A COMPANY ASSESSMENT FOR
MERCURY DRUGS HEAD OFFICE
Quezon City
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE SUBJECT
BUSINESS OPERATIONS PRACTICUM
Submitted to
OJT Coordinator
SUBMITTED BY:
COMPANY ASSESSMENT OF MERCURY DRUGS
I. Background
Mercury Drugs remains the largest and leading drug store in the
Philippines up to date. A total of one thousand (1000) branches have
been built around the country. The head office is in 7 Mercury Ave,
Bagumbayan, Quezon City, 1800 Metro Manila. The company is the
most dominant pharmacy in the country. It is estimated to sell 60% of
all the medicines that had been sold in the whole country.
Mercury Drugs was founded by Mariano Que. He first sold pills
from a pushcart in the 1940s, Mercury Drug Corporation remains a
privately held company. Leadership of the company also remains in the
family: The company's president is Mariano Que's daughter, Vivian
Que-Ascona. In 2003, Mercury Drug's revenues amounted to nearly
PHP 43 billion ($8.8 billion).
Mariano Que started his career working in a Manila drugstore in
prewar Philippines. There he encountered many medications, including
the newly discovered class of sulfa drugs, which includes sulfathiazole.
These new drugs, developed by German scientists in the early 1930s,
were quickly hailed as new "miracle" drugs. Indeed, the sulfa drugs
enabled the treatment of many illnesses, such as pneumonia,
gonorrhea, and other bacterial infections, that previously had been
difficult, if impossible, to treat. Even though the sulfa drugs later were
shown to have a number of undesirable side effects
(They formed deposits in the kidneys, and bacteria quickly became
resistant), they were credited with saving millions of lives around the
world through World War II.
At first, Que bought and sold medical vials and capsules. After
he had generated sufficient savings, he took PHP 100 (worth about
$1.50 at the time) and bought a bottle of sulfathiazole tablets. Que
brought the sulfathiazole bottle to Manila's busy Bambang market and
sold the pills in single doses. The method of selling, known as "Tinggitingi," became extremely popular in the poverty-stricken Philippines,
bringing life-saving medications within financial reach of many more
people than before.
Que invested his profits in purchasing more pills, and before
long he had generated enough revenue to buy a pushcart, which he
filled with an expanding assortment of pharmaceuticals.
The
unregulated nature of the country's drug market, especially its
pharmaceutical black market, led to abuses by sellers, who sometimes
peddled fake or dangerous formulations, or sold medications long out of
date, often at extortionist prices.
Que, however, built a reputation for the quality and freshness of his
products, and for the fairness of his prices. Before too long, he had built
up a steady clientele, and in March 1945, Que opened his first store.
Que named the Bambang-located store Mercury Drug, after the Roman
god and bearer of the caduceus, the symbol of the medical profession.
Mercury drugs supported innovations not only in drugs but also
in the operations and other aspects of the business. The opening of the
stores for 24 hours lead its way on becoming the leading drug store in
the Philippines.
Mercury Drug began building out its network of drugstores,
staying close to the Manila market for much of the early 1970s. The
company also began branching out beyond pharmaceutical sales. A
significant early purchase was that of Medical Center Drug Corporation
(MCDC). Founded in 1946, MCDC focused on sales of pharmaceutical
supplies, equipment, and basic surgical instruments.
In the early 2000s, the government began taking action to force
the Philippines' drug industry, including Mercury Drug, to lower prices on
many life-saving medicines. As part of that effort, the country's Trade
and Industry and Health departments began encouraging the parallel
importation of pharmaceutical generics from India, which had earned
worldwide recognition for the quality of its generic equivalents.
II. Statement of the Problem
a. What are the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic to the stakeholders of
your chosen company: employees, customer, and society?
Covid-19 pandemic brought threats to the safety of the society.
The government must take action and implement policies for the
safety of the people. Movements become limited, travelling becomes
difficult. People spent more on the basic needs, vitamins, medicines,
foods, and others.
