Medical Equipment Inc

Medical Equipment INC Q1) No, Grover thought that he has a good understanding for the culture because he was raised in Saudi Arabia, but the reality is he grew in an expatriate compound with limited contact with the Saudi people or the Saudi culture. He went to an Indian school and then went to take his college degree in the USA. His internships gave him the opportunity to work in France and the United States. The internships prepared him to work in the field but Saudi business concept is foreign to him.Grover did not understand the Saudi culture and missed some critical points while he was trying to get the deal. He knew that relationships are important in making business in Saudi Arabia which is completely true. The problem was he tried to build relations with the wrong persons the foreign cardiologist, the Egyptian biomedical engineer and the purchasing manager, but he could not reach the purchasing director. In a hierarchy community as Saudi Arabia the purchasing director is the most important one to build a relation with he is the one who can give Grover the deal.Grover spent his time building relation with people who can’t help him with the deal. It was obvious for me that Al Humaidi was avoiding meeting with Grover and when he finally met him after approximately one month it was a formal conversion. I lived in Saudi Arabia for 9 years and from my experience Saudi’s only have a say in Saudi Arabia. Foreigners or non Saudi Arabs working there have no say when it comes to business deals.A Saudi will always prefer to work with an Arab like Najjar and not an Indian because of the language and religious similarities this may sound harsh but is true especially in a situation like this where Al Humaidi had established a long relation with Najjar. Q2) Bribe is never justified and it is unethical, unless you are working in a pharmaceutical company or in a medical equipment company. I am a pharmacist who worked in Egypt and lived in Saudi Arabia and f rom my experience that all the deals in this field need bribes.Bribes are not ethical at all but are a common practice in field of pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies. In Grover’s case it’s within company rules to offer a trip to a business customer to one of the showrooms to view and get more details regarding medical equipments latest software and technology. This can be considered a bride but it’s not as obvious as cash. Cash bribery’s is not allowed, and would be a mistake. The hospital that Al Humaidi works for is a government owned one with a large budget to work with so if Grover offered money this wouldn’t be viewed as an incentive to buy the medical equipment.In Egypt companies give the mangers of the client gifts depending on the field that the company works in and how popular and attractive the actual product being offered is. I remember a famous company that produces the devices that measures blood sugar level, in a way to pr omote its devices the company offered the product free to the physicians and the pharmacies with the strips needed so the physician can use it himself on patients or give it as a gift or use it in his clinic and the pharmacy of course will use it to measure the blood sugar level for the customer.The company will get double benefit, the physician and the pharmacy will advertise the product to the patient by using this device and the patient will be advised to buy one. Q3) Grover has limited options that may be acceptable. There are 4 options I see as possible the first one is to continue in his way of conducting business. Grover’s current plan of action is morally and ethically safe, will not break any rules of the company or of his conscious but he may lose the deal.The second option is to proceed with the trip offer which will give him a chance to win the deal and in the same time he can document it as a business expense so it will not look as a bribe. As a show of commitmen t Grover should accompany Al Humaidi to the trip to help build a long lasting relationship. By going on the trip with Al Humaidi he can try to secure the current sale and also build for the future by assuring Al Humaidi that Medical Equipment INC. will be ready to work with him and be there for support and logistical backup and no also provide the best, outstanding technology for a reasonable price.The third option is to create a plan B and try to secure a sale regardless of the size, just to try and get in good favor with Al Humaidi with a potential of future business. It seems that even with careful analysis and generating a sales plan that offered all the best equipment according to the hospitals needs; this was still not adequate to secure the sale. From what Grover knows now he can create a plan B and modify the list of equipment that is offered and tailor it to the needs of the engineering and cardiology department only.The ECG machine that is being offered is far superior to that of the equivalent product that Wilson’s is offering. Knowing this and already having established a positive relationship with Dr. Saxman, Grover can push the two products that appeal more to the hospital. If the desired sale of $725,000USD worth of equipment is out of reach, then Grover could go forward with plan B and put an emphasis on the two ranges of products that Medical Equipment INC. has the edge over.While implementing this plan Grover already knows he is in good place with the cardiology department and engineering department so he could meet again with the purchasing manager Sultan and persuade him to schedule a meeting between the cardiology, engineering department, Sultan and Al Humaidi to discuss the new plan. This way not only would Grover have the support of the department but he would have a Saudi in Sultan to help push this new idea. Al Humaidi will be still able to take the two devices from Grover and take the other devices the hospital needs from Najja r.In the case it was mentioned that the low or high estimation of the order is wrong and will result in losing the deal but in Grover case he make the right evaluation of the need of the hospital but he will provide just 2 devices of these needs and this is acceptable, during my work in a governmental institution that need medical devices I saw a lot of deals involve buying the needs of the institution from 2 and 3 different companies depend on the price and the quality of the devices each company offers. So it is not weird or strange to just provide part of the needs even when you can provide it all it depends on the situation of the deal.The One option that would cause him to lose the deal is to offer cash to Al Humaidi. For one Grover would not be able record the cash gift and it would be highly against company ethic code. If an unethical cash type bride was offered, Grover would not be able to predict the reaction of Al Humaidi and the deal could be lost and Grover could risk hi s job or worse be deported from the country. Q4) I think the best option is to go with the trip option. In my field of work in pharmacy I saw these trips happen a lot and it is a common practice in the pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies.It’s an acceptable way to close the deals and gives the seller a higher percentage of closing the deal. So I think this trip will give him a great opportunity to win this deal especially if he went with the director in it and build a good relation with him and at the same time Grover won’t risk his position in the company because it is not considered a bribe or unethical for the medical equipment’s company. If the trip did not secure the deal he can always use plan B which will be easier to use after the trip because of the good relation he built with Al Humaidi.

