Paper Example on Plan-Do-Check-Act

Introduction

Corporate sustainability is a business approach that improves business value through effective management of resources, opportunities, and risks. Sustainability provides a balance between economic, environmental and social goals and aspiration (Benn, Edwards, & Williams, 2014). It is premised around four major business elements; sustainable development plans, corporate social responsibility, strategic management and organizational performance (Mahboob, 2014). Several models provide organizations with a framework to enhance corporate sustainability. One of the best models is the Plan-do-check-act (PDCA) model; which allows the organization to plan how to achieve their goals, implement the plan, review the results and adapt interventions to correct any deviations from the plan. This paper will elaborate a detailed approach by Sudair Pharma Company in improving its value using (PDCA) model.

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Sudair pharma was established in 2014 in Saudi Arabia. The goal of the pharmaceutical company is to provide drugs that combat life-threatening and chronic diseases. Corporate sustainability is essential for the company in producing drugs that meet the present needs and also combat anticipated future diseases. For example, the company plans to develop biosimilars and monoclonal antibodies (MOAB) by the year 2020 to deal with the changing form of cancer (Sudair Pharma, n.d). Also, the company will also serve a social responsibility goal. The company will be realizing its objective while solving a community problem. To achieve this goal, Sudair pharma must ensure continuous improvement of its services.

Plan-do-check-act (PDCA) model provides a framework for sustainability through continuous learning and improvement of Sudair Pharma operations. Planning is the first step of the model. It entails an assessment of the organization to identify gaps and opportunities in achieving the organizational goals. The cancer incidence rates in the Middle East were more than 12 percent in 2012 (Saggu, Rehman, Abbas, & Ansari, 2015). This figure had exceeded the global rate which stood at 3 percent. Furthermore, the number of women with breast cancer appeared to have steadily increased from 1990 to 2010 (Saggu et al., 2015). Lack of pharmaceutical companies specializing in the manufacture of cancer drugs was identified as one of the leading cause of high rate of cancer cases in the region.

Planning allows the organization to establish what needs to be done, the required resources and timeframe. Planning is the thinking process. It allows a company to break down its objective into manageable tasks that can be assigned specific resources and time (Epstein & Buhovac, 2014). The goal of Sudair Pharma is to satisfy the unmet needs in the pharmaceutical sector in the country (Sudair Pharma, n.d). Planning allows the company to break down the goal into specific objectives in line with the company's four components of its manufacturing plan. They include cancer chemotherapeutics, I.V solutions Manufacturing facility, molecular chemotherapeutics, and production of saving medications (Sudair Pharma, n.d). The objectives are further broken down into specific activities. The activities are assigned a time frame to develop a work plan. Further, the activities are also assigned resources to develop a budget. Planning provides an implementation schedule.

'Do' is the second step. It is the execution of the implementation schedule developed during the planning stage. It entails execution of specific activities and strategies devised under the planning stage. To address the alarming cases of cancer in the Middle East region, Sudair Pharma embarked on the production of cancer chemotherapeutics in Saudi Arabia. This was aimed at reducing fatality cases in Saudi Arabia (Sudair Pharma, n.d). Sudair also trains national cadres to work in the pharmaceutical industries. In 2017, the Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) acquired 35 percent minority stake in Sudair (NEWS, 2017). The investment was aimed at boosting drug security in the region by offering cancer patients with drugs at competitive prices.

The third step involves checking to establish the success of the project. Monitoring and evaluation are carried out. Monitoring is continuous in the course of implementation. It entails collection of data on all activities. Such data may include duty roaster, inventory, maintenance report, transport report among others. It is meant to establish if the project is proceeding as planned. Any deviations are identified, and appropriate interventions are instituted to ensure the project objectives are achieved. Evaluation, on the other hand, is carried out periodically. It makes a comparison between the achieved results and the plan results. Therefore Sudair pharma must collect data to assess the extent to which the plan was achieved. Also, lessons learned in the course of implementation document for replication.

