations tend to be far more conservative and treat such M&A deals with great scepticism. For example, even in telecoms, which is arguably India’s most sophisticated industry, Bharti, one of its big players, is still experiencing problems concerning its proposed merger with South Africa’s MTN Group. Its foreign suitor continues to be viewed with suspicion and the on-off deal has been smothered in bureaucracy. While innovation is seen to contribute to the economy in the west, in India it is still seen more as a threat.

Porter’s second force is the bargaining power of suppliers. The model assumes that they can exert significant influence over a corporate customer. Companies in developed countries generally have a bigger pool of high-quality suppliers and fewer concerns about their ability to respect their contracts, but this is a big issue in India. Most companies here have an alternate plan i.e., a supplier is already chosen/selected, that will be chosen if the first choice fails to deliver. Most companies in the developed world have learned the hard way that any system that aims only to reduce costs is flawed and that they also need to take the quality of the product under consideration as it is known that one organization prevails primarily or intrinsically by two factors, "Product" and "People". In India buyers are not that likely to demand quality in comparison with the countries with much more development(s), so retailers are lethargic when it comes to seeking it. Indian companies tend to experience two extremes: they either have no suppliers at all for prospective products or they have too many suppliers who are not even reliable or less reliable with the products under consideration, overcrowding the industry. This is because of the “bandwagon effect”: any firm that makes a profit quickly attracts rivals into its market. These new competitors may not have the infrastructure or the quality processes to outperform the original player, but they create pressure on it to deliver quickly at the lowest cost. This is different from western or Japanese business cultures, in which few companies would consider suppliers working below a benchmark standard of quality.

The third force is the bargaining power of buyers. As an Indian consume, we know that getting a company to reduce the price of a product would be a big achievement, but the real question is how many of us it would take to manage it, i.e., how many of us are actually onto the challenge of reducing the cost of the product(s) under consideration. Although customers can be influential, the truth is that most accept the price of the product, either because they feel they cannot affect its price or because they lack knowledge about its true cost and value. The bargaining power of buyers is also more disguised by tariff regulations in India than it is in developed countries.

The fourth force is the availability of substitute goods/products. A substitute is generally understood to be the closest equivalent, but the definition can be different in India from that in more developed markets. For example, most Indian consumers view a Mars bar as the same thing as a bar of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk. While these are priced similarly in the UK, they are priced differently in India, where Cadbury has pursued an aggressive strategy. A price war has meant that a chocolate bar called Munch now retails for Rs/- 2, which has taken competition to a new level: Cadbury now charges Rs/- 5 for a Dairy Milk bar, while Mars bars cost Rs/- 25. It’s very clear that the sales teams for Munch and Dairy Milk are seeking high volumes of sales at the cost of profitability. As long as their desire for chocolate – of any kind – is sated, Indian consumers will tend to go for the cheapest option. Here in India, consumers tend to choose price the more than by quality. The same applies to business schools in India. An MBA is considered to be a premium qualification, but most students don’t seem to worry about what the degree offers, as long as they can put those three designatory letters after their names. It’s difficult, therefore, to differentiate our brand in India by anything except price unless you adopt the strategy of projecting your product as being a completely different “macro element”.

The fifth force – competition within industries – is often more virtual than real in India. Most industries are dominated by two or three top players, even when the sector seems to be flooded with competitors. While this can also be true in more developed countries, the gap between the top players and the second tier in India is often much wider. Lower-level players may have the desire to compete, but they tend to lack the experience or size to gain traction against the strongest companies.

Regarding the Question No. 2,

2.1 The role of ICT in Education:

Nowadays the role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), in the education sector plays an important role, especially in the process of empowering the technology into the educational activities. Education sector can be the most effective sector to anticipate and eliminate the negative impact of ICT. Technology in another side can be the most effective way to increase the student’s knowledge.

The use of ICT in education adds value to teaching and learning, by enhancing the effectiveness of learning. It added a dimension to learning that was not previously available. After the inception of ICT in schools, students found learning in a technology enhanced environment more stimulating and engaging than in a traditional classroom environment.

Objectives of ICT Implementation in Education:

1. Improvement in learning achievement;

2. Reduction of adult illiteracy rate, with sufficient emphasis on female literacy;

3. Expansion of provisions of basic education and training in other essential skills required by youth and adults;

4. Increased acquisition by individuals and families of the knowledge, skills and values required for better living and sound and sustainable development.

Role of ICT in Higher Education:

1. To increase variety of educational services & medium

2. To promote equal opportunities to obtain education & information.

3. To develop a system of collecting & disseminating educational information.

4. To promote technology literacy.

a. To support “Distance Learning”.

b. To support sharing experience & information with others

ICT as a Change Agent In Learning Process:

Conventional Learning Process: In the process of conventional learning emphasis was given on contents. It follows the particular course structure / syllabus for many years. Accordingly the subject wise textbooks & reference books have been written. By using relevant material to the subject teachers supposed to teach through lectures and presentation. Teachers used their lesson plans, tutorials, different way of assessment to evaluate student performance etc.

