IP of Developing a Mobile Clinic as a Product to Rescue Needy Situations in the Society - Case Study Example

IP Strategy Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Table of Contents Introduction 4 Viability 4 Public/private good 4 Commercial value 5 Protection and ownership 6 Types of IPs 6 Protection 8 IP ownership 9 Advice and support 11 Advice 11 Market audience 12 Development cycles and pathways 14 Pathways 14 Development cycle 15 Horizons 17 19 Supporting financials 19 Particulars 20 Year 1 20 Year 2 20 Year 3 20 Year 4 20 Sales revenue 20 $170,000 20 $250,000 20 $300,000 20 $400,000 20 Cost of goods 20 Materials and purchases 20 $ 24,000 20 $30,000 20 $40,000 20 $45,000 20 Miscellaneous expenses 20 $ 5,000 20 $8,000 20 $15,000 20 $15,000 20 Direct labour 20 $20,000 20 $30,000 20 $45,000 20 Total CoGS 20 $49,000 20 $68,000 20 $100,000 20 $105,000 20 Profit 20 Sales revenue - CoGS 20 $121,000 20 Sales revenue - CoGS 20 $182,000 20 Sales revenue - CoGS 20 $200,000 20 Sales revenue – CoGS 20 $295,000 20 Conclusion 20 Australian Bureau of statistics 2003, Private Medical practices, Australia 2001/02, retrieved on 5th June 2015 from http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/8685.0/ 22 Introduction The intellectual property is concerned with protecting the individual rights of the individuals. When an individual has developed something new like technology, the individual has the right to be protected and should be licensed to use the new development alone. However, the individual also has the right to sale the property since he is the rightful owner of the new development (Hahn 2005). In this respect, this essay will discuss the IP of developing a mobile clinic as a product to rescue needy situations in the society. In particular, the essay will discuss concepts like public/private good of the intellectual property and its commercial benefits. Viability Public/private good This product will be a private good. This means that the product will be more of profit making intellectual property. This product will not be a public good because it is not run by the government agencies (Hahn 2005). In addition, the product which is the mobile clinic will have high private element because there are few government agencies which provide the mobile clinic product meaning that there is opportunity to attract more customers. However, the common goods which will be provided include providing medical services to the people while the common good is conducting the research regarding the issues affecting the community (Shapiro & Nam 2007. The public good is providing healthcare services to the people in the society. The main technology is providing mobile clinic service to community which has not been practiced for a long time. The table below indicates the public and private good of the product. Public good (high value) Private (low value) Improves the health standards of the people Provides essential services to the society Improve the living standards of the people Supplements the healthcare services provided by the government. Helps to create income for the organization Commercial value The value that dominates this product is the commercial value. This is because the product is expected to gain some income despite the providing the services at the lowest value. The benefits of commercial include private good, high excludability and high rivalry. Specifically, the societal value of the product is to improve the living standards of the people by 3% every year. For instance, in the first year, the mobile clinic is expected to serve 5,000 individuals in the society while in the second year the target customer is 9,000 people customers. On the other hand, the commercial value is to generate about $120,000 and the profit is expected to increase in the second year to $200,000. The other commercial value is to increase the investors in the organization 20 investors since the policies of the mobile clinic are effective (Burk & Mark 2009). There is high excludability because investors are reluctant in engaging in societal activities although there is high rivalry because of the feasibility of the market which has not been covered meaning that there will be many new entrants. This is indicated by the figure below; However, the factors that can influence the achievement of the value as indicated by the figure below include inadequate grants making it hard to provide the healthcare services at the lowest prices possible and venture of capital since at the starts there is likely to be low investors since there will be no public offer (Burk & Mark 2009). For instance, in the year 2001/2002, the number of specialist medical practices was 9.864 and this means that there is still opportunity to expand the market because of the market that has not been met (Australian Bureau of statistics 2003). Protection and ownership Types of IPs The trademark for this mobile clinic is moving health. This means that there is no other organization that should be licensed to use this trademark. On the other hand, the copyright for the clinic is the mobile system used to serve the customers and the confidential information should not be disclosed or used by any other organization (Farah &Tremolada 2014). All the drugs give bear the name of the moving health and should not be copied by any other organization. The patent right of the clinic is new way of serving the customers using mobile clinic which is equipped with medical staff and this should not be licensed to any other organization to use the same system. The brand of the clinic is health for all while the design is moving clinic. These IP rights should not be licensed to any other organization (Schneider 2004). The design of the mobile clinic will be red and blue colors. The logo for the mobile clinic will be a moving car indicating the healthcare nurses in white aprons. The trademark will have white and blue colours indicating the healthcare services which are provided. The healthcare nurses will be dressed in white aprons as a way of identifying them to be nurses. The services that will be provided by the mobile clinic include immunization, treating malaria, promoting health eating and