Sudair Pharma relies on internal as well as external documentation to assess its progress. One important source of documentation is the annual reports by the Ministry of Health. The reports by the ministry are essential in assessing the incidence of chronic illnesses in the country and the region. These records help to establish the impact of the company in addressing chronic diseases. For instance, during the breast cancer awareness month in 2016, the Ministry of Health In Saudi Arabia reported an increase in the survival rate of cancer patients in the country (MOH Portal team, 2016). The number of deaths recorded decreased. However, there was a low turn up level at the local health clinics in spite of free screening offered. Alshammari et al. (2016) reported that only 25% of female respondents in Saudi Arabia knew about breast self-examination (BSE). Over 50 percent of these women said that they had undertaken the BSE procedure (Al Mulhim et al., 2015). These figures indicate that public awareness about cancer in the region is increasing.

The final step is to act. This requires the organization to identify and draw lessons learned from the implementation process (Richards & Zen, 2016). The organization determines whether the plan was successful or not. If the plan was successful, the organization should work to reinforce the strategies for better results and expand its operations. If the approach used did not achieve the set target, the organization should develop new approaches to incorporate into the next cycle of the model. The company noted early detection of the disease and new therapies as areas of intervention. Subsequent projects should incorporate the two aspects to reduce the impact of chronic diseases in the country. Also, Sudair pharma needs to work with the Ministry of Health to develop a database for cancer cases and other chronic illness. In the MOH, there is higher possibility of obtaining the information and data required. The measure will be critical to achieving strategic management and improved organizational performance. Sudair Pharma also needs to re-strategize and increase public participation to realize better results.

Conclusion

Corporate sustainability is an integral part of brand development and organizational growth. PDCA provides a framework for organizations to improve their operations continuously. The PDCA model plays a significant role in promoting the sustainability of Sudair Pharma operations. Not only is the company geared towards meeting the present needs, but also future health needs. The objective is to ensure any areas of concern identified are fixed quickly. This gives the company an opportunity to meet the needs of the customer satisfactorily. Based on Sudair Pharma PDCA model analysis there are indications of increased survival rates among cancer patients in Saudi Arabia (MOH Portal team, 2016). The level of public awareness is higher compared to the situation before the inception of Sudair Pharma. These two aspects are evidence that the company is on the right track in achieving its sustainable development plans and corporate social responsibility. Failure to adopt a continuous learning cycle will result in the company been able to address the current need but remain unprepared to respond to future needs.

References

Al Mulhim, F., Syed, A., Bagatadah, W., & Al Muhanna, A. (2015). Breast cancer screening programme: experience from Eastern province, Saudi Arabia. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, 21(2), 111-119. doi:10.26719/2015.21.2.111

Alshammari, F. D., Ahmed, H. G., Alawad, G. M., Alshammary, M. M., Alrashdi, A. G., Alrashedi, S. A., ... Eissa, F. Z. (2015). Epidemiological indicators of Cancer in North Saudi Arabia: A population-based Survey. International Journal of Biomedical Research, 6(9), 674. doi:10.7439/ijbr.v6i9.2457

Benn, S., Edwards, M., & Williams, T. (2014). Organizational change for corporate sustainability. Routledge.

Epstein, M. J., & Buhovac, A. J. (2014). Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring social, environmental and economic impacts. (2nd ed.). Greenleaf publishing.

Mahboob, D. H. (2014). The Development of Social and Environmental Reporting Research on Bangladeshi Organizations: A Postcolonial Critique. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2473571

MOH Portal Team. (n.d.). Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - Ministry of Health Portal. Retrieved from https://www.moh.gov.sa/en/HealthAwareness/healthDay/2016/Pages/HealthDay-2016-10-01-31.aspx

NEWS, A. (2017, April 2). Gulf Investment Corporation buys a key stake in Sudair Pharmaceuticals Company. Retrieved from http://www.arabnews.com/node/1078171/corporate-news

Richards, C., & Zen, I. S. (2016). From surface to deep corporate social responsibility. Journal of Global Responsibility, 7(2), 275-287. doi:10.1108/jgr-04-2016-0010

Saggu, S., Rehman, H., Abbas, Z., & Ansari, A. (2015). Recent incidence and descriptive epidemiological survey of breast cancer in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Medical Journal, 36(10), 1176-1180.

Sudair Pharma. (n.d.). HOME. Retrieved from ttp://www.sudairpharma.com/web/index.html