Whether the Company is an International or a Global Corporation
The Company can be characterised as both international and global depending on one’s perspective. It is a global business by the fact that its investments and operations are present in various countries. On this perspective, apart having central offices for higher level management and innovations, Medtronic Inc has localised some of its services and products to suit different customers in various market segments. However, to maintain a global presence in all markets, the company markets its product through the use of the same brands. On the other hand, it is an international company by simply being involved in exporting and importing businesses while in its home countries. Being a US Company, one should expect that products produced in its US facilities are exported to other countries. Therefore the company is both international and global (George and Kindred 1-2).
Reviewing the Company’s Mission Statement and Management Structure
Geographical Expansion and Investment
As a global company, Ishrak has made Medtronic to invest in China by acquiring the Kanghui Holdings, as its first acquisition in the country. Geographically, the company now maintains its presence in both emerging and developed countries. However, when he took over the helm, both developing and emerging markets were not doing well. Ishrak realised that one of the most probable cause was that the Chinese Industry was shifting from foreign made goods to local ones. By such acquisitions of the Kanghui industry he managed to cater for vascular market which was dwindling because foreign goods were too expensive to the majority of the population and they were not either preferable to premium segments (George and Kindred 1-5).
Global Operations
In globalising the company’s operations, Ishrak, uncovered sophisticated Patient Access Acceleration (PAA) software that made the company easy to pinpoint the barriers for the patients to adopt its products. The software has revealed encouraging results as it has provided local insights into how certain products are not being bought because of lack of accessibility and affordability. Therefore from the illustration, the company is ptrepared to localise some of its operations in foreign countries basing on the needs of their people. The software has made it very close to the customers due to the way it bridges communication between the company and them, so that each product it produces caters for their needs. The other operational centre is the Beijing Patient Care Centre which provides educational resources for people to be aware about their chronic diseases and conditions so that they can take necessary actions. In India, courtesy of the PAA program, the Healthy Heart for All Program has had patients’ demand for the company’s products to be possible, as due to their health insurances they could afford them in instalments. Despite such a big investment in emerging countries, the company has also come up with NayaMed to be a Europ-based business model that features innovation which suites high end customers. Nonetheless, in 2012 the company signed cost sharing contracts with various hospitals in Europe to increase its market share, by covering costs of pacemakers and cath lab depreciations (George and Kindred 10-18).
Global wise Innovation
Global corporations are always on the run to innovate to keep themselves at pace with dynamics of consumer needs and tastes. In this regard to ensure that there is constant flow of ideas so that current products are adjusted to the needs of consumers, the Company has instituted a Business Model. Based in Singapore, It will ensure that Medtronic undergoes smooth structural changes to increase people’s access to its products and services. As the nerve centre of the business, its group of consultants use the PAA software to identify various barriers so that new business model and product innovations can be designed and tested. Related to the Business Model is the Medtronic University which is supposed to offer specific training and development programs to participating physicians on its products (George and Kindred 12-25).
Global and International Marketing
On marketing, Ashrak has managed to come up with business model and strategic business unit for innovating differentiated products and services to suit the needs of various market segments in China, Europe and India to position the company as both global and international. Its Business Model has ensured that business come up with a management strategy that is compatible a certain region. In this regard, in relatively emerging markets, the company has allowed the customers to acquire its products on instalments through health insurance fund. Its strategic business unit ensures that the business continues to produce products that can easily be demanded by different customers due to affordability and accessibility, but at the same time catering for premium customers. However, apparently, the US market is declining most likely due to the company’s misappropriation of investment efforts to expand abroad. It is therefore important that the CEO develops and implements strategies that make it to set foot in the home market first. This could be through new capital infrastructure and equipment investments, employee training and research and development. It has also been seen that the company is not vigorous in its marketing, as some of its regional presidents claims that the new CEO spends a lot of time on internal operational issues rather than campaigning for its products. Vigorous marketing will increase the US market share which will lead the company to have higher revenues. It is important to note that the US market is the largest market with 55% of the company’s total sales volume. By this consideration, it is important the US Company considers being strong at home first. Once it becomes the market leader at home, it will be easier for it to command in the international market. This strategy will lead it to make strong global expansions in both emerging and developed markets (George and Kindred 1-25).
Work Cited
George, Bill and Kindred, Natalie. Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally. Harvard
Business School, 2013. Print.