circumcision. These services will be registered in the IP. The following figure indicates the example of different IPs from a single product which is the mobile clinic; Protection The registered design strategy will help to protect the product from unfair trade practices. This means that the registered design will not be disclosed to unauthorized people as they will access the privacy and systems which are applied by the company (Reisman 1996). In this effect, the protection of the rights of the innovation should not be disclosed and should be kept as secrets. For instance, the rescue team and its trade name should be protected and this will help to hinder other organizations which might use the same trade name in the name of giving rescue services to the society (Greenhalgh& Rogers 2010). In addition, the intellectual property will be managed by renewing the IP yearly following any legislation that might have been developed by the government. This will help to ensure that the IP follows the policies and regulations of the government. However, the IP will be reviewed semi annually and make necessary changes or determine the infringement of rights. After reviewing the IP, appropriate amendments can be made. The trademark that is protected is the moving health whereby the services are provided through the trucks while the copyright is the online technology used to serve customers using the mobile vehicles whereby the customers are served online meaning they can make book appointments online. The brand name is moving clinic and the organisation will be licensed to use IPs hence providing protection to the mobile clinic. At the introduction stage, partnership strategy will be used since it will involve the stakeholders like the customers to introduce the mobile clinic into the market. The partnership strategy will entail engaging the stakeholders like the community and healthcare organizations to provide quality healthcare services to the community. This means that there will be joint working. IP ownership The patent right strategy will be used to own the product. The differentiation strategy will help to ensure that the product will not copy the other competitors in the market. This means that the product will be differentiated from those of the competitors in terms of quality and services which are provided (Schechter & John 2003). For instance, when the customers arrive they are provided with information at the reception and computers are used to enter their data and this improves the quality of services provided. In addition, services such as treating malaria and circumcision are unique services and have not been applied by any other organisation hence the services will be unique. However, there are situations whereby the innovator can decide to sale the goodwill to another party or even the trademark to use the mobile clinic services. When there is infringement of rights and intellectual property, there can be a legal battle because the owner can sue anybody or any organization using the intellectual property without the consent of the owner (Schechter & John 2003). The business law requires that anyone using the intellectual property of another person or organisation should face the legal battle and should be made to compensate the individual whose rights and intellectual property rights are being infringed (Lai 2001). The intellectual property can only be sold so that it can be used by third parties. In this case, the rescue team and its rights as licensed will only be used by the innovator who has the right to use the technology and the mobile clinic (Perelman 2004). The patent application form will be filled following the example figure to be registered to use the product and this means improves the ownership of the product. Barcode AS 200903297458 Australia Patent application form Pub. No. AS 200903297458 Date: May 29th 2015 Mobile clinic Inventor: Moving health MOBILE CLINIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW GROUP PLLC 702 8TH AVE. SYDNEY AUSTRALIA App. No. 29/254.754 Filed: May 29th 2015. Abstract The invention uses the mobile clinic to provide healthcare services to the society by identifying the healthcare needs affecting the community and developing appropriate strategies to provide healthcare services. The invention is particularly useful in treating malaria and promoting health eating as well as circumcision. Advice and support Advice The market audience for the mobile clinic product is the rural people who are low income earners below $2000 dollars. In this regard, the market audience which will provide the advice and support is the target market who will provide essential advice and information to help in planning the mobile clinic services to the society since their needs can be understood effectively (Moser 2013). The advice will be sought from the financiers of the product, the government agency and the research and development intellectuals. For instance, the financiers will advise the investment investors to make and charges for the services provided. The government agencies like the department of health in Queensland will also advise on the most effective ways to meet the needs of the society by jointly conducting research. Other advice will be sought from the legal experts to advice on the commercial law and also advice will be sought from the financial experts. The table below indicates the sample framework to be used to collect advice relevant to ensure success of the mobile clinic. Stakeholders Advice sought Financial manager Investment options Finance objectives Government agencies Legal policies Health standards to be met Research and development agency Health issues affecting the society Research methods into health situations in the society Healthcare professionals Best approaches to health care Learning methods to improve healthcare services Market audience The partnership market strategy will be applied to market the product to the target market. Due to rising population in the rural areas, it is expected that the mobile clinic services will benefit most people in upcountry (Lindberg 2008). In this way, the market for the mobile clinic is likely to grow steadily. Effective marketing