Competent Course Structure / Syllabus:

It is the need of the day to improve quality & structure of the syllabi by enforcing competency & performance based approach towards it. To include advance technology and practical approach is also on of the imp. One such curricula requires, 1) Access to information types & different forms. 2)Student-centered learning though information access. 3) Learning environment concentrated on information access & inquiry. 4) Real life examples. 5) Teachers as mentors rather that content experts. The role of ICT in the education at higher level recurring and unavoidable. It is challenge to integrate ICTs with universities, into their strategies and educational process. It should be implemented at national & international level. It will be helpful to improve qualify and flexibility, the widening access to the field of tuition. Many universities are providing distance education by creating N/w through mutual partnership.

Students Centered Learning:

With the help of technologies it is possible to promote transformation of education from teacher centered inst. To students centered inst. e.g. 1) Increased use of web as a source. 2) Internet users can select the experts from whom they will learn. 3) Process will become problem – based learning. 4) The proliferation of capability, competency and outcomes oriented curricula. ICTs in education acts as a change agent. It supports independent learning. Students become immersed in the learning process by using ICT.

Supporting Knowledge Construction:

The emergence of ICTs as a learning technology unknowingly insists to think on alternative theories for learning. The conventional teaching process has focused on teachers planning and leading students through a series of instructural sequences to achieve desired outcome. This way of teaching follows the planned transmission of knowledge though some interaction with the content as a means to consolidate the knowledge acquision. It depends on the process of personal understanding. In this domain learning is viewed as the construction of meaning rather than memorization of facts. Use of ICTs provide many opportunities through their provision and support for resource based, student centered learning. It acts to support various aspects of knowledge construction and as more and more stud. Employ ICTs in their learning process, the more pronounced impact of this will become.

The role of ICTs in the education is recurring and unavoidable. Rapid changes in the technologies are indicating that the role of ICT in future will grow tremendously in the education.

1. By observing current activities and practices in the education, we can say the development of ICTs within education has strongly affected on

a. What is learned?

b. How it is learned?

c. When & where learning takes place

d. Who is learning and who is teaching.

2. ICT also focuses modification of the role of teachers. In addition to classroom teaching, they will have other skills and responsibilities. Teachers will act as virtual guides for students who use electronic media.

3. Ultimately, the use of ICT will enhance the learning experiences of students. Also it helps them to think independently and communicate creatively. It also helps students for building successful careers and lives, in an increasingly technological world.

2.2 Role of ICT in Healthcare:

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) can play a critical role in improving health care for individuals and communities. By providing new and more efficient ways of accessing, communicating, and storing information, ICTs can help bridge the information divides that have emerged in the health sector in developing countries—between health professionals and the communities they serve and between the producers of health research and the practitioners who need it. Through the development of databases and other applications, ICTs also provide the capacity to improve health system efficiencies and prevent medical errors.

• A physician in a remote rural hospital is initially unable to diagnose a patient with a complex array of symptoms. However, using his MEDLINE search training and the hospital’s Internet connection, he is able to diagnose and successfully treat the patient for a tropical disease the patient picked up while traveling abroad.

• Another physician looks at her hospital’s prescription trends using the newly created electronic health record system and finds that other physicians are not using the post-surgical antibiotic that is shown to be most effective according to the current international guidelines. She speaks to the administration about advocating a switch in antibiotics that will improve patient recovery outcomes and thereby save the hospital money.

• A neonatologist, who transmits CT-scans and other medical images by e-mail to his network of personal contacts around the world to help in diagnosing and treating premature newborns, estimates that teleconsultations have helped him to save numerous lives during the past year.

• A young woman, too embarrassed to ask her physician about reproductive health issues and the risks of sexually transmitted infections, anonymously contacts physicians at a woman’s health clinic, where they’ve set up e-mail accounts for staff in order to support these types of physician-patient interactions

Each of these examples demonstrates how information and communications technologies (ICTs) can play a critical role in improving health care for individuals and communities. By providing new and more efficient ways of accessing, communicating, and storing information, ICTs can help bridge the information divides that have emerged in the health sector in developing countries—between health professionals and the communities they serve and between the producers of health research and the practitioners who need it. Through the development of databases and other applications, ICTs also provide the capacity to improve health system efficiencies and prevent medical errors.

ICT for health (or e-health) programs are often considered to be expensive, time-consuming, risky, and otherwise distracting from the primary focus and intent of health sector programs. In some cases these criticisms may be valid. There are, however, a wide range of low-cost and sustainable ICT for health program components that can augment capacity and improve the overall effectiveness of health development programs. These are the types of programs that Health-Connect International is specialized to help deliver.

