Eastman Kodak Meeting the Digital Challenge Essay Example

Eastman Kodak Meeting the Digital Challenge Essay The purpose of this essay is to assess the balance of planned and emergent approaches that Eastman Kodak applied to strategic management in the digital challenge which Kodak uniquely developed and patented many of the components of digital photography(Henry et al, 2009). The four main parts of the essay focuses upon classification Kodak’s case study into theories of intended strategy development, emergent strategy development, the roles of managers to manage this two strategic approaches and the evaluation of balance between these approaches in term of paradox and business environment. Beginning with its intended strategy, the essay will state the process of strategy development which is associated with role of vision and command or objective setting, planning systems and imposed strategy that imposes by external factors. Later, the demand of strategy emergent, the logical incrementalism and resources allocation of this company will be described. Then, roles of managers to balance intended plans and incremental plans along with dealing to the uncertain and complex conditions will be clarified. We will write a custom essay sample on Eastman Kodak Meeting the Digital Challenge specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Eastman Kodak Meeting the Digital Challenge specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Eastman Kodak Meeting the Digital Challenge specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The last analysis will assess the balance of this two approaches by outlining a theory of the paradox of deliberateness and emergent for businesses in high competitive and technology-based environment. For planned strategy, Bob Ron(2010a) gives an opinion that the objective setting comes before the first formal step of the strategy development process and Gerry et al(2008) expresses intended strategy as a formulation of the role of vision and command, planning system and externally imposed strategy. Kodak’s objective or top management’s vision and command under Perez’s administration is still the same as his predecessors, that is the transformation from a photographic company into a world leader in digital imaging which based upon technology that allow consumers to find, share and show images on various media and reduction in role of a digital imaging hardware manufacturer. By reaching its goal, Kodak set up a large number of retail photo kiosks and launched digital photography service that make it become a leader in retail market for printing digital photograph. As well as, it is a leader in high-resolution, colour printing systems in commercial printing and in digital dental imaging in healthcare sector. The imposed situations in which Kodak face were the new imaging technologies that were emerging such as Polaroid, electrostatic plain-paper copying and new printing technologies. Therefore, a new strategic direction was imposed by acquiring a series of diversification moves into healthcare and imaginative initiatives such as first megapixel electronic image sensor, image storage and retrieval system, data storage product, copier services business and Photo CD system. These aspects of the intended strategy will be compared to the emergent strategy which will be stated after this. Bob Ron(2010a) states that people reroute their plan along the way to slowly shape a process of thinking and doing. For the aspects of emergent strategy development, Gerry et al(2008) considers logical incrementalism and resources allocation processes to be an account for it. The expansion of Kodak to any area outside its traditional imaging business seemed to have not sufficient assurance so it turned to focus on the digital challenge by spinning off chemical business and selling healthcare one whereas creating coherence among digital imaging projects. Robert, M. G. (2005) analyses this hange as refocusing on imaging and these divestments enabled Kodak to focus all of its resources on its core imaging business. As evidences of Kodak’s ambition, its first self-service facility for converting images from conventional photographs to digital ones was installed, followed by Picture Maker, a self –service kiosk for editing and printing digital images from a variety of digital and conventional inputs. Kodak intended to add value of consumers’ images while create a profitable consuma ble business for itself. Kodak’s hybrid approach was the launch of its Advantix which allow both chemical film images and electronic data to be stored on a single film but this failed to make the market. Furthermore, Kodak offered a wide range of digital cameras from the top end to the bottom end despite there was a highly competition in this market. For the term of resources allocation, Kodak initially based on vertical integration and self-sufficiency, it has own technology, products and vast global network. However, for digital imaging, the pace of technological change was too fast to rely on in-house development that forced it to look outside for the particular knowledge. Kodak launched a major hiring campaign to gain the executives and technical specialists and created a net of joint ventures and various strategic alliances, for example Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Sanyo. These companies obsessed diverse arrays of resources and capabilities with strengths and weaknesses in different areas. Robert Charles(2004) have viewed technology management as engagement of the wider field of knowledge management that causes strategic alliances to share their knowledge, technology, know-how and organizational capability. Subsequently to emergent strategy development, the capability to manage the two strategy development process will be declared. CEO of Kodak, Antonio Perez, responses to company’ s goals to transform from conventional photography to digital photography by reallocation of resources for example, cutting 25,000 employees and two-third Manufacturing capacity to stop its loss. When its planned strategy to become a leader in digital images by trying to launch all of related range of products and expand to business which be outside its core provided too little commitment, it gave rise of an incremental approach by creating coherence among its digital imaging projects. Kodak could utilize its brand strength and huge distribution system to offer hybrid solutions, while using the time and its cash flow from film to invest in the resources and capabilities for digital imaging. The challenge of renewing Kodak’s resource and capability base was not only limited to technology but also embraced production processes, design, and different sources of value. For uncertain and complex condition which occurred during transformation, Perez realizes the dynamic and complex of Kodak’s business position, one of evidences was that he judged digital cameras as a dinosaurs that cannot evolve as fast as the environment around them. The digital imaging market was faced to high competition, low entry barriers, falling real prices in digital products. Whereas consumable products make a high profit, there was a strong competition from notable suppliers. As a result, profits were either slim or non-existent. To fight this, Kodak pioneered a number of technical advances particularly in inkjet printing paper. The new technological regime meant that it has to put many of its resources and capabilities which make certain that finance problem still existed. After looking into three parts of this essay, the paradox of deliberate and emergent will be assessed to answer the balance of planned and emergent approaches. As Bob Ron(2010b) suggest, strategy has to deal with the future which is unknown but still be shaped and it demands flexibility and adaptability because it is unpredictable. Kodak continues to be guided by its original vision of â€Å"You push the button; we do the rest† along with its new vision of â€Å"leader of digital images†. Kodak believed that a strong proprietary position and complement of its own expertise in technologies was necessary to its strategy. Although Kodak did not plan well for its resources and capabilities in planned strategy, it can issue emergent strategy to make realised strategy. It can be seen from Kodak’s ambition to make its wholly integrated set of products and services to be simple and easy to use, put effort to innovation to make a competitive advantage (Robert M. , 2005) in its intense competition, compressed product cycles and declining product prices. Kodak realised that profit in technology-based industries was in software so it was heavily involved in developing various types of software to the market, its main strengths were in colour management, System Management and Enhanced Services Software for managing retail processing and rinting. For competitive positioning – Richard (2004) points that it is essential for organizations to define their unique competitive position based on a understanding of the opportunities and concerns, Kodak was positioned at every stage in the digital imaging chain and, with its EasyShare brand, its competitive position an future potential was placed particular attention on the brand and distribution, tech nology, new product development and finances. This essay has looked at the issue of assessing the balance of planned and emergent approaches to strategic management of Kodak Eastman and found that it has set objective and planning systems for deliberate plan, however plans for preparing resources and creating capabilities for the future goal have not stated. Owing to fast moving digital industries, Kodak has required emergent strategies to help maintaining its realized strategy, resources allocation, joint venture with alliances who have a specific knowledge and seeking team staffs from outside for knowledge it required have defined in this approach. The role of managers is vital for handling challenge when intended plan does not come in practice and emergent plans have to rise in circumstance of uncertain and complex condition. It appears that the paradox of these two approaches could be observed and Kodak’s top management could balance these to meet their objective in spite of intense competitive environment and product pricing threat.

