What economic, demographic, socio cultural, technological, regulatory or natural trends can be identified and how will it affect the business?

Macro-level market assessment

1. Market Domain/Macro Level: Market Attractiveness

This domain looks at market attractiveness from a macro (large-scale) perspective.

Look at the whole market. How big is it, in terms of the number of customers, the value of sales, and the quantity of units sold? Then, look at trends within the market. Has it grown in recent years? If so, is this growth likely to continue?

What you’re doing here is checking that the market is big enough to give you the growth you want, and that it’s growing healthily – after all, it’s much easier to grow a business in a growing market than it is in a declining one.

This is a point, as trying to enter a market that isn’t big enough to sustain your intended business is a venture that is destined to fail. You don’t necessarily want to be trying to create the market on your own – you want to fill a need where the market is waiting to spend. Is the market that you are targeting on the rise, or is it already in decline? Chasing a fading market is going to be tough in the long run.

Also, use PEST analysis to explore the large-scale factors that affect your market. Do these look healthy?

Information from secondary sources – library materials, internet, newspapers, and publications on recent industry trends should suffice to answer the following questions.

The macro market test

1. What sort of business is sought? One with potential to become a huge business, or a small lifestyle operation? This along with the answers to the following question will determine the need for venture capital. A high potential business in a huge, rapidly growing market will require venture capital whereas a small lifestyle operation in a niche market will not need any.
2. How large is the market?
3. How fast can it grow?
4. How quickly can it grown in the next six months or two/three/five years?
5. What economic, demographic, socio cultural, technological, regulatory or natural trends can be identified and how will it affect the business?

Based on all five forces, what is your overall assessment of this industry? Just how attractive or unattractive is it?

Macro-level Industry assessment:

1. Industry Domain/Macro Level: Industry Attractiveness

It’s now time to look at how attractive your industry is on a macro level.

Mullins suggests using Porter’s Five Forces to assess which factors affect the profitability of your industry.

To do this, first define the industry that you will be competing in, and then ask yourself how easy it is to enter this industry. If it’s easy to get into, you can quickly be flooded with competitors if you are seen to make a success of your business.

Next, look at your competition. Is rivalry in this market fierce or civilized? Are organizations stealing ideas from others in the industry? Take time to gather intelligence about your potential competitors to see what they’re up to.

Last, look at buyers and suppliers. How much power do they have? Are they setting their own terms and conditions because of this power? If so, how will this affect your offering?

1. a) Five macro-level questions to assess your industry:

Michael Porter’s five forces Questions to ask

Threat of Entry

Is it difficult for companies to enter this industry?

Supplier power

Do suppliers to this industry have the power to set terms and conditions?

Buyer power

Do buyers have the power to set terms and conditions?

Threat to substitutes

Is it easy or difficult for substitute products to steal the market?

Competitive Rivalry

Is competitive rivalry intense or genteel?

1. b) The Macro Industry test:
2. What industry will you compete in? Define it carefully.
3. Based on all five forces, what is your overall assessment of this industry? Just how attractive or unattractive is it?

3. If your industry is a poor performer overall, are there persuasive reasons why you will fare differently?

Is the firm able to exploit an opportunity or neutralize an external threat with the resource/capability?

1. Sustainable Advantage

Once you’ve looked at your industry from a macro level, it’s time to examine it close up.

Start with a USP Analysis

. What can you do to build and sustain a USP? Next, explore the competencies

that you’ll need, and think about how to develop and sustain these.

Then think about how easy it will be for your competitors to duplicate your product or service.

Also, what resources do you possess that your competitors don’t? Do a VRIO Analysis

to answer this question, and then look at your competitors’ resources. What do they have that you don’t? This could include patents, established processes, and finances. How will these affect your ability to compete?

To succeed in business, you not only have to build an advantage over your competition, but you also have to be able to sustain that advantage in the long run. What can you do to make sure that your competition doesn’t catch up to you – or pass you – in short order? If you are going to develop a unique selling proposition that allows you to stand out from the crowd, is there any way that you can maintain that advantage going forward? If you are quickly going to be copied by a bunch of competitors as soon as you start to have success, it might not be worth entering the market in the first place.

1. Do you require proprietary elements – patents, trade secrets and so on – that other firms cannot likely duplicate or imitate?
2. Can your business develop and employ superior organizational processes, capabilities or resources that others would have difficulty in duplicating or imitating?
3. Is your business model economically viable i.e. can you show that your company won’t run out of cash quickly? That depends upon the answers to these questions related to working capital cycle:

• Will your revenue be adequate in relation to the capital investment you need and the margins you get?
• How much will it cost you to acquire and retain customers?
• How long will it take to attract customers?
• Will your gross margins be adequate to cover your necessary cost structure?
• How much cash must be tied up in working capital (inventory or other) for how long?
• How quickly will customers pay?
• How slowly will suppliers and employees be paid?

