Personalized_Medicine_A_New_Medical_and_Social_Challenge

(Barré) #1

The market-oriented medical companies have implemented the technology
transfer concept in their business policy. The technology transfer concept in the
marketing management process of biomedical companies emphasized their focus
on long-term profitability based on customization. Orientation to the competition
and interfunctional coordination of personalized medicine enabled the creation of
more effective medical products.


4 Personalized Medicine and Process Management


Implementation


The process management implies various activities of planning and monitoring the
certain process performance. It usually refers to the management of the business
processes and manufacturing processes. In this sense, the process management is
the application of knowledge, skills, tools, techniques, and systems in order to
define, visualize, measure, control, report, and improve processes to satisfy cus-
tomer requirements profitably.
One of the process management concepts is known as Six Sigma system.^4 The
Six Sigma is a system that combines tools for continuous improvement by focusing
on the processes, their analysis and comparison, and fair allocation of resources to
those processes that require the greatest attention. The common link between the
various processes in the particular organization is the defect. Each process has a
defect, and that causes refinement, spoilage, additional work, and eventually
increased costs. By focusing on these defects and to concentrate the efforts on
their reduction, it will reduce the workload and the cost of the process. The Six
Sigma systems measure the defects in the process and normalize them so that
comparison between the processes can be made. Once a comparison between the


Orientation to competition

Orientation to
consumers/
patients

Inter-functional coordination
of personalized medicine

Focus on long term
profitability
based on
customization

Fig. 1Elements of the market-oriented medical company.Source: Author


(^4) For various definitions of these terms, see e.g. Abramowich ( 2005 ), Antony ( 2006 ), and Antony
and Banuelas ( 2001 ).
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