Vocabulary Word Groups - The Mind

Vocabulary Word Groups - The Mind The Mind The words below are some of the most important used when talking about the mind and mental processes. Youll find an example sentence for each word to help provide context.Once youve learned the use of these words, create a mind-map to help you remember the vocabulary in a creative way. Write a short paragraph to help you start using your new vocabulary. The Mind - Verbs analyze You should analyze the situation very carefully. calculate Can you calculate large sums in your head? forget Dont forget to take your computer with you. infer I inferred that she wasnt feeling well from your conversation. memorize Ive memorized many long roles in my love. realize She finally realized that the answer was sitting right in front of her nose! recognize Peter recognized his friend from college. remember Anna remembered to telephone Bob yesterday. work out The Mind - Adjectives articulate Articulate people impress others with their use of words. brainy I have a brainy cousin who is an engineer for a company that makes airplanes. bright Here child is very bright. Shell go far. gifted George is a gifted pianist. Hell make you cry! imaginative If youre an imaginative person, you might write a book, or paint a picture. intelligent Ive had the honor to teach many intelligent people in my life. The Mind - Other Related Words brain The brain is a very sensitive organ. emotion Some people think its best to not show any emotion. Theyre crazy. genius Have you ever met a true genius? Its rather humbling. idea Tom had a great idea last week. Lets ask him. intellect Use your intellect to solve the problem Mr. Holmes. knowledge He has a wide knowledge of birds in North America. logic Mr. Spock was famous for his use of logic. memory I have a vague memory of that day. Remind me of what happened. mind Focus your mind and lets begin class. skill Verbal skills are an important party of his job. talent She has an incredible talent for music. thought I had a thought about the project. Can we talk? virtuoso The virtuoso played Liszt excellently. More Word Groups The BodyCelebrationsClothesCrime

