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A few, cutting edge companies are employing the arcane field of Holistic Business Systems Theory to deliver quantum leaps in sales and profit. For instance, one automotive supplier increased share and

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

saved $80 million in about four weeks. A leading chemical company dissolved a $1.2 billion inventory problem-- and most of the solution relied on Marketing and Sales changes, not production. Therein

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

lies the power of the Holistic Business Systems approach: recognizing the impact of seemingly unrelated elements on total corporate performance. Harmonizing a company to maximize performance is no tri

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

vial matter. Just like a sleek, new V-12 Bentley, unless each piston is pumping smoothly and in perfect sequence with the others, it won't leave every other car in the dust like a $170,000 driving mac

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

ine should. Similar rules apply to the business world. A tremendous competitive edge rewards companies that align all aspects of the operation to a single metric.

But is achieving corporate harmony

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

a Sisyphean effort, chewing up endless resources and bound to fail in the long run? Should senior executives abandon the age old question: if I have one more dollar to spend, where is the best

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

lace to spend it to create more sales and profit? Thankfully, the emerging answer is No.

But to make progress companies have to cleave their way through two thorny issues:

1) There is no common mea

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

sure across the organization. How do you compare reducing headcount in QA to cancelling a planned marketing retreat? It's like comparing apples to Oldsmobiles.

2) Humans have limited cognitive capac

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

ty. Corporations are a masterwork of moving parts, all of which affect each other, and analyzing all the possible permutations of resource allocation surpasses mortals' mental capabilities.

For examp

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

le, at a durables manufacturer an investment in R&D would fundamentally shift the marketing message, the manufacturing cycle, distribution costs and potentially even terms and conditions of sale. Yet

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

that was only one of many opportunities across the major corporate functions the CEO was considering. A quick calculation shows a 5-person team would take three years to determine the optimal place to

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

invest resources. Needless to say, no such team was appointed.

The lack of common measure and limited cognitive capacity has spawned suboptimal approaches such as maximizing productivity of production

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

lines, shooting for six-sigma quality, reorganizing departments, or spending on "high ROI" marketing programs. All noble efforts which produce payback, but none approaching the power a harmonized org

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

nization achieves.

The Holistic Business Systems Theory approach, which has only recently been made practicable by advances in computing power, cuts through the two complexity barriers and immediately

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

highlights the biggest opportunities to maximize sales and profit. HBST was developed largely by Laszlo Nemeth one of the architects the Theory of Constraints popularized in the bestselling book

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

u>The Goal.

Boiled down to its essence, the HBST approach models the sales impact of key business factors-- down to the smallest items, like how many people there are on a certain team, or th

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

e placement of desks, or the seniority of salespeople-- taking into account their interactions. Hence, a New England hardware manufacturer learned that adding three maintenance workers to a shift ult

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

mately created more customer satisfaction and sales than the clever new product features clamored for by Marketing.

At this point, HBST is still cutting edge and there are no off-the-shelf implementat

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

ions. Nevertheless, companies which have adopted it, particularly business-to-business manufacturing companies in highly competitive markets, have realized impressive results.

Is it worth bringing HB

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

T to your company? Only if you answer "Yes" to two questions: First, are all departments willing to work together if they see the common advantage? Second, do you want to be driving the V-12 Bentley

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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Die cutters include all the components required for fabricating materials such as metal, paper, leather, rubber, vinyl, plastic, fabric, wood and magnetic strips. The components include sharp steel stamps and rollers called dies and die cutting machines. These are used to cut the material into the desired shape and size.

One of the most unavoidable issues of the holiday season is the office party. The office party sounds innocuous enough, until you realize that you have a group of people gathered together, who are letting their guards down and imbibing hazardous amounts of alcohol, which is never a good combination.

Never say you will accept a job offer, or resign from your present job until you have received a formal offer in writing for the new position. Occasionally, after an interview, employers try to shorten their process by asking if you will accept the job there and then. It's flattering and gratifying to know they like you enough to make an offer but be very careful or you may find yourself caught out with no job.

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