Introduction
The reason for this project is to analyze an established company. The statement will provide short background of the company and its culture, critical analysis of a venture and its own key people, key business model and business opportunities. The reader can see the research of the very most recent entrepreneurial thing that company do and major issues within the business. In conclusion you will see a methodical critic from an entrepreneurial prospective provided that causes the possible solutions for future.
Company Description
Stryker Firm is a medical technology business that develops and makes medical implants, medical technologies, disaster medical and patient handling equipment as well as execution bedrooms of the loss of life penalized people. They make their best effort by cooperating with their customers to run effective medical method and bring healthy lives back again to the patients. They are doing not merely make a product, but they also provide service to help people. Stryker is broadly established all round the earth and is split into numerous decentralized operational units, each accomplishing as a detached entity: Stryker Biotech, Stryker Canada, Stryker Communications, Stryker Craniomaxillofacial, Stryker Development, Stryker Endoscopy, Stryker Imaging, Stryker Japan, Stryker Latin America, Stryker MedSurg, Stryker Orthopaedics and Stryker Back. Venture is made on sustainability, making a long-term contribution in responsible manner to patients, suppliers and buyers, communities, corporate governance and stakeholders. Its products, locations and service contributions are diverse; hence there will vary types of motions within medical business that completely outline their public responsible habit.
Stryker was founded by Dr. Homer Stryker in 1941, an orthopedic doctor that investigated and designed new mechanisms. His inventions led Stryker to slowly integrate into the business and needs to gain capital Stryker was at the level of a tiny but well-built company. One invention after another and Stryker capitalized more belongings that gave a good start to enlargement and in 1964 the name of the business was modified to Stryker Organization.
Characteristics of the business enterprise opportunities
In the center of 19th century it was not too difficult to enter medical industry due to little amount of competition, thus nowadays analyzing Five Forces Treat it is hardly impossible to do so, regarding the simple fact that rivalry among existing companies is too high. Company started working in 1940's, prior to the beginning of World War 2, in their pre-mature stage of development Stryker has had a big increase in their demand. Dr. Homer Stryker was "in the right place, at the right time". Relating to venture's clearly defined opportunity, it could be stated that Stryker was never wanting to gain a container, he was thinking about increasing people's lives, thus taking risks. It could be evidently seen from a price created by Ronda Stryker, Dr. Homer's granddaughter: "My grandpa was ground breaking and took dangers. He was always seeking to improve what he previously and cared more about supporting people than he cared about the money he made" (Stryker, 2009).
In the previous century it was a great opportunity to start medical business that was weakly developed and unexamined, taking into consideration the actual fact that you would be willing to invest a whole lot of your capital on Research and development to progress.
Core business model
Next part describes Stryker's core business design by using the business model canvas which obviously states the key points which should be contained in a Business Model.
Key Partners: The main associates of Stryker Corp. are mainly the employees since they are the ones offering the products. The company attaches a significant importance to the close marriage between employees and clients. The primary goals for the employees is to understand the clients' needs also to provide them with what they need, but also because the employee is so closely related to the guest he's also the main one being innovative by recommending new ideas to be able to totally gratify clients demand.
The clients symbolize key companions as well. They can be mainly independent clinics and surgery centers. Stryker Corp. works with these medical centers to allow them to help patients in the most effective way.
Competitors are also among the key partners. You can find major and smaller competitors. Naturally Stryker Corp. comes with an edge since it was one of the first movers in this industry which is always concentrating on enhancing quality, service and innovation.
Stryker Corp. has quite strong established network with its suppliers. Company pays a great deal of attention on preserving these relationships to be able to ensure even working of business.
Key Activities: The primary activity of Stryker Corp. is sales of medical equipment such as clinic beds, functioning room devices and medical devices. The business has a very strong sales force since their workers work on fee, which highly motivates them to execute better. Stryker Corp. state governments that their sales procedure is concentrating on personal romantic relationships with specific decision makers.
The company also attaches an importance on marketing and Research and development activities, since the key aim of the business is to always be innovative and produce services and converse those products effectively with their customers. To carry out so, Stryker has participated in ad campaigns over the past few years. Company also provides its customers with a very in depth website.
Another key activity is preserving close relationship between the employee and the client that helps them preserve almost all of these customers and ensure that the world of medical is aware of what Stryker Corp. is providing.