Obesity; Root Cause Of Many Diseases.

Obesity is a medical condition in which excess of fat has accumulated in the body and may give rise to health problems. A person is obese when his body mass index is above 30 kg/m2. Body mass index is ratio of an individual’s weight and height, and can be calculated by dividing person’s weight with square of his height. The most commonly used measure of weight status is body mass index, or BMI. Years of research have shown that BMI provides good estimate of â€Å"fatness† and correlates well with important health outcomes. For adult men and women healthy BMI falls between 18 to 25 kg/m2 .Overweight is defined as a BMI between 25 and 30; and obesity a BMI of 30 or higher. So it is important tool for clinicians trying to screen to determine who may be at risk because of carrying around too much weight for their height. More or less every region of world is facing this problem. Once a problem of wealthy nations, obesity now impacts countries at all economic levels, bringing with it a wave of ill health and lost productivity. Worldwide rate of obesity doubled since 1980, with just over 200 million adult men and just under 300 million adult women obese.Of all high-income countries, the United States has the highest rate of overweight and obesity, with fully a third of population obese, a rate projected to rise around 50 percent by 2030. Obesity is also on the rise in South Asian countries including Pakistan. According to Forbes, Pakistan is ranked 165 (out of 194 countries), with 22. 2% of individuals crossing the threshold of obesity. In Pakistan the highest concentration of the obese lies in the big cities as compared to the rural countryside. At the other times in history obesity was considered as sign of wealth and prosperity, as mankind suffered scarcity of food in the past.But now obesity has been declared as a disease by American Medical Association. Whether or not it is considered a disease, it is also an important risk factor for many c hronic diseases. Obesity is associated with many chronic heart diseases such as angina, myocardial infarction (heart attack), high blood pressure, deep vein thrombosis and more. A 2002 study concluded that 21% of ischemic heart disease is due to obesity, while a 2008 European consensus puts the number at 35%. Obesity has been cited as the main cause of high blood pressure.The risk of hypertension (high blood pressure) is five times higher in the obese as compared to those of normal weight. A definitive link between obesity and hypertension has been found using animal and clinical studies, which have suggested that there are multiple mechanisms for obesity induced hypertension. People who are overweight are at much greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus than normal weight individuals . Being overweight puts extra pressure on body’s ability to control blood glucose using insulin and therefore makes it much more likely for you to develop diabetes.Almost 90% of peopl e with type 2 diabetes mellitus are overweight. Many respiratory system diseases may be outcome of obesity such as asthma, obstructive sleep apnea etc. Obesity may be associated with variety of reproductive system diseases for example polycystic ovarian syndrome, infertility, birth defects, intra-uterine fetal death etc. Gastrointestinal diseases such as gastroesophageal reflux disease, gall stone, fatty liver are predominant in the overweight. Many types of cancers occur with increased frequency in those who are overweight or obese.A study from United Kingdom showed that 5% of cancer is due to excess weight. Certain neurological conditions are also attributed to increased body weight. Apart from associated morbidity and mortality, obesity has many social and economic implications as well. The obese are often subject of ridicule as a result they suffer from depression and lose self-confidence. Obesity reduces man-power thus incurs economic loss. A combination of excessive food energ y intake, lack of exercise is thought to cause most cases of obesity.A limited number of cases are primarily due to genetics, medical reasons and psychiatric illnesses. In contrast, increasing rates of obesity at societal level are felt to be due to easily accessible and palatable diet, increased reliance on cars and mechanized manufacturing. Food energy is calculated in terms of calories, excess of calories when taken are stored in body in the form of fat. Thus energy dense foods increase body fat by supplying extra of calories and ultimately lead to obesity.Sweetened beverages and fast food meals provide more calories than required and are most important contributing factors for obesity in United States and European countries. Lack of regular physical exercise plays significant role in obesity. Worldwide there has been shift to less physically demanding work, significant portion of world’s population doesn’t get sufficient exercise. This is mainly due to invention of machines that save much of the hard work in every field. Obesity may be result of many genetic and environmental factors, as it tends persist in certain families due to inheritance of defective genes.Experts have related increased body weight in children with their time spent on watching television; more they spent their time watching television more they are prone to obesity. Obesity is sometimes clinical feature of some diseases for example Cohen syndrome, Prader Willi syndrome etc. Proper diet and physical exercise has been mainstay of long term management of the obesity. Fiber diet such as wheat, corn and certain vegetables help maintain healthy weight. Regular physical exercise burns extra calories, thus prevents excessive deposition of fat in the body tissues.Certain drugs and surgical procedures are also known to treat obesity, but are less preferred. It is clear that obesity is root cause of many diseases such as angina, myocardial infarction, hypertension, diabetes mellitu s and many more. Once it was prevalent in affluent nations, now it is problem of all nations of the world. Obesity results from high energy foods such as sweetened beverages, fast food meals. It may also result from sedentary life style and other genetic and environmental factors. Obesity can be managed by taking proper diet and regular physical exercise.

