please read the instructions carefully and answer the questions based on the reading of the case that I have attached.

Quick word about use of cases as pedagogical approach

A teaching case is a story describing, or based on, actual events, which justifies careful study and analysis by students. A case contains no right answer to the problem, no correct way of thinking about or analyzing a situation. Rather, a case provides you with issues, problems, choices, and information and expects you to come up with solutions and propose actions using the information in the case. A case requires you to answer the question: “What would you do if faced with the circumstances in the case?” One common mistake students make in case preparation is that they simply repeat the facts of the case and don’t do any analysis. Be careful of falling into this trap.

In preparing the case, both for oral and written discussion, consider the following general questions. It’s not necessary to include responses to these questions in the case write up. The questions are generic to any case and are meant to help you in your analysis.

• Who is/are the decision maker/s in the case? What decision is to be made?
• Are there other important actors? What objectives do they have?
• What are the key issues, that is, the questions that must be addressed or points that must be resolved to reach a decision?
• What is the environment in which the decision is to be reached, that is, specific constraints and opportunities affecting the decision?
• What specific alternative actions can the decision maker take? With what consequences?
• What would you do? Why? Justify your action.

Relevant Resources for this case

There are several YouTube videos on Project Last Mile. Search on YouTube for most recent. You’ll find many descriptions of Project Last Mile as it is currently implemented in several African countries.

See https://www.usaid.gov/cii/project-last-mile (Links to an external site.) for USAID description of the partnership.

Instructions

• Please limit your write up to 3 pages, approximately 1100 words, 1.5 spacing, 12 point font. You can use bullet points in your response. There is no need to provide a narrative.
• Please number the pages of your submission.

Questions

• The original case written in 2016 takes the reader back to the pilot of Project Last Mile in Tanzania with the Medical Stores Department (MSD) in 2010. The project sponsors decided to focus on knowledge transfer rather than more direct support from Coca-Cola (e.g. transporting drug on Coca-Cola trucks). Was this a good decision? Justify your response.
• Think about an alternative of piggy-backing medical supplies on Coca-Cola trucks. Coca-Cola makes plenty of profit and can surely add a few more trucks to its fleet. Critique this approach.
• For Coca-Cola the Micro Distribution Centers provided the last mile logistics solution in Tanzania. List the pros and cons of using MDCs for medical and drug distribution. Suggest strategies to overcome the cons that you list.
• The Project Last Mile website https://www.projectlastmile.com/ (Links to an external site.) provides information on the 8 countries where PLM has been introduced. One country, Ghana, participated in PLM 2011-2013 while the other 7 countries continue to partner with Coca-Cola.
  • Were components of PLM incorporated into the drug distribution system in Ghana after 2013? Explore external resources to investigate why Ghana decided to leave PLM.
• Suggest a set of indicators for each partner in PLM – GFATM, USAID, Coca-Cola Company, BMGF – that can provide the evidence base for countries with poorly performing drug and medical supply systems to adopt the PLM approach. Suggest indicators of ‘success’ for each partner.
• What is the role of Coca-Cola in contributing to health problems like obesity, diabetes, tooth decay?
• What ethical issues are present in a partnership between an MOH and Coca-Cola?
• How would you market the partnership as a Minister of Health to the public at large in a given country?