• The Question of Value:“Is the firm able to exploit an opportunity or neutralize an external threat with the resource/capability?”
• The Question of Rarity:“Is control of the resource/capability in the hands of a relative few?”
• The Question of Imitability:“Is it difficult to imitate, and will there be significant cost disadvantage to a firm trying to obtain, develop, or duplicate the resource/capability?”
• The Question of Organization:“Is the firm organized, ready, and able to exploit the resource/capability?” “Is the firm organized to capture value

What are the few critical success factors (CSFs) in your industry? What support can you provide to show that you’ve identified them correctly?

1. The mission, personal aspirations and risk propensity test for entrepreneurs:

In this domain, located in the center of the model, you’re going to analyze commitment – yours, and that of your team – to this idea.

Think about why you want to start this business. Are you passionate about this idea, and, if so, why? What do you want to do with this business – are you ambitious for it, or do you want it to be a “lifestyle business”? What are your personal goals and values, and how does this venture align with these? And are you prepared to take the risk and put in the hard work needed to build this business?

What’s your entrepreneurial mission?

To serve a particular market?

To change a particular industry?

To market a particular product?

Is the passion really there?

What level of aspirations do you have for your entrepreneurial dream?

To work for yourself?

To build something small or something big?

To do? To manage? To lead?

To change the world in some way?

What sorts of risk are you and are you not willing to take:

Will you risk a secure salary and the things that go along with your current employment? For how long?

Will you risk losing control of your business?

Will you put your own money at risk? How much?

Will you risk your home or time with your family or loved ones?

Do those you love accept the risks you will take?

“The can you and your team execute?” test

What are the few – only a handful, please – critical success factors (CSFs) in your industry? What support can you provide to show that you’ve identified them correctly? Can you demonstrate – in past deeds, not mere words – that your team taken together can execute on each and every one of these CSFs? Alternatively, have you identified which CSFs your team is not well prepared to meet, for which you need help in filling out your team?

Which decisions or activities will harm the business significantly if you get them wrong, even when everything else is going right?

1. Team Domain: Ability to Execute on Critical Success Factors

You now need to identify the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for the business, and think realistically about whether your team can deliver on these.

Start doing this by thinking about these questions:

• Which decisions or activities will harm the business significantly if you get them wrong, even when everything else is going right?
• Which decisions or activities will deliver disproportionately high benefits or enhance performance, even if other things are going poorly?

Then look at the knowledge and skills of the team that you’ve put together. How certain are you that you and your team can deliver successfully on these CSFs? If you see a gap in skills or abilities, who can you bring on board to fill this gap?

This domain asks you to think carefully about what it is that is going to determine your success or failure in your venture. What are the key points that are going to have a large influence on how well your business works out in the short and long term?

Critical success factors exist in every business, but they change from organization to organization depending on the market, products, and more. Is the team you have in place – including yourself – going to be able to hit on all of the critical success factors well enough to ensure your success?

Who do you and your team know up the value chain in the companies that are likely suppliers to your proposed business and to your competitors?

The Connectedness test

Who do you and your team know up the value chain in the companies that are likely suppliers to your proposed business and to your competitors? In suppliers to companies in other industries that offer substitute products for yours? Be sure you have names, titles and contact info. Who do you and your team know down the value-chain among customers you will target, both today and tomorrow? Names, titles and contact info, please. Who do you and your team know across the value-chain among your competitors and substitutes? Names, titles and contact info, please. Putting the seven domains model into action using the seven domains model requires a considerable amount of data. Mere opinions that an opportunity is attractive will not suffice and will destroy the credibility of the aspiring entrepreneur in the eyes of others. Where do we get all the data we need? Much of the data the model calls for can be obtained quickly from secondary sources: trade and other business publications in the library or on the Internet, government reports and so on. Typically, though, some primary data – from interviews, observation, focus groups or surveys of prospective customers and/or industry participants, or market experiments – are necessary for the two micro-level assessments comprising the lower row in the model and for understanding the industry’s critical success factors.

Write a critical analysis essay of a prescribing episode that took place for a patient presenting with signs of ageing.

This essay is a critical analysis of a prescribing episode that took place for a patient presenting with signs of ageing. The evidence base for the use of Botulinum Toxin Type A will be evaluated and the professional responsibilities and clinical governance issues associated with this intervention will be considered.