PTSD Posttraumatic stress disorder Research Paper

PTSD Posttraumatic stress disorder - Research Paper Example The treatment through medicines is considered to be a one-way therapy, whereas there are certain medications that have showed a positive influence on the patient. Now, the question is why there isn’t a successful medication for the treatment of PTSD. PTSD is classified as a type of anxiety disorder, which is said to be manageable after taking anti-depressants and which is merely a way to manage symptoms. But yet, no proper drug therapy is found. The medications used in PTSD patients include Benzodiazepines, SSRIs, and atypical Anti-depressants. These drugs are mainly used to manage the symptoms, the symptoms include: Sleep disturbances, Emotional disturbances, Hyper-arousal, Numbness, Panic attacks. These drugs are given in combination to avoid the recurrences, and to improve sleeping patterns of the patient. These signs and symptoms are not persistent. It is normal to have signs and symptoms after a traumatic event. Researchers have proved that the patients with lesser intellectual abilities are more likely to suffer from it and are usually victims of severe cases of PTSD. Most survivors or sufferers are not always the victims. It is said that the time is the most effective medicine in the treatment (Bonnano, 2004). In the case of distinct minorities, the substance abuse, depression, anxiety emerges. (Kessler, Peterson, Lucia, 1999). Most epidemiological studies suggest that the traumas like wars, killings, kidnappings are actually happening in the developed countries. With increasing disaster rates, the patients are increasing drastically and are more difficult to manage. As the medical science is going through a vast development, a number of assessment tests have come into existence, which plays a crucial part in the diagnosis at the right time and then management therapy. Psychotherapy is slow and is also not a successful therapy, but if it goes along with the medication, the success rate is higher. Psychotherapy

Writting health care business paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Writting health care business paper - Essay Example The organizations can prioritize them, work on the solutions and provide a cost effective measure to it that will attract the clients and increase the business. Based on the data that is given for the possible causes of health and illness conditions, accidents top the fatal count of children. If some emergency recovery centers are established, could prove as a decisive factor in improving the client feedback. The data provided is classified age wise, and for persons in the age of 45, cancer and heart problems are the prime cause of illness. For persons aging around 74, chronic diseases tops the list. Finally on general assessment, the evaluation of the economic condition would help greatly in identifying key market niches. For example, Jehovah's Witness community revenue details are most appealing considering the fact they just followed a single policy of implementing private insurance and Medicare. Such scenarios boost the economy of the region and thereby allow other organizations to tread the same path. Innovative Medical Groups Innovative Medical, a $265 million revenue medical group is considered to be the biggest competitor for MCMPC. It has more than 1100 employees and is expanding its serving region with its new alignment with County Regional Medical Center. Provided below are the basic details of the group. Their strengths, weakness as well as the opportunities and threats in comparison with MCMPC are detailed here. Strengths The main backbone of Innovative medical groups is their strategic planning headed by Dr. Schwartz, who has a degree of MBA aiding him in managing things effectively. He has a great record in dealing... Threats With about 50% of the residents of the county trying to relocate themselves, it is posing a bigger threat for the group to make them come back for treatment. It is demanding that several advanced technologies have to be implemented in order to sustain the same rate of client visits to the group. But this investment does not 100% ensure that the profits will be sustained. It is posing to be a serious threat. Partnership Analysis In order for MCMPC to regain its financial stability and stature in the market, it needs to partner with any of the two potential partners currently doing service in the same profession. It has to do it in order to achieve new strategy based advantages, similar to the way Innovative Medical has achieved through its collaboration with CRMC. Following are the analysis and consultation views on what would be the best association for MCMPC that could be with either Good Sisters or Riverside Hospitals. Good Sisters Association If Good Sisters is considered to be the partner, then there are certain pros and cons that need to be taken into account. The pros include that Good Sisters is present in the southern part of the county; partnering with it would increase benefits reaped through this association in that region. Apart from this sole reason, there is not much that would enhance the chances of partnership relationship.

