Case Study: Challenge in one of world’s fastest growing markets

A successful expansion growth strategy for a medical device company

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Abstract

China and India together account for a third of the world’s population. Both are experiencing booming economies fueled by a burgeoning middle class. Until recently, a global medical devices manufacturer had primarily focused on offering premium products to affluent customers. But in order to achieve its aggressive growth goals, the business needed to broaden its reach to include the rapidly expanding middle class. Company executives had tried to develop a middle-market strategy for China and India in the past – without success.

The Challenge

Deloitte helped develop a new strategy to capitalize on this middle-class growth. Specific challenges included:

Developing a solution for diametrically opposite health systems. China is largely government controlled while India is largely driven by entrepreneurial doctors with vastly different needs.
Identifying stakeholder unmet needs. Physicians, providers (hospitals), payors (insurance companies or government) and distributors have very different motives, incentives and hurdles.
Defining product platforms. Pricing (cost) pressure entailed developing solutions that would lower the effective cost of surgeries without compromising the safety or efficacy of products.
Determining the appropriate sales and support model. Middle-market hospitals have poor infrastructure, lack financing and have a low level of doctors’ skills, requiring our client to think in a fundamentally different way to deliver professional education, sales and after-sales support.

How We Helped

Deloitte’s project team met the challenge by creating a strategy and road map that identified initial market entry points and a clear path to larger, more profitable long-term opportunities. We conducted more than 700 interviews in India and China across the stakeholders groups. With Deloitte’s assistance, the company:

Shifted its attitude from a product-centric approach to examining its entire operating model
Understood the product, pricing and sales/support needs of this middle-market
Evaluated its “develop vs. acquire” product options
Committed to investing in the region to maintain its overall market leadership position

Solution

A new approach to developing a go-to-market strategy, which included evaluating both product and operating models, helped unify corporate and regional leadership to make definite decisions on a plan to generate nearly several billion dollars in incremental revenue over the next decade.

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