Introduction
Companies are usually established with the main goal of fulfilling specific objectives. In order the objectives to be fulfilled the company is supposed to carry out its business undertakings in a way that will enable them meet their targets over a certain period of time. Apart from the production process that a company is involved in, there are other logistics that pertain to packaging and distribution of the products to their prospective customers. In this discussion we are going to focus on there companies in Australia and how their business is managed on a daily basis. The companies involve personnel that will make the necessary follow up to ensure that their products are delivered to their prospective customers on good time and in good condition.
Chem Genex Pharmaceuticals Limited
Company profile
Chem Genex pharmaceutical is a pharmaceutical company that is located in Victoria Australia. It was mainly established to improve the lives of patients by coming up with medicines that will suit their needs. In a world where health has become of paramount importance, this company is dedicated to knowing the current health issues of the people and hence granting them the necessary medication. The company is involved in different researches that are aimed at identifying the diseases that people are vulnerable to and coming up with medicines that will be of help to them. There researches also involve sampling new diseases that have been recorded with the aim of coming up with medications. Before a drug is released to the market for sale by the company, it has to go through a number of stages that will ensure that it is effective. This is a procedure that will ensure that patients are guaranteed of results once they take the medicine.
The company was established in 1999 with the primary aim of helping patients with cancer. By 2009 the company had a total of sixteen employees. It carries out its operations in phases and is currently on the third phase. In carrying out its operations, the company mainly researches on the current cancers and the various stages in which they go through. Cancerous diseases are changing on a daily basis and hence the need of finding a different treatment to manage the disease. There are new cases of cancer that are developing every day and most patients succumb to it simply because they found no medications to treat the disease. These are the kind of cases that are received by this company every day. They take part of the sales and regularly investigate them to track the developmental stages that they go through and hence identifying the right treatment. Most of the time, they deal with specific patients where by they use them as specimen to identify the possible treatment.
Management system
The management of the company consists of a chairman who is Brett Heading, a CEO and director who is Greg collier and the presidents, Dennis brown. The company is currently working on two products namely, amonafide dihydrochloride (Chemical), Quinamed (Informal) and amonafide dihydrochloride (Chemical), Quinamed (Informal) for treating breast and ovarian cancer. The company receives orders from the patients in Australia and outside. The patient will describe to them the kind of ailments that they have for necessary medication. Depending on the location of the patient, the management will ensure that they get them the right medication (Coyle et al, 2008). If it is cancer, they need to know the stage at which the disease is at and hence offer the necessary advice. The hospital collaborates with doctors and medical officers around the globe to ensure that their patients are given the right prescriptions.
Logistics process
The company prefers carrying out medical tests by themselves before prescribing the medicine to the patients. It may however release the drugs if they receive the results from a competed medical person. They will quote the price which is mostly inclusive of the shipping charges. The medicine will be accompanied by directions that have to be followed by the patients. The company makes use of local doctors to make follow ups on the patients that are not within reach. They are the doctors that will give them information on the progress of the patient. This is one of the strategies that the company uses to attract and retain clients both nationally and internationally.
Alumina Limited
Company profile
Alumina is a public company that has been listed on the Australian and New York stock exchange. The company was formed in 2003 after de-merging from western Mining Corporation. Its main business undertaking, Alcoa owns 40% shares in Alcoa world alumina and chemicals. The activities of the company include mining of bauxite, extraction of aluminum oxide and smelting of aluminum oxide. The company forms one of the basic suppliers of alumina with a percentage of seventeen.
Management
Alcoa world alumina and chemicals owns sixty percent of the shares and thus forms the basis of management. The management of the company consists of a chief executive officer who is called John Bevan and a board of directors who is called Donald Morley. The management of the assets and activities of alumina are mostly carried out by other companies, this hence makes their board meetings to have less activities. This has attracted a lot of media reports that refer to it as having the most cozy lunch club in Australia.
Logistics
The company carries out its operations in eight other countries which enhance its business activities. The country mainly exports its products to china and also in other western customers that include Rio Tinto, VAW, Alcan and BHP Billiton. The company receives orders from within Australia and other parts of the world for either raw minerals or refined ones. Depending on the country where they are receiving orders from, they will charge the shipment charges and other possible levies. The company mostly prefers to send the refined minerals because they are less bulky and they can also get a better quotation for their prices. Some of their customers like BHP Billiton and Alcan have been their competitors due to the fact that they also deal in the smelting of the product. The companies do not have the ability of obtaining their own raw minerals but have refinery and smelting equipments. Their finished products together with those that are produced by alumina will hence compete for a share in the market. To counter such competition, the company aims at producing products of high quality and ensuring that it sells more of the completed products rather than raw ores.