How Propaganda Helped the Nazi Government to Control Germany Essay Example for Free

How Propaganda Helped the Nazi Government to Control Germany Essay The Nazis used propaganda in many different ways. They closed down all the opposing newspapers available to German people controlled by Nazis. This means that the Germans only read good things about the Nazis they couldn’t see all the malicious things they had been doing. Radio stations were to broadcast Nazi programmes featuring speeches by Hitler and German antisemitic music. There were many Nazi parades and rallies. There were posters everywhere, these emphasized the strengths and the positive things about Nazis, however, they could be easily ignored. Speeches by Hitler could be heard on loudspeakers in many places, this made people respect and admire him. Foreign films were banned and new antisemitic Aryan films were made, showing all the Nazi achievements and advertising antisemitism and Arianism. This also emphasized the strengths of Hitler, the Nazis and Aryan Germany. The Germans only saw the fabulous things about the Nazis, some people were oblivious to the horrible and wrong things going on and many people agreed with it. People didn’t like Jews. Hitler and the Nazis built on this hate, saying that they were to blame for Germanys decline. Hitler wouldn’t let anybody see the whole picture, he used positivity, made Germans proud.The Nazis incinerated all non-German, Jewish and communist books. Hitler rewrote school books to say wonderful things about Aryans and the Nazis, this made the children admire him and the boys want to be like him.The Germans arrested all the people that said anything unwanted about Hitler or the Nazis. People were encouraged to denounce each other, neighbors, friends and family. They also arrested all the opponents such as communists, Jews and anti-Nazis. Anybody that might make people think bad of the Hitler and the Nazis were punished: arrested, sent to camps, a lot of people were exterminated. Free short-range radios were given out so Hitler could be in everyones homes and so the people can’t listen to BBC speaking the wise truth!

Jumping Mouse :: essays research papers

Jumping Mouse   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story of Jumping Mouse may seem simple at first. But it is far more than just a story about a small rodent. There are so many underlying themes that reflect society, faith, generosity, personal growth, and many other aspects of a person’s daily life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story starts out with a seemingly simple mouse, who hears what others do not. He dares to question what is out of the ordinary, and seeks out the truth instead of dismissing it as nothing. He shows curiosity, which leads him to new ideas. When he has his experience at the river, he is given a new name, which signifies his own personal growth. When he takes his newfound ideas back to the mouse society they don’t believe him because it is far too different than what they already know, and they decide that he is harmful. The society of mice reflects society in how they didn’t understand something so they pushed it away. So many times people don’t accept or understand things because they are out of the ordinary, so they shun it. It happens every day; with racism and conflicts over human sexuality. Most people don’t understand that there is no way to define normal. All around the world things are different, and one needs to be open minde d enough to understand it. Now look what being open minded did for the mouse. His willingness to listen and his faith in the frog allowed him to see into the rest of the world, even deeper into his own mind. There is a fine line between being open-minded and being gullible. Both will listen to anything to try to understand it, but gullible people lack common sense. The mouse seemed kind of gullible, in how he’d risk his safety by jumping in the water all because the frog said to.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Jumping mouse is like many people, always seeking a better way of life. The other mice were quite content with their busy life, because that was the way they have always known. But Jumping Mouse had a taste for what else the world had to offer him. When Jumping Mouse met with the old mouse, he found a perfect place to live, free from harm and lots of food. He was told he should stay but somehow, he knew that he could have better. Even later on his journey to find the mountains he discovered a small â€Å"mouse utopia† with an abundant supply of food and shelter, everything a mouse could want.