For us employees, fear of acquiring the virus is also with us.
But we need to be brave enough as we are considered as the
frontliners. Our firm’s products are necessities of people. We must
endure the hardship of going to our duties because of the lack of
transportation vehicle. Some of us had to do the paper works at
home.
Our customers fear the threat of the virus. Many of them
panicked and bought many alcohols, and vitamins. Some customers
hoard them and sell them to others in higher prices. They always
want to be the first one to be serviced by us. They fear of buying
nothing on going to our selling store. The pandemic brought
uneasiness to most people and to our customers
b. Based on your research, what courses of action did your chosen
company implement to mitigate the effects of the pandemic? Are
these actions enough?
To protect the people of the country, the government sets rules
and policies to be followed. The health and safety of everyone was at
risk during this pandemic.
Mercury drugs make an action to ensure that every stakeholder
is protected. Employees are the direct stakeholders that move around
to continue the processes and operations of the organization. Since
the organization works on the one of the most important necessities
during the pandemic, employees became part of the front-liners. The
company provides certain documents for employees to continue their
services and do their jobs. The company strictly follow the policies of
the government and reduce the working time of
the employees on the working station. Shifting schedule of days was
given to every employee. Employees went to work every other day.
Even in the headquarters office, company have shifting schedule and
for some cases, other employees do paper works at home. They
have a work from home arrangement. They also provide necessary
protection equipment for the employees that deliver medicine to
various region of the country. They provide mask, face shield, alcohol
and other safety stuff as needed for their protection.
For customers, the company continue to serve large number of
them around the country, since they offer the most necessary needs
during this period. In order be safe, customers allowed inside the
premises are limited depending on the maximum capacity that each
store can hold. Customers filled up necessary form, to get they
contact trace in case of having positive cases on the store. They are
also check with their temperature and provided sanitation using
alcohol before they enter the premise. The organization also
continued with their gamot padala, so the customers from other
areas can send medicine to another area where their family can pick
them up. Other branches also offer medicine delivery so the
customers do not need to make risk going outside to buy their
medicines, specialty those who are already abovesixty (60) years old.
Mercury Drug engages in corporate social responsibility
programs, through Mercury Drug Foundation, as a way of giving back
to the community for their loyal support through the years. The
company conducted outreach programs against the spread of the
Covid19 virus. Not only that, but the company also made outreach
programs during the eruption of Taal Volcano. Among other programs
are Polio Immunization campaign and others with regards to health
and safety.
I think the company’s effort is enough. Being in the drugs
industry, the company knows the health and safety needs of the
stakeholders. The company made enough actions and follows the
policies and regulations set by the government. The company also
made programs for the benefits of the community. Not only will the
community benefit in this program, but the company itself. The good
actions will recoil good effects on the name and brand of the
company and will make a good mark on the market and the
customers.
c. How do you think your chosen company can rise above the
challenges brought by COVID-19 Outbreak?
Mercury Drug did not fall short in terms of income. If the
company must rise above the challenges brought by the pandemic, it
is through returning to the normal operation without the fear of
acquiring the virus. When the vaccine become available to selling, the
firm can use that as an opportunity to distribute drugs to cure the
sickness and gain income from that product.
REFERENCES
MDFI. (n.d.). MDFI Programs. Mercury Drug Foundation Inc.
https://www.mercurydrugfoundation.org/programs.html
Mercury Drug - The Leading Drugstore in the Philippines. (n.d.-a).
Wikipedia. https://www.mercurydrug.com/corporate-information.html
Mercury Drug - The Leading Drugstore in the Philippines. (n.d.-b). Mercury
Drugs. https://www.mercurydrug.com/
Mercury Drug Corporation Company Profile, Information, Business
Description, History, Background Information on Mercury Drug
Corporation. (n.d.). Reference for Business.
https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history/Lo-Me/Mercury-DrugCorporation.html