Michelangelo, from Renaissance to Mannerism Essay - 1

Michelangelo, from Renaissance to Mannerism - Essay Example (Cheney, 47) Michelangelo’s ceiling in the Sistine Chapel, is an example of Italian High Renaissance. Other examples include Leonardo’s Last Supper, and Raphael’s School of Athens. The Last Judgment, was a paradigm of Mannerism as seen in the elongation of the figures and distortions of proportion. This is in contrast to his Florentine figures of Bacchus, David, and Doni Madonna which are formed in Gothic fashion. (Cheney, 54) Michelangelo was born in 1475 in a wealthy family near Florence. (Matthews and Platt,73) At the age of 13, he developed an extraordinary talent in drawing, and by his 14th birthday he was placed as an apprentice in the workshop of Domenico Ghirlandaio.(Matthews and Platt, 73) It was in Ghirlandaios workshop that Michelangelo learned the fundamentals of fresco painting. Michelangelo’s ceiling in the Sistine chapel, is an example of Italian High Renaissance. Other examples include Leonardo’s Last Supper, and Raphael’s School of Athens. The style known as Mannerism was predominant Italy, France, Netherlands, Germany and Spain between 1530 and 1600. Michelangelo is the representative of Mannerism, who stated that foreshortening is among the most difficult in the art of painting. The Mannerist had to free himself from the realities of this earth like a visionary and soar into higher spiritual spheres. To be a Mannerist, one had to be an eccentric, withstand ingenious mental experiments, subordinate himself to the dominion of the intellect instead of natural intuition, enjoy toying with incongruous ideas, place the artificial before normality, be receptive to the theoretical side and be enthusiastic and delight in the reckless distortion of his materials. The traditionally-minded artists stayed on the Renaissance artistic scope. (Cheney, 56) The father and creator of the Mannerist movement was Michelangelo. The special groups of artists who copied the maniera di Michelangelo in the sixteenth century were known as