Gm 591 final course project Essay

Walgreens is one of the fortune 500 companies and among the fastest growing retailers in the country. Walgreens as of April 30 operated 8307 location in all 50 states including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. This includes 7855 drugstores, 146 more than a year ago, including 21 stores acquired over the last 12 months. The company also operates infusion and respiratory services facilities, specialty pharmacy and mail service facilities. They also have a take care health system subsidiary which manages more than 700 in-store convenient care clinics and worksite health and wellness canters. This research is based on the problem facing the company on how executive decision making in the company has caused a negative impact and low productivity level among employees due to their decision to discontinue having Express Script (ESI) as their third party provider. The result of this research is to determine how corporate decision has impacted employee morale and thus resulting in high employee turnover. Which as a result led to several questions arising as to how to deal with the Express Script debacle, which are as the follows? 1) How do we make up for the ESI loss? 2) How do we empower the employee by boosting their morale after taking drastic measures (Job elimination, reduction in hours, Extreme pay cut) to make up for the lost profit? 3) How has corporate decision impacted the morale of employee productivity and personal growth? Walgreens has always provided good customer service, but changes in the competitive environment and in consumer behavior and expectations have caused them to intensify their focus. Walgreens’ mission is to win the hearts and pockets of their customers by providing that â€Å"wow† experience and delight score from customer appreciations. As a manager with the company, my role is to support the strategy by focusing on the strategy to deliver an outstanding customer experience through enhanced employee engagement by encouraging actions that will advance the experience to extraordinary levels for all customers. Also, to help all team members adopt an extraordinary customer care by listening and acting out customer’s expectations for the care and commitment they want to experience. PROBLEM STATEMENT With the tremendous growth and opportunity to expand, Walgreens was hit by hard times due to a proposed rejection by Express script (ESI) a major pharmacy third party provider. This decision led to different changes within the organization called â€Å"Rewiring growth† and field transformation. Walgreens took a stand and made a tough decision not to sign the 2012 contract with ESI. The result of this decision was a lost in the pharmacy sales with projected amount totalling almost six billions dollars’ worth of business lost to their competitors. (Walgreens Company Correspondent on ESI Debacle) Even though, the company thought they made the right decisions on behalf of their customers, patients and employees by not agreeing to the proposed terms and agreement by the ESI, they made a huge mistake because the bottom line of the whole debacle is that we lost totally. The board of directors and top executives won’t admit they are wrong, they didn’t think they will lose and after ESI told them what they want and Walgreens was still insisting that demands be met. They thought ESI was bluffing and after December 31st 2011, they dropped Walgreens from their network services. LITERATURE REVIEW A Literature review was conducted to determine how alienating Walgreens from the ESI network has caused a major constraint on the payer, patients, and employees. Each party used different strategy to keep their patients’ in their network. Walgreens began putting signage out encouraging consumers to talk to their insurance plans about excluding them from the network and for Medicare members to choose plans that aren’t run by Express Scripts. Walgreens also gave out a pamphlet about what happens when you remove them from the network. It goes as follows: Key Statement: Excluding Walgreens from a pharmacy network will result in little to no savings for most sponsors and patients, and in some cases will raise costs, while causing significant patient disruption and risking gaps in care, and increasing administrative costs on plan sponsors. As part of this document, they are encouraging payers to consider directly contracting with them and/or creating a custom network (if their PBM contracts allow for that). They state that their costs are comparable to other retailers or within 2% of their costs. They say that 90-day retail generates a 6-8% savings compared to 30-day retail based on the pricing that they offered to Express Scripts. However, since Walgreens decided not to comply by agreeing to sign the contract, ESI had no choice but to drop them from their network. This decision was a far cry from what they anticipated because they thought a resolution will occur before the end of the year. While both parties are dug in, it is a lose-lose situation for this debacle to stay unresolved, but after Jan 31st 2012, it became a win-lose situation for both ESI and Walgreens respectively. That being said, a lot of changes happened at Walgreens in order to make up for the loss which is as follows: This creates greater use of the Walgreens discount card and/or cash business at Walgreens especially for lower cost generics. Alienating Walgreens creates a disruptive force in the FTC review of the proposed Medco acquisition. Another PBM jumps in to do a creative deal with Walgreens which limits their long-term ability to work with Express Scripts. Express Scripts ends up