The company usually carries our research to find out what is needed in the market so as to provide to its clients what they need. The company mostly deals in large scale production due to the unpredictable orders that they may receive from within Australia and outside. The process of smelting and transforming the metals into required materials takes quite sometimes and hence the company is obliged to produce early in advance. If the orders are not taken due to certain logistic issues, the company will re-smelt them and use the metals to make other needed products. One advantage that this kind of company is that it can always recycle its products in case they don’t sell. They will hence not have to suffer losses due to spoilage (Coyle et al, 2008). The company is well advanced in the field of technology. It is adapting modern mining and smelting techniques to reduce on the costs that they may have to incur on production.
The company mainly deals in mineral ores and products; it hence faces problems of transportation. The metals are heavy and will require quite a substantial amount of money to ship them to other nations. The means of transport they are obliged to use especially when trading overseas is by water. This is a very slow means of transport that has a number of risks. This has also hindered their international market practices as most customers may not be patient enough to wait for the products. There are also other duties levied on the shipment of the products which makes then to go at a higher exportation price. It is for this case that the company decided to establish other international branches to facilitate the transportation and distribution of the products. In other countries where there are no branches, the company uses other local established companies rather than individuals. This will minimize on the transportation costs and also other levies charged on its products.
Repco Corporation Limited
Company profile
Repco Corporation is a reseller company that has its branches in Australia and New Zealand. The company employs a total of over four thousand staff in its various branches. It deals in the resale and supply of automotive parts and accessories. The company is one of the best automotive brands in Australia and New Zealand. The brand stands for quality expertise and knowledge. The company deals in a range of products and services that amount to over 175, 000. The company works with some of the worlds renowned brands which gives it competitive advantage over the others. To mention some few examples of the range of products that the company deals with are trailers, roof racks, CD tuners, specialist engines, tier management equipments, air compressors, 4WD or car fridges. The company is also flexible enough and can order for the equipments needed by their customers yet they have not stocked them. The company hence has customers not only in Australia but also outside.
Logistic systems
One of the logistic issues that the company is facing is the ability to understand the needs of their customers. The company deals in a wide variety of products which they obtain from other manufactures. It is basically a distribution chain where the customers can come and get what they want. Even though most customers will come asking for a certain appliances and not mind which company manufactures it, others are very specific and hence demanding specific once. Some of these customers may not be patient enough to wait for the company to order the products and seek for other alternatives. The company is aimed at serving its consumers at all costs which may be quite costly. A product that may be ordered by a client may not be obtained within the country and hence requiring the importation of the same (Coyle et al, 2008). The company will have to incur a lot of costs in transporting the same plus other levies that may be charged. This procedure will ultimately raise the price of the product which will sell at a higher cost than the locally available ones. The customers that demanded for the product may compare the two prices and decide to go for a cheaper one. This would have inconvenienced the company as they realize that they will not be able to recover what they spent.
To counter this problem the company will carry out a research on the cost of the product that the customers has demanded for plus the expenses that will be experienced in its transportation. They will hence quote the price before ordering for the product. The company will only finalize their transportation transactions once the customer has agreed to the quoted price. There however may be some unpredictable expenses that may be incurred due to transportation inconveniences (Coyle et al, 2008). The company therefore has to be ready and understand if the deal is worth making. Alternatively the company will work on the principle of majority especially where transportation costs are involved. They will look at the number of customers that are interested in the product and make a decision on whether to get it or not. To avoid entering into risky practices, the company prefers to stock products that are mostly purchased by their customers and only make orders for products that are rarely demanded. This may however make the company to loose customers who may want the products there and then and hence going for them in alternative stores.
The company uses modern technology to market their products and route their clients. The internet has been the most convenient means of communication and advertising that the company uses. Customers are able to identify the kind of products they require according to their display on the web. They will also be able to view different makes and compare prices and hence making an informed decision. The customers have the option of either coming personally to the stores to buy the products or purchase them online. The company provides all details that pertain to shipping costs across the world. To ensure that the products are of high quality, the products are accompanied with warranties and guarantees from the company. The company deals both with personal customers and retail traders.
Conclusion
The companies named above have a leadership strategy that enables them to effectively carry out their trade practices. There are departments that are aimed at ensuring that the activities of the organization are well coordinated. There is usually a sales department that is concerned with receiving orders from customers and implementing the same. They collect all the details that the customer needs and compiles their orders ready to transport them. There is also the logistics department that will have to ensure that the products reach their customers at the required time and in good condition. This department will take care of all communications that pertain to the transportation of the goods till when they reach their destination. Their work will be complete once the customer reports that they have received the demanded products and they are in good condition (Coyle et al, 2008). The finance department deals with all the treasures that pertain to the company. They collect all the payments and advice clients on the payment alternatives that are available to them. The research department will carry out extensive research on the needs of the consumers and the best sales promotion strategies that may be employed. All these departments have to work through consultation as a mistake made by one will affect the entire company.
Reference
Coyle, C., Langley, J. and Bardi, J., (2008). Supply Chain Management: A Logistics Perspective. Oklahoma: Cengage Learning.