Situational Analysis
Company Brief
The Prosperous Health Limited will have an image in the market as an essential
traditional Chinese medicine provider for woman’s menstrual cramp and where
customers can look for originality in herbs and experience cost savings. The product
produced is in the form of powder which can dissolve in water within 3 to 4 minutes,
chewable and also packed as a tea bag to be sold in cafes and restaurants.
With the 23 years of experience, the company enhances its product when every new
methodology related to traditional Chinese medicine is found. Current technology that is
being used to extract the active ingredients from the herbs will be applied as a same
methodology in expansions until higher technology that can be applied for more
productivity is found in the host country and RCT will be employed as an experimental
research design.
The company’s goal is to achieve the projected sales as well as create a high satisfaction
and reliability of customers on “Girl Problem Relief” and also improve overall
performance of traditional medicine through collaborative partnership. The company will
also have a diverse corporate culture where it will employ locals for more business
friendliness. Since it is an expansion into a foreign market, the company will establish
integration, even tolerance and understanding towards the cultural difference through its
cross- culture management. The company also intends in adopting the green policy apart
from the organic herbs by packaging the herbs from paper bags and large quantities of the
product will come with edible spoons that can be used as a measurement for taking
medicine.
Customer analysis
The market size for the product is large enough and with the increasing popularity towards
traditional Chinese medicine in the America, it promises future growth of the business. The
demographic pattern of consumers of Chinese medicine is one of the middle class,
educated users who vary from entrepreneurs, technical, professional and managerial
occupations. According to the U.S. Census Bureau Statistics 2010, there will be
approximately 64,500,000 females between the ages of 14 to 44 which is our target market
and according to Duke Student Health Center; approximately seventy percent of them will
suffer from painful menstrual cramps. This equates to approximately 45,150,000 sufferers.
These sufferers are the potential consumers of “Girl Problem Relief”. To reach them, the
product will be available at all retail pharmacies and the buying process doesn‟t involve
careful observation for safety as it is FDA registered and sold only in licensed medical stores.
Consumers can purchase any quantity of the product with the selling price of the retail and
according to the availability. The benefits consumer is seeking is a quick relieve without
having side effects and available at an affordable cost and regards to this, the benefit of “Girl
Problem Relief” will be what they seek and it will be worth the cost of purchase. According to
the Journal of Alternatives and complementary medicine volume four, number one
entitled, Chinese Medicine Users in United States by: Utilization, Satisfaction and
medical Plurality by Claire M Cassidy, currently sixty six percentages of Chinese
medicine users sought Chinese medicine for mood care, relieve symptoms of stress and
anxiety and depression. This shows that the girl problem relief is viable in the American
market as it relieves depression caused by menses pain and dong quai is proven to reduce
the monthly stress.
Climate analysis
The trend of the healthcare is changing in the American society while referring to the
Journal of Alternatives and complementary medicine volume four, number one
entitled, Chinese Medicine Users in United States by: Utilization, Satisfaction and
medical Plurality by Claire M Cassidy, people in America are willing to try a new
form of healthcare and Sixty six percentage of users of Chinese medicine sought
Chinese medicine care for mood care, to relieve symptoms of stress, depression and
light cramps such as menstrual cramps and lower back pains. This is a proof that
“Girl Problem Relief” will be well received in the United States. Apart from that, the
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National
Institutes of Health spent approximately US$ 33 million on herbal medicines in fiscal
year 2005 while in 2004 the National Cancer Institute committed nearly US$ 89
million to studying a range of traditional therapies. This scale of investment exceeds
in comparison to the total research and development expenses of the pharmaceutical
industry .this shows the genuine interest of the government, public and the industry
on traditional medicine. Besides that, the current United States law defines herbs as a
dietary supplement, and manufacturers can therefore produce, sell, and market herbs
without initially demonstrating safety and efficiency, as how required for
pharmaceutical drugs. Although fake traditional Chinese medicine suppliers can take
advantage of such a freedom, Prosperous Health Limited will utilize these
opportunity thoroughly. Apart from that, the law of United States allows herbs to be
sold lawfully and there’s no restriction on any botanical product except tobacco.
under section 201(ff) of the Food Drug and Cosmetics Act may be lawfully marketed
using a statement that if it claims a benefit related to a classical nutrient deficiency
disease while disclosing the prevalence of the disease in the USA , describes how the
product is intended to affect the structure or function of the human body in where we can
relate, “ Girl Problem Relief” on menstrual cramp and how it soothes the nerve cells that
gives pain signals , and also if it describes general well-being derived from consumption
of the product. Although it allows herbs to be sold lawfully without first demonstrating
the safety and efficiency, it has Safety monitoring of dietary supplements where it focuses
on the post-marketing period. The FDA receives spontaneous reports of suspected
adverse events through a variety of sources, including through a program called
MEDWATCH, the FDA Medical Products Reporting Program, created in 1998. The post-
marketing surveillance system for foods and dietary supplements, called the Adverse
Event Reporting Systems,
is a passive system that relies on voluntary reporting by concerned parties, primarily
health professionals and consumers.