Summary of the Key Points in Buddhism and Christiniaty Assignment

Summary of the Key Points in Buddhism and Christiniaty - Assignment Example On the other hand, Christianity better understands the ‘Sunyata’, a Buddhism principle. The point of clarity achieved is crucial in resisting Nihilism and scientism forms of religion2. Abe arrives at a point of clarity where the core of religion does not fall in doctrine but in contact with reality. The writer demystifies emptiness and nothingness as understood in traditional Christianity and western culture. According to Abe, Suchness becomes possible only in the realm of emptiness. Nothingness becomes a thing by itself3. Marjorie continues to expound the relationship between Buddhism and Christianity in the fourth chapter of the book. In his understanding, Marjorie expounds Abe’s view of God as everlasting self-emptying phenomena4. Just like Heinrich, in the third chapter, Marjorie demystifies the western approach that takes God as an ultimate self and thus contradicting Sunyata principle. To get our own profound understanding, the writer also emphasizes that th ere is a great need to study other religions5. The writer comes to a point of agreement with Abe on the principle of otherness. The writer affirms Abe’s work on Trinity and Sunyata. Sunyata can only achieve its emptying by embracing true otherness. Marjorie closes his argument by citing that dialogue should not aim at converting. It creates room for enrichment and a fuller understanding of the others, and consequently us. ... This corresponds to Abe's Sunyata of God emptying himself, an expression of divine love. Hans hopes that the discussion between Buddhism and Christianity converges at a point where people of both opinions exercise self-denial and self-surrender for the sake of those who stumble along the way7. The writer feels dissatisfied with Abe's exposition of Sunyata and Kenosis. He feels some questions do not have satisfactory answers and refers to Nishitani. According to Hans, Nishitani's view conflicts the Kenosis by upholding the essence of personal and impersonal. Nishitani brings to life the high esteem held by western thinkers about persona. Kenosis, to Nishitani, is a matter of behavior and attitudes in contrast to conceptualization. Abe's concept of love is vague according to Hans's comparison with Nishitani's work. Nishitani clearly emphasizes on non-differentiating love as being the true nature of God rather than the process of self-emptying advocated by Abe's Kenosis. Hans also revis its the work of Karl Rahner who advocates the issue of God experience. Several conclusions suffice; Rahner's experiential basis of theology is the datum, basic existence of human life has two tensions. One tension relates to experience and communication while the other relates to theory and action. Human beings end up talking about things that can never form an object of knowledge. The attempt to harmonize beliefs of people from different backgrounds calls for mutual understanding, which calls for the sacrificing of single identity8. Christopher Ives explores Sunyata and the Realm of Ethics in the sixth chapter of the book. He affirms that Abes exposition on the forces challenging current day religion to be both insightful and valuable in redeeming the threatened Christian

Postmodernism and Material Culture Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Postmodernism and Material Culture - Essay Example The essay "Postmodernism and Material Culture" analyzes postmodernism and the material culture. In detail, it refrains from victimizing definitions such as female versus male, straight versus gay, black versus white and colonial versus imperial. Therefore, postmodernism holds realities to be relative to the interested parties and their main concerns. Postmodernism influences numerous cultural fields which include sociology, literary criticism, visual arts, music, architecture and linguistics. The wide range of terms in statements and assumptions in argument seem to complicate the study of postmodernism. We begin by differentiating the concepts and terms of postmodernism. The postmodern refers to a historical condition. Postmodernity assess the acknowledgment or lack of the same about postmodernism. Finally, postmodernism may be exhibited in various movements that exhibit self-awareness and intention of varying degrees. Postmodernism refers to an awareness of transition within the soc ietal and cultural spectrums following the World-War II. It also associates with the upheavals associated with the mass-mediated populist consumer culture of the 1960s-1970s. In culture and art, postmodernism contributes towards the development of hybrid cultural forms. Often, individuals of the affected localities try to be against or in support of the hegemonic Western culture. In history, postmodernism alters progress of the goal oriented history. Postmodernism disrupts myths that propagate ethnic and national identities.