Information technology (IT) is the application of computers and telecommunications equipment to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate data, often in the context of a business or other enterprise. Today information technology is used in wide range of fields and one of the upcoming fields is of Medical Science, which is known as Health Information Technology (HIT).

Health information technology (HIT) is the application of information processing involving both computer hardware and software that deals with the storage, retrieval, sharing, and use of health care information, data, and knowledge for communication and decision making. HIT, technology represents computers and communications attributes that can be networked to build systems for moving health information. Let's have a brief glimpse at the background of the information technology in medicine.

With the development in IT, there has been a significant change in medical education all over the world. The changes is that majority of the medical students are computer literate these days. New information on medical topics is readily accessible via the Internet and handheld computers such as palmtops, personal digital assistants (PDA). Information Technology can assist medical education in various ways such as in college networks and internet. Computer-assisted learning (CAL), Virtual reality (VR), Human patient simulators are some options. With the help of college networks and Internet, the medical students as well as the teachers may stay in contact even when they are off college.Rapid communication can be established with the help of e-mails and course details, handouts, and feedbacks can be circulated easily. Many medical schools these days use online programs such as "Blackboard" or "student central" to underline and coordinate their courses. Such programs allow speedy access to information and quick turnaround of evaluation and messaging, and allow all teachers, assessors, and students at any site to look at the curricular context of their own particular contribution. Similarly, the Internet provides opportunities to gain up-to-date information on different aspects of health and disease and to discuss with colleagues in different continents via net conferencing. Free access to Medline, various medical journals, online textbooks and the latest information on new development in medicine also encourages learning and research.

CAL is considered as an enjoyable medium of learning and very suitable for conceptually difficult topics. Interactive digital materials for study of histopathology, anatomy and heart sounds are used widely. Development of anatomical three dimensional atlases of various internal organs using computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging are very illustrative and help the students to understand the subject matter clearly.

Another development is of "Advanced Life Support" (ACLS) simulators and Haptics "the science of touch" simulators are used in medical education to develop various clinical skills such as ECG interpretation, appropriate intervention such as ABC, drugs, injections, defibrillation without working on a real patient. These days, highly sophisticated simulators "virtual reality" with highly advanced medical simulation technologies and medical databases are available in the advanced medical schools that expose the medical students to the vast range of complex medical situations. It can emulate various clinical procedures such as catheterization, laparoscopy, bronchoscopy etc. With new technology, the students can virtually go inside each and every organ and see how they actually look like from outside as well as from inside.

Information technology has been very helpful to the healthcare sector. One example of a significant advancement that IT has provided to hospitals is the development of electronic medical records (EMR). This technology can convert medical information into a single database. Not only does this technology reduce paper costs, it allows healthcare providers to access pertinent patient information such as medical history, medications, insurance information, etc with just the click of a mouse.

EMRs hold great promise in the clinical arena. The ability to care for patients with a record that is integrated with laboratory and pharmacy information, and provides point of service information regarding preventive services, diagnosis, treatment, and follow up represents a dramatic advance in patient care. Improving and measuring quality would be instantly improved if all clinicians used EMRs. For example, it would be easy to prompt clinicians that their patient with diabetes needs an eye examination or a hemoglobin A1C level.

Drug prescribing patterns of individual clinicians could be carefully evaluated and compared to established standards. In fact, computer based clinical support as part of an EMR has been shown to improve physician performance and patient outcomes.

Reducing medical errors has become a priority all over the world. Specifically adverse drug events are an important source of injuries in hospitalised patients. In response to the need to improve patient safety, computerised physician order entry (CPOE) systems have become increasingly more common. In general, CPOE systems force physicians to write all orders online. These systems have the capacity to verify that written orders are correct, that is, based on a patient profile, they can automatically check the dose and contraindications of a specific drug. They have been shown to dramatically reduce serious medication errors.

Computerized provider order entry (CPOE), formerly called Computer physician order entry, can reduce total medication error rates by 80%, and adverse (serious with harm to patient) errors by 55%. A 2004 survey by Leapfrog found that 16% of US clinics, hospitals and medical practices are expected to be utilizing CPOE within 2 years. Recent study says that CPOE adoption reduced drug errors and concluded that CPOE could substantially reduce the annual number of those errors if widely implemented. In addition to electronic prescribing, a standardized bar code system for dispensing drugs could prevent a quarter of drug errors. Consumer information about the risks of the drugs and improved drug packaging (clear labels, avoiding similar drug names and dosage reminders) are other error-proofing measures.

There is no argument over the influence of IT in medicine and education. But there are still many areas which need to be improved before we could utilise IT to its full extent. Last but not the least, however advanced the technology gets, it can never replace the interaction the doctors and students require with the patient and the clinical judgments which make great doctors. So, in the pursuit of modern technologies, we should be careful that the doctor patient relationships do not get overlooked.

Hope the above