Key resources: Here, once more, the main source of information of the company is its employees. For Stryker Corp. it's important to hire people who promote the same eye-sight concerning improve patients' lives as well as specialized medical efficiency and performance. The company ensures to supply them with a safe working environment, strong benefits, services compensation and personal growth opportunities. Stryker has received the Gallup work environment Award which rates them at the top working places on the world (Stryker, 2009).
Another key resource for the company is its knowledge and creativity. Within the last time Stryker Corp. has put in a significant amount into research and development to be able to always come up with the most advanced technology and the most performing products.
Other key resources are assets of the company, its technology, products and capital resources. Among the most crucial resources is the brand of the venture. Every one of the resources must deliver the worthiness proposition to the prospective group.
Value Proposition: Stryker Corp. focuses on having the highest quality standards in order to offer the best products to its customers. Listed below are the factors that Stryker relies on: product quality, performance standards and price.
Company wants to own top products in the as well as the service that complements it. In order to do so, employees receive special training programs that help them understand clients' needs and demands as well as how to have the ability to fulfill them is the most efficient way.
The design of products should be designed to reduce hazards, enhance health insurance and safe practices, but also to able the doctors to work faster and be more efficient. As stated above for Stryker Corp. value of its product is one of the key factors they concentrate on.
Customer Relationship: In comparison to others, Stryker Corp. has an extremely close relationship with their customers. This is done to comprehend them better also to be able to offer them what they are looking for. By having such an in depth relation clients feel special plus they become faithful to the business. As the CEO, Mr. Macmillan mentioned, "We don't just make "products", we make products and we provide services that help people" (Stryker, 2009). In this industry the relation between customers and business is of a higher importance, since along they can create more complex products that may add in healthy lives of a huge number of men and women worldwide.
Customer Sections: Stryker Corp. 's target market is known to be the medical professionals and medical providers that stand for a very high range demand. That is why the company is operating all over the world to remain the number one company of medical and health care devices.
Channels: Stryker manages through twelve developing and distributions divisions with over 15, 000 employees in 120 countries. Stryker has a decentralized system, with its head office in the U. S. and several offices throughout the world, that allows the business to make faster decisions about products and strategies. There is a direct communication between your company, suppliers and customers to make sure to provide them with fast and effective services.
Revenue Streams: Stryker Corp. 's main income are from its sales of medical devices. As mentioned before, the company is split into several departments the one with the best earnings being orthopedics. The company itself had sales of 6. 7 billion us dollars in 2008, with an annual sales development of 21%. Stryker is traded on the NYSE, it is one of the lot of money 400 companies in the world and top 50 Company available Week.
Cost Structure: The main costs of Stryker Corp. are mainly allocated in the study and development section. Company decided to invest mainly in this segment since it always needs to be the leading healthcare provider and it is highly important to keep up with the technology and to always make an effort to improve the medical system.
Innovation, risk-taking and pro-activity of the enterprise and its key people
Stryker Corp. is committed to the product quality and highly values innovation. Creativity is the essence of company's devotion with their clients. Research and development clubs are working carefully with the customers in order to understand their needs better and increase the products. The top part of invention process is the opinions from people that is conducted periodically. The Stryker Global Technology Centre is a core division that is working to boost the creativity to reduce costs while increasing quality. The key person in this area is Ray Umber, Ph. D. , business development administrator at Stryker. He developed several innovative ideas that led Stryker to the most notable place in certain industry segments and today he providing others an chance to learn from his experience through training and practice (Stryker, 2009).
From enough time when the company was established it is apparent that risk-taking is a huge part of all operations. Initial hazards are connected directly to the risky character of the industry. One of the most recent examples of risk-taking was the decision to change the perspective of the company after many years of operating. There's also hazards associated with decisions of widening the business through acquisitions, joint ventures and partnerships.
Over the time line of Stryker Corp. it is noticeable how pro-active the project is. Acquisitions play a big role in company's growth. Stryker Corp. strategically increases into related companies to increase its products offering and get access to new resources and technologies. Over last year company obtained numerous projects that are essential ventures for future success. That is also a high risk, since acquisitions require big amount of capital expenditures. Predicated on the financial situation on the globe due to the 2008 problems, such decisions is seen as risky. However, Stryker orients on long-term strategy where these acquisitions are important. Proactive programs are also taking place on small level inside the company. This past year, Stryker Corp. offered the program Proactive Distributor Selling that gives professionals the ability and capacity to "better develop, manage, and mentor distributor relationships to increase sales training results" (n. a. , 2009).