Serum Markers for Septicemia Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Serum Markers for Septicemia - Research Paper Example It is clear that a single biomarker which is ideal though has not been identified but a series specific studies on individual pathogen mediated sepsis has been studied extensively,. Challenges that are faced during biomarker research lied in the lack of uniform protocol and methodology , standardization of the assays and the detection levels to be fixed age wise from population to population. The reliable detection of Biomarkers can be useful to have a immense diagnostic and prognostic relevance in relation to the management of sepsis. Sepsis is considered as the most important cause of morbidity and mortality. By sepsis we mean infection of the blood and if it is caused by bacteria we term it as bacteremia and if by virus it is termed viremia. As such the infection in the blood is not so dangerous but as blood perfuses the important tissues and organs infections can be carried by blood to the kidneys or lungs which can result in the end organ failures of a patient leading to death i n severe conditions. The main issue is that sepsis often lacks clinical manifestations so if the specific and the sensitive indicators of the infections are collected and analyzed then it will create superior out comes in the management of the disease. Immunologically it can be considered as the dysregulation of the response of the innate immune system. Biomarkers are hence important to signal the presence and severity of sepsis in early conditions for effective prognostic values and importance.(Chiesa,1998)(De Bont,1994)(Manroe,1979)(Squire,1979). It is very important to note that sepsis is not a true disease and just a physiological manifestation of the systemic immune response in innate immunity majority of the studies define sepsis to be a systemic inflammatory response to a bacteria, virus or fungi. In clinical setting several other physiological symtoms must be presented to properly diagnose sepsis. The common treatments of patients suspected with sepsis aims to eradicate the bacteria in the blood or reduce its growth by using broad spectrum antimicrobials. The gold standard of sepsis diagnosis has been traditionally the use of microbial cultures to identify the source of illness. The major limitation of using cultures in the length of the time required to develop cultures to identifiable quantities to detect sepsis and the possible icrobes to start the treatment with antimicrobials and this with Bactek culture takes around 48 hours and hence there is a need of early detection through the detection of serum biomarkers which thus becomes important. Even the cultures might be insensitive under several conditions including the slow growing and non cultivatable organisms present at very low concentrations . So in the light of this problem alternative diagnostic methods using molecular biology tool kits have been developed to address the situation for rapid and automated detection of sepsis. These tests are basically the ELISA tests, flow cytometric detection of the specific marker antigens,immunocolorimetric tests ,FISH methodologies and PCR and amplified PCR techniques and the main ideology was to detect the marker proteins. In parallel to the development of biomarkers which provides a faster and more sensitive diagnostic methods for infectious microbes thus relies on the monitoring of the changes in specific serum protein biomarker concentrations. Biomarker is best defined as a factor or feature that can

Marketing Mix Analysis Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing Mix Analysis - Research Paper Example Marketing Channel Format and Intermediaries Wholesale Channel Lululemon’s products are sold at third-party resellers, which the company feels is parallel to their company. Such resellers may include premium yoga studious, fitness centers and health clubs. Speciality Store and Franchises are among of the company’s reseller. However, the wholesale channel of business does not generate overall revenue for the company. Thus, the strategy is generally opted to create brand awareness in new markets (SlideShare Inc, 2012). Online Lululemon’s products are based on target segmentation. Most the company’s products are based on young women. Thus, the company is present in social networking sites which have created a new attraction for the youth and also has enabled to spread product related awareness. Online selling options are available on the company’s websites. The company online sales had grown from 4% in 2009 to 8% in 2010 (SlideShare Inc, 2012). ... Competitors Lululemon has a wide range of competitors that have been doing business from a longer period. Adidas, Nike and Reebok are the biggest competitors of the company. They are almost present all over the world, whereas Lululemon has not yet started to operate their business in spread worldwide way. They are present in only a few of the global nations. Thus, the non-availability of the company’s products at a wider global location has been giving the competitive edge to their competitors (Lululemon Athletica Inc, 2010). Regulation Lululemon generally follows code of conduct as well as ethical standards in the business operations which enables them to operate their business and distribute their offerings in a convenient way. Technology Lululemon’s distribution facilities consist of automatic equipments that are controlled by the computers. Thus, it implies that their operations are complicated and risks of system failure or virus attack are at large. Proper operati ons of hardware and software and interruptions due to non-power supply may also affect the distribution process (Lululemon Athletica Inc, 2010). Consumer Lululemon’s consumers are primarily people who prefer to visit gym and exercise centers. Product Type The products offered by Lululemon are generally athletic apparels as well as accessories. Economic Lululemon’s products are costlier in comparison to its competitors. Thus, the company can only distribute its products to those markets where the buying power of the consumers are high. Therefore, the costlier products have been affecting the distribution process which in turn is affecting the sales of the products