strategy using the local radio stations and TVs will be used to market the product. The target population is the northern territory of Australia which has the population of 233,300 people. This region was selected because it is the least populated territory to be used as a test for the mobile clinic (Mulcaster 2009). The figure below can indicate the target audience for the mobile clinic. The various target markets will be reached through social media and personal marketing to create awareness of the product (Mulcaster 2009). The social sites to be used include Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. The framework below was used to develop strategies to reach out the target market. Competitors and collaborators The competitive pricing strategy will be applied to improve the penetration of the product into the target market. Through competitive pricing strategy, it will be possible to meet the financial needs of the target audience hence they will develop positive attitude towards the product. The first way to differentiate the organisation from those of the competitors is using different trade namewhich is the moving clinic (Elcock 2011). This is important as it will help to differentiate the mobile clinic services from those of the competitors and it is easy the customers will find it easy to remember the mobile clinic once they come across the trade name. In order to increase the organizational bargaining power, the pricing of the services will be charged lowly but not too low to make losses with the aim of improving the customer base to have strong bargaining power and reduce the bargaining power of the suppliers since the organization will have good reputation as compared to the new entrants. In addition, the competition from new entrants can be managed by engaging the stakeholders in decision making and entering into long term contracts with the suppliers. In addition, the healthcare services should be developed and include services like maternal to increase the customer base to manage the competition from the existing and new entrants. This can be indicated by the figure below; Development cycles and pathways Pathways Like discussed above, partnership strategy will be used to market the product to the society. This is because the stakeholders will be engaged in decision making hence they can be aware of the product. In addition, adverting and promotions is another alternative that can be used to market the mobile clinic product before it is introduced in the market (Kvint 2009). Despite these alternatives, the following steps can help to introduce the mobile clinic product effectively into the market. In the first place, there should be formulation of the goals and objectives which should be achieved. This should be done carefully so that the needs of the different stakeholders will be taken into consideration when implementing the policies it will be possible to gain support from the stakeholders especially the target audience (Kvint 2009). The next thing that is done is to identify the target market where the mobile clinic will be operating. In this case, the target market will be people living in the rural areas who cannot be able to access quality public services and therefore the mobile clinic will be helpful in providing essential services to meet their needs. In addition, the training will help them to be equipped with the mobile clinic services (Nag et al 2007). The training will be in terms of induction and cultural orientation to the society where the mobile clinic will be operating. The training required is cultural orientation and health training for the health care workers. The first alternative at the introduction stage is discovery so that it can help to discover the needs of the people in the society. At the growth stage, there will be market research to determine how to implement the health care services to meet the needs of the target audience who are the low income earning customers. As a result, the best alternative is partnership strategy that helps to engage the stakeholders like the target audience and the government agencies like the department of health. In this effect, the product has various alternatives which can be used to enter into the market and this can be indicated by the framework below; Development cycle The systems development model/strategy will be used to introduce the product into the market. The development cycle starts by analyzing the requirements of the target audience. This is important because requirement analysis will help to identify the needs of the target audience so that the most appropriate approach can be applied to meet their needs (Joseph 2003). The next most important step is to design the approach that can be used to implement the mobile clinic. In this way, the needs of the target audience will be included in decision making and in this way their needs will be incorporated into the strategic plan. The next step is to implement the development plan regarding the mobile clinic and this will help to improve the provision of mobile healthcare services to the society (Joseph 2003). The evaluation of the plan is then done to determine if the goals and objectives of the mobile clinic have been achieved. The development cycle starts by conducting basic research as the first step and then doing extensive research to determine the feasibility of the product into the market (Cummings 2006). The research is important since it helps to understand the needs of the target audience who require the healthcare services. The second step is to develop the technology which is to be used and then demonstrate the feasibility of the technology identified that will be used to penetrate the product into the market. At this stage, the online technology is developed so that the target audience will be served online. This means that they target audience can make their booking online. The third step is to develop the sub systems that will be used to implement the product into the market. After identifying the subsystem, the next important thing to do is to put the product and its mission into practice and monitor the progress. The fourth step is to implement the planned