Non-medical prescribing is prescribing by a specially trained healthcare professional working within their clinical competence as either an independent or supplementary prescriber (RPS, 2016). An independent prescriber can be defined as a “practitioner, who is responsible and accountable for the assessment of patients with undiagnosed and diagnosed conditions and for decisions about the clinical management required, including prescribing” (RPS,2016).

This essay is written from a community pharmacists perspective, studying to become a non-medical independent prescriber in the field of aesthetics. The GPhC states that a prescription can only be written by a non-medical prescriber who has completed the course and been entered on the register, therefore the actual prescription issued for this consultation was written by a qualified prescriber. All names of patients, clinicians, hospital or community trust have been changed for data protection and confidentiality reasons as per GPhC requirements.

A 35-year-old Caucasian female, Mrs H, attended the clinic, presenting with signs of ageing. Her areas of concern were the wrinkles around her eyes, forehead and frown. The Calgary-Cambridge consultation method was used to gather information about Mrs H and reach a shared decision on the best treatment for her desired outcome. This model encourages patient contribution and ensures the decision takes into consideration the patients best interest and therefore allows a trusting relationship to progress between the practitioner and patient (Kurtz, Silverman and Draper, 1998).

By using this model, all the necessary information was gathered, including a full past medical history, where it was ascertained that Mrs H was not taking any regular prescription medication, herbal or recreational medicines, but she did occasionally take OTC ibuprofen or paracetamol as a pain relief for headaches. She had no known allergies and any red flags associated with anti-wrinkle treatment, such as skin infections, pregnant or breastfeeding and auto-immune disorders, were ruled out. It was also discovered that the patient had not had any aesthetic treatments previously. On taking a full social and family history it was established that the patient is a non-smoker, drinks on occasion, enjoys using sunbeds and exercises regularly. Mrs H also lives with her husband and has no children. The patient completed a Cosmetic Procedure Screening Questionnaire to rule out body dysmorphic disorder (Veale et al., 2012).

A physical examination was taken, the patient was handed a mirror to help highlight her areas of concern. A realistic expectation outcome was given to the patient along with the benefits and risks associated with the proposed treatment, a prescription was written for Bocouture (a brand of botulinum toxin type A) and any aftercare advice was given that the patient must adhere to. A shared decision was agreed and the relevant information was documented. In order to make an informed decision the patient was given a ‘cooling off period’ to think about all the options discussed. The importance of this was highlighted in the Keogh report which reviewed the regulation of cosmetic interventions (Keogh, 2013).

evaluate the effectiveness of their practice in relation to development and use of resources to engage and meet the individual needs of learners in their specialist area

provided a reflective account in which:

• evaluate the effectiveness of their practice in relation to development and use of resources to engage and meet the individual needs of learners in their specialist area (ref. 5.1)

• identify their strengths and areas for improvement in relation to development and use of resources in their specialist area (ref. 5.2)

• produce a plan which identified opportunities to improve their skills in the development and use of resources. (ref. 5.3)

analyse the implications of intellectual property rights and copyright for the development and use of resources.

produce an information sheet which:

• explain ways in which resources can be classified and stored. Storage may be via hard copies or electronically for example on a VLE platform with restricted and open access (ref. 3.1)

• review ways of sharing resources with other learning professionals. This may include standardisation of course materials and assessment, case meetings, ILPs, staff development and CPD (ref. 3.2)

• review legal requirements and responsibilities relating to the development and use of resources. This may include health and safety, safeguarding, data protection, Single Equity Act, Equality Act (ref. 4.1)

• analyse the implications of intellectual property rights and copyright for the development and use of resources. (ref. 4.2)

analyse how theories, principles and models of inclusive curriculum design can be used to inform resource development.

produce a report which:

• explain the purpose of resources in teaching and learning. This should include accessibility, inclusivity, assessment and learning. This should also be used to plan, monitor and review learning (ref. 1.1)

• evaluate the effectiveness of specific resources in their specialist area in meeting individual learning needs (ref. 1.2)

• analyse the principles of resource design. This may include hard copy or electronic resources. This should include learning styles and needs, accessibly, inclusivity, appropriate level, equality and diversity principles (ref. 2.1)

• evaluate sources that inform resource development. The sources should refer to own specialist area and include reference to curricula, qualification standards and course specifications (ref. 2.2)

• analyse how theories, principles and models of inclusive curriculum design can be used to inform resource development. This should include reference to the teaching and learning cycle, process, product and praxis. Theories may refer to Gardiner, Petty, Kelly and Tyler etc (ref. 2.3)

• analyse ways in which resources can be adapted to enable an inclusive approach. This may include enlarged font, colour filters, scribes, readers, hearing loops etc (ref. 2.4)