Competitor analysis
There is a huge competition in the American market for “Girl Problem relief” from the
other traditional medicine providers and pharmaceutical companies as well as some
indirect competitors such as home treatments women practices. Some drugs like
Ibuprofen, Ketoprofen, Naproxen, and herbs like black cohosh, chaste berry, acai berry,
cactus juice, evening primrose oil and also home treatments like drinking hot water, lying
on the back with hot pack and massages tends to be threatening the new entrance of any
medicine for menstrual pains. In every state in America, traditional Chinese medicine
providers in the form of pharmacy and health food store tend to exist similar to hospitals
and clinics that sell pharmaceutical drugs. Due to the increasing popularity of traditional
medicine in the United States, many imported traditional medicine from countries rich in
herbs such as India and China is filling the market and with the changing trend in
cosmetic industry, many massage parlors claiming to relieve stress and abdominal pain
due to many reason including menstrual pain is being another competitor for the product.
Collaboration
Prosperous Health Limited sells its product to the consumers directly through its chain
stores that will be set in every major town of each states of America. It will also sell the
product to the interested third party distributors who then resell those products to
hospitals and retail pharmacies including those ones in Wal-Mart outside the North
American region. Within the North America, it sells its products to hospitals and retail
pharmacies through Prosperous Health Limited Distribution. For ethical challenges in
international market of traditional herbal / Chinese medicine, the company will have a
collaborative partnership with all the parties in the American research agreements for
scientific investigations on traditional herbal medicine to comply with the ethical issues
in traditional medicine as well as to contribute to global health.
SWOT
Strength
The herb Dong Quai is a well known ancient herb that has multi benefits when consumed
and it is an essential herb for women as every woman goes through the monthly cycle.
For Prosperous Health Limited, the herb itself is strength for it to succeed as it has no
proven side effects and it is a well known herb. Besides acting as a pain reliever for
menstrual cramps, it also maintains healthy hormone balance and regulates monthly cycle
and finally cures premenstrual syndrome as well as premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
Since the FDA stated the herbs as dietary supplement, the company has an advantage of
recommending the product not just for menstrual cramps alone but to take it along as a
food supplement as it its good for the general health of women. Therefore, it will be
introduced as a food supplement which specifically cure menstrual cramps and yet
maintains a general wellbeing of a woman. In
Chinese owned and made.
Having a medicine from the native or the original source itself has already spur
confidence in one that it will be original and the assumption that they are experts.
Therefore, as a company originally from China where Chinese traditional medicine was
found, it has the advantage of catering the exact traditional medicine found in the native
and attract people easily as they believe what they get here in the west is what is sold in
China, which means an original product.
Size of product (small)
“We use industry-wide small package, enables companies to pay more attention to quality management,
and promote the healthy development of industry standards
Opportunities
Demand for Herbal products
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report, more than 80% of the
world’s population depends on traditional medicine, primarily plant-based, for their
primary healthcare needs. The international market of herbal products amounted to
$62 billion and is expected to increase to $5 trillion by 2050.There is also a rise in
demand for natural products, including items such as cosmetics, medicinal value or
pharmaceuticals, and food supplements in domestic and international markets. As the
demand for herbal product is increasing, it provides Prosperous Health Limited an
opportunity to capture the market for the most common problem in women. It is very
much clear that the product is viable in the American market as more of the people seem
to be adapting t traditional medicine due to lower cost, safety as most of them are plant
based and to avoid pharmaceutical drugs that often has side effects.
Chances for growing higher profit and product line.
Since the popularity of traditional medicine is increasing and people are adopting it
easily, it gives opportunities for the company to become a public listed company by
attracting entrepreneurs and corporations for investment purposes and market shares as
they hope it can yield immediate returns from herbal product sales due to the changing
trends in healthcare industry. This will also eventually increase the profit growth of the
company as with increasing market shares and investment, more research can be done to
develop new products in line and improve the current product, Girl Problem relief.
Threats
Increasing competitors
Increasing competitors due to increasing popularity of traditional medicine in the west.
Prosperous Health Limited has high chances of failure if it couldn’t penetrate the market
through its marketing strategies as competition is high. Therefore it has to do an efficient
product positioning and create marketing strategies that are more reachable to the
consumers. The company will sell its product at the most lowest price in the market so it
can be affordable for every woman including teens who attend school. This can be done
only through cost leadership and so it will reduce the cost of production such as the cost
of extracting the active ingredients from the herb by employing hi-tech machineries
which will reduce the cost of hiring and wages if labors would do them manually. Apart
from that, the company will introduce “girl problem relief” to every secondary school
students to carry it as a kit for quick relieve on menstrual cramps and depression. It will
be introduced in the form of powder as well as chewable so they could choose which
according to their preference. In order to be competitive to the household remedies to
combat menstrual cramps, the company will have partnership with selected or if it is
possible, with all the companies selling sanitary pads as every women will have to buy
sanitary pad for their menses when they have it and attaching a trial sachet with them will
make every woman to try it and experience the benefit in a short time. This will convince
them to have it as a must in their home and never think of alternative.
Counterfeiting
The company fears counterfeiting of “Girl Problem Relief” and since the
FDA receives spontaneous reports of suspected adverse events through a variety of sources,
including through a program called MEDWATCH, the FDA Medical Products Reporting
Program which is a passive system that relies on voluntary reporting by concerned parties,
primarily health professionals and consumers, it may effect the company„s name as well as
the reputation of the product if a counterfeited product of “Girl Problem Relief” has been a
complain material to the FDA. Therefore, in order to solve these problem, the company will
have the label of company stating the ingredients, method of consuming the product,
company information, manufactured date and date of expiry together with the company‟s
hologram to prove its safe and original product of Prosperous Health Limited. It will also
educate users through magazines and mass Medias on how to look out for its original
product and what to look for in the original product so as to avoid counterfeited product.
Key Issues & Opportunities