Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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was a decrease in the number of blood donors and the rate of new-donor retention. In order to
ensure a safe and stable supply of blood and blood products in Canada, motivation, recruitment
and retention of voluntary blood donors are the essentials. To motivate and recruit the blood
the public of the benefits of donation. It is also necessary to rebuild the organization¶s image
and regain the public¶s trust about the system to ensure future success.
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As the number and the retention rate of blood donors decreased recently, Canadian Bloods
Services (³CBS´) has to establish an effective marketing plan in order to restore the public
confidence, and motive, recruit and retain the blood donors. Since CBS is the main supply of
blood and blood products in Canada; changes are required to ensure that the blood system in
Canada is stabilized.
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The objectives of CBS are to stabilize the blood system, restore the public confidence, and
provide a safety blood donation process to the donors and the blood products to the recipient
in a cost-effective manner.
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CBS is a not-for-profit charitable organization with 16 blood centers located across Canada.
During the late 1970s and 1980s, more than 1,000 Canadians who received blood transfusions
were infected with the human immunodeficiency virus. As a result, the public trust in the
blood system was destroyed. Even though CBS has built a great team whose essential services
and dedication brought to reality the generous intentions and expectations of blood donors;
however, in 2007/2008, the number of donors and the rate of new-donor retention has
decreased.
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c Inflexible operating hours of the blood donation clinics - all of them are closed on
Sunday and most of them are operating only during office hours;
c Decrease in public trust in blood system (March 2006 ± 84%; March 2008 ± 79%).
c o major ³competitors´;
c ew programs were developed such as the stem cell and marrow network.
c Drug problems and risks of new disease affect the quality of blood;
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c Challenge operating environment ± zero error tolerance, even one small error may cause
a big problem.
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Where At school, on site
Clinic Clinic Clinic
clinic
Depends on Rare ± depends on On a regular
When
donation program time and other Rare basis (and as
in place obligations permitted)
Easily influenced Easily influenced
by friends and co- by friends and co-
Why / What workers; workers;
benefit satisfaction in satisfaction in Decision based on Financial
achieve saving someone¶s saving someone¶s own experience incentive
life; need for love, life; need for love,
friendship and friendship and
acceptance acceptance
Primary
Internet, school TV, word-of- mail/flyers,
Media Internet, TV
learning program mouth, mail word-of-mouth
Form
However, a number of other possible market segmentations are plausible ± including income,
immigration status, ethnicity, education, and geographic location (Refer to Appendix A).
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In order to design an effective marketing plan to induce the blood donors, CBS should first
understand the behavior of blood donors. In making a blood donation, the following factors
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Since blood donation is a ³pure´ voluntary activity without any direct benefits to the
donors; as a result, lack of motivation for the donor to make a blood donation.
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How do the donors interpret publicly available information about the blood donation?
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Xearning by doing is always the best approach. Once the people have the experience in
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For the teenagers, how does their family value the behavior of blood donations? Did
their parents donate blood? The teenagers are easily to be influenced by their parents¶
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When will the people donate blood? How can they donate blood during the office hours?
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After the potential donors consider the above factors, then they will determine what they need
and want from the donation. For blood donation, people may simply want a safe donation
process. Once the needs and wants are satisfied, for the regular donors, they then will go to
donate without further evaluating the decisions. However, for the first-time donors, they will
search additional information about blood donation to ensure they understand the process and
associated risks. Once they review the information, they then will decide whether to donate or
not. A longer time for evaluating the information; a higher possibility of not donating blood
may be resulted. Once the people donated blood, then they will re-evaluate the process and
determine whether the actual process is the same as they expected. If they satisfied with the
process, then highly likely they will re-donate next time. For some reasons, they may not
satisfy with the process, and then they will re-evaluate this activity and postpone their next
donation. Sometimes, these unsatisfied donors may share their experiences with the others; as
a result, other people may be influenced by these subjective and negative opinions.
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Following is the highlights of the financial performances of CBS for the year ended March 31,
a deficiency of $4 million - primarily the result of the increase in staff costs and
c Cash inflow from operating activities increased by $54 million to $57 million;
As at March 31, 2008, cash and cash equivalents and working capital were $184 million and
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As the members¶ contribution and cash inflow from operating activities increased, it
illustrated that public support and CBS¶s operations have been improved. However, the
future insurance claims increased indicated that the certain level of risks in operating the
blood system is still existed and may be even increased from insurance companies¶
viewpoint ± which may represents the public¶s viewpoint as well. Overall, the current
financial position should be able to provide sufficient resources for CBS in expanding the
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What are the best promotion strategies in motivating, recruiting and retaining the blood
donors?
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Prepare a direct mail, which should include information about the blood donation system,
procedures and risks for distribution to household. The direct mail should be written in simple
c Information can reach large target markets with detailed information quickly;
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Extend the operating hours of the blood donation clinics and set up new mobile blood
donation clinics such as blood donation vehicles and park them at the city centre on the
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c Staffing problems;
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Set up information sessions and provide an instant blood donation services after the session at
c Resolve the queries and obtain immediate feedbacks from the blood donors immediately;
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c Staffing problems;
Xaunch a ³national-wide´ blood donation campaign and hire the singers, HX players and
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public awareness before engaging in more costly endeavors such as extended hours or a
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campaign launch. As more donations and public financial supports increase, CBS can consider
On a go-forward basis to increase the retention rate of blood donors, CBS is recommended to
arrange a next donation appointment with the donors immediately after the donation and send a
reminder mail and/or email to the donors when the next appointment is approaching. In
addition, CBS should provide a regular training session to the employees and volunteers to
The following actions should be taken within the coming six months:
c Prepare a new budget for the coming year ± as the above recommendation will increase the
c Arrange a staff meeting to discuss the staffing issues in extending the operations hours of
c Re-design an attractive brochure about blood donation system including the Q&A section;
c In the coming summer, CBS should contact the school boards and universities in arranging
c Engage a public relation firm or set up a public relation team to promote and improve the
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Within 1 ± 2 years, CBS should:
c Set up an internal control team to document and monitor the internal control and the
process of the entire blood system to ensure the actual system is processed as designed, any
c Set up new blood donation clinics and mobile blood donation clinics near the city centre;
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If the number of donors and the retention rate does not changed as expected, then CBS is
discuss with the government and/or ³big´ private companies for some financial supports in
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Donors per thousand populations in target Census Metropolitan Areas
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2009
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