objectives. While implementing the policies, the management should consider the issues like consultation and quality services so that the needs of the target audience can be met and this will help to improve the competitiveness of the organisation. Finally, the evaluation of the mobile clinic will be done after three months to determine if the target objectives have been achieved. The management by objectives will be used to evaluate the success of the mobile clinic. The organisation will not collaborate with other partners because the other organisation might not have the same interests hence they can differ in terms of goals and objectives. This can be demonstrated by the figure below. Horizons The first horizon is to extend and defend core business. This is whereby the product is introduced into the market and ensures creativity so that the services provided by mobile clinic meet the needs of the target market (Beynon-Davies 2009). This is the most important horizon as it influences the profitability and success of the product into the market. Effective strategies like online marketing will be applied to ensure that the product is introduced in the market successfully. The first horizon affects the second horizon in that it helps to formulate the future plans which are evaluated in the second horizon and implemented in the third horizon. In addition, the disruptions that can affect the implementation the policies of the mobile clinic are also indicated at the first horizon. The second horizon is building the emerging businesses and creates good relationship with the target audience. This horizon will take six months and the skill required at this horizon is entrepreneurship skills to help in developing new ideas that can create competitive advantage (Beynon-Davies 2009). The strategies to be applied at this horizon 2 include product development and vigorous online marketing to increase awareness of the resort to the domestic and international customers. The second horizon identifies the entrepreneurial skills like service development by introducing maternal services to ensure organizational growth. Evaluation will also be done to set the strategies to be implemented at the third horizon. The third horizon is to create viable options considering the market forces to determine the effective strategies to be applied to meet the needs of the target market and beating competition. This horizon will take one year and the skills required here are using the Porters five forces model to create competitive advantage. The strategies that will be applied at horizon three include cost leadership and diversification of services provided by the resort to increase the number of customers who are served by the restaurant. The product and service development will be implemented at the third horizon. For instance, the evaluation will help to determine the success of the mobile clinic and also indicate the market developments that will help to improve the competitiveness of the mobile clinic. This can be indicated by the figure below; Supporting financials The project is estimated to cost $5 million. The financial resources will be used to buy the mobile clinic equipment like Lorries and medicines as well as paying the staff (Beynon-Davies 2009). The most effective source of finance that will be used is internal sources. The main sources of the finance include the individual contribution, donation and support from non-governmental organizations. In, addition some of the financial resources will be used to protect the intellectual property by seeking the license to operate the mobile clinic and provide the mobile services. This is important as it will help to protect the intellectual property from being infringed (Beynon-Davies 2009). On the other hand, it is expected that the market revenues will increase from the first year tremendously. This is because the penetration strategy selected includes offering free services to the people in the society. In order to get the attention of the investors, the management should be able to de-risk the venture to attract the investors by publishing the financial performance and the management board of the venture. The management will conduct research to create value for the mobile clinic as well as managing the risks by applying strategies like insurance and stakeholder engagement. The expected financial revenues from the product can be represented by the table below; Particulars Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Sales revenue $170,000 $250,000 $300,000 $400,000 Cost of goods Materials and purchases $ 24,000 $30,000 $40,000 $45,000 Miscellaneous expenses $ 5,000 $8,000 $15,000 $15,000 Direct labour $20,000 $30,000 $45,000 $45,000 Total CoGS $49,000 $68,000 $100,000 $105,000 Profit Sales revenue - CoGS $121,000 Sales revenue - CoGS $182,000 Sales revenue - CoGS $200,000 Sales revenue – CoGS $295,000 Conclusion The project selected in this essay is developing a mobile clinic to provide rescue services to the society. In order to achieve the goals and objectives effectively, the intellectual property should be protected. Through IP, the public and private will benefit in terms of commercial benefits and the quality of services as well as being protected from the infringement of the rights of the innovation. The types of the intellectual property include trademark, copyrights and patent rights. The intellectual property should be protected so that the mobile clinic will enjoy the benefits of being the innovator of the services which are provided. The target audience is the people living in the rural areas with low income. The services to be provided will be cost effective so that the needs of the target audience will be met hence the success of the project. Considering the market research conducted and the plans as well as the policies formulated, it can be concluded that the mobile clinic is important and can help to improve the wellbeing of the people in the society besides generating income for the organisation. The IP will help to protect the mobile clinic from unscrupulous ethics like unfair competition and infringement of the rights. 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