in a shotgun relationship with CVS. The terms of PBM contracts get changed going forward based on new terms regarding retailers. This validates the integrated model of CVS and Caremark This creates a large number of limited networks. This creates a wave of direct contracting between payers and pharmacies. Walgreens becomes a much more vocal voice in the retail world through NCPA and other organizations. Between this and the merger of Express Scripts acquisition of Medco, the landscape in the PBM market was drastically different by early 2012. (http://georgevanantwerp.com/2011/09/08/walgreens-and-express-scripts-the-plot-thickens) ANALYSIS Walgreens has lost millions of dollars in prescription sales this year, and saw its second-quarter profit decline almost 8 percent because of its departure in January from Express Scripts — the nation’s largest network for filling drug prescriptions. (El Paso times, May 19, 2012) â€Å"Walgreens executives give no signs they will try to negotiate a new deal with Express Scripts and said Walgreens will weather the storm with cost cutting and going after new business.† (El Paso times, May 19, 2012) As a result of this decline, a lot of changes have taken immediate effect to affect the store level employees, like, extreme pay cuts, reduction in hours, hiring freeze, position eliminations etc. In return, this has left a lot of employee very unhappy and disgruntled about their jobs, which brings out a low morale and unsatisfactory job results. Most employees are very upset about the decisions the top management had made because in the end, it only affects the employee because obviously, the chairman of the company wasn’t affected based on the bonus he received in the amount of 10.6 million dollars in cash last year. This is a 36% increase in his salary, a lot of employees were very upset when they read the report on Google and demanded an explanation why our President and CEO is getting a raise when the company is losing almost 6 billion dollars in sales. Here is an excerpt from the associated press: â€Å"An Associated Press analysis of a regulatory filing shows Gregory Wasson received compensation worth $10.9 million in fiscal 2011, up from $8 million the previous year. Walgreen Co. is the largest drugstore chain in the U.S., with more than 7,700 stores. Wasson, 53, has been Walgreen’s president and CEO since February 2009. All portions of Wasson’s compensation grew. His salary rose 12 percent to $1.2 million. His stock awards climbed 67 percent to $5.6 million, the value of his options increased 30 percent to $2.2 million and his non-equity performance bonus went from $1.7 million to $2.7 million. His perks in 2011 were worth $339,977, up from $194,577.† (http://townhall.com/news/business/2011/11/18) The negative consequences brought on by the decision made by Walgreens executives include lower employee morale, disgruntled employee, high turnover rate, excessive tardiness and insubordinate behavior. Ultimately, management will think twice in the future before making a huge decision like this, so employee performances and morale will not suffer. â€Å"Acknowledging management’s responsibility for morale and turnover opens the door to creative solutions†. (Hacker, 2000, preface p.xvii) SUGGESTIVE SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM Walgreens has decided to use different strategies to increase revenue to make up for the ESI loss by implementing the following strategies: a) Filling in more prescription volume – by attracting at least 18 new patients per store, they could replace the business lost in their dispute with ESI. b) Suggestive selling – this is a tool can use in the store every team member to increase profit c) Promoting private brand – by upsell more private brands, the merchandising team is providing updated product guides and fresh package graphics. d) Incorporating the well experience into their daily living – to be known for providing a new selection of health services that create value for both consumers and healthcare systems. e) Prescription savings club – They have signed up more than 700,000 new patients for the prescription savings club (PSC) since January. The PSC card offers savings on more than 8,000 brand name and all generic medications. f) Reinvent their cost structure through continuous improvement and innovation g) Expand across new channels and markets h) Delivering outstanding customer experience through enhanced employee engagement i) Transforming the traditional drugstore to a â€Å"retail health and daily living† store j) Transforming community pharmacy to play a greater role in healthcare through integration and expanded services. These are some of the ways Walgreens has planned to help fill the potential $6 billion revenue gap created when their negotiations with express scripts was unsuccessful. (Walgreens World Magazine January, 2012) REFLECTION Despite all this key strategies, Walgreens is still in the hole with their stock price down to $31.02 from $44, the hiring freeze, field transformation, rewiring growth and job elimination. I will recommend, at this point that Walgreens needs to put their ego aside and renegotiate their contracts with ESI because the worst is yet to happen. Since Express Script and Medco merged in March more patients are leaving the network, what happens then when CVS Caremark decided to pull the plug on us? Work cited 1) (Hacker, 2000, preface p.xvii) 2) (http://townhall.com/news/business/2011/11/18) 3) (http://georgevanantwerp.com/2011/09/08/walgreens-and-express-scripts-the-plot-thickens) 4) Walgreens World Magazine 5) Walgreens Company Correspondent on ESI Debacle 6) El Paso Times Magazine