Proactive approach is seen throughout all divisions of the business, from supply chains, developing to sales. Company is adapting changes on a regular basis with a goal of improving functions and value of the business enterprise. The present CEO of Stryker Corp. , Stephen MacMillan is a perfect exemplory case of a proactive leader. He leads the company through the change time, clarifies the reason why and future movements, motivates visitors to adapt and react to these changes.
Traits and characteristics associated of the business's key people
There are three key people throughout the annals of Stryker Corp. : three CEOs who led the business to the success and who acquired different attributes and characteristics, which makes them successful business owners.
First one who deserves an acknowledgement is the first CEO, Dr. Homer Stryker. He was the main one who started the business being motivated by his passion and affinity for improving patients' health care. He was a very innovative person, a lot of his ideas became hallmarks in the industry of medical equipment nowadays. During his work as a medical expert he encountered few problems and difficulties that he found as opportunities for improvement. One of the primary reasons of his success and success of his product was the fact that he was doing what he liked, what he was passionate about. He thought that his inventions will change the medical practice in a much better way. He understood how to check out his business from customers' perspective, therefore his products were always a match of their needs. Because of his accomplishments Stryker Corp. grew and became an international manufacturer of medical equipment and medical products.
Second remarkable person is John Brown. His time as the CEO of an company was well known by quite different achievements than his predecessor. John Dark brown was a risk-taker, he made decisions to decentralize the company after a long time being centralized. He saw big future for Stryker Corp. which step was necessary at the time. He was a good planner who knew how to motivate people giving them empowerment and obligations. Under his management people of the sales team got alternatives to become involved into creation of innovative products because of the good knowledge of customers. His 20% forever guideline led the business to the new heights. John Brown developed the competitive benefit for Stryker Corp. that still will serve the company. He had an ability to foresee, to manage company smartly, he kept the company heading towards success.
One of the key people in the business today and the example of successful entrepreneur is Stephen MacMillan, today's CEO of Stryker Corp. He would like to move the company further and develop its operating field. He is passionate about nurturing the level and frequently surpasses his own ambitious goals. As well as John Dark brown he got a high-risk decision of changing the vision of the business. This is a fundamental change that requires a lot of effort to have success. For Stephen MacMillan, "it's all about coaching his team to stay prior to the load up" (Much, 2006). He has a great capacity to stimulate people, to manage company's resources smartly, plan everything one step forward. He creates a positive image for Stryker Corp. , gets involved in company's affairs and builds sturdy reputation for himself and company as a whole.
Company's culture, ideals, vision and mission
Stryker Corp. is the global head in medical technology industry with the long record of success and strongly founded culture. Success of the venture lays in willpower, stamina, ability to identify the opportunities in the market, move quickly and adjust to current changes.
Furthermore, culture differs from company to company and it is usually established effortlessly. Every time when people come together with the shared purpose culture is established. Stryker Corp. 's culture was changing throughout days gone by, different set of values and incentives were created for employees, with try to boost the overall financial performance of the company and recreate the benefits to patients, shareholders, community and its own employees. Today these are focused on technology, improving the quality of the products in order to develop trust and integrity.
According to their mission affirmation:
"What counts most to us and also to our customers is quality technology and cost. Those are three areas how exactly we are providing for today and buying future" (Stryker, 2009). Company's strong financial and management position place the expectation for its products even higher and regarding to that company has to find the way to exceed customer targets. Additionally, one of the main principles and components in the Stryker Corp. 's culture is sustainability. Organization believes to make differences by partnering with their customers and providing them effective medical care system to be able to improve health with their patients. It has built up strong believes and attitudes with their employees that present the essence for their future expansion. Regarding to Striker Corp. they "do not only make products - our systems, solutions and services are focused on improving the people's life" (Stryker, 2009). They strive to develop and manufacture products that may sustain the surroundings and its own resources. With being sustainable in that demanding and vigilant industry where in fact the space to make fault is highly minimized, company's sustainable commitment and responsibility is put on the best level. One of the key values is being Social Responsible Company in everything what business will. Venture functions as corporate citizen with strong commitment to the individual health care by producing the safe products, high quality instrumentation and implants, wanting to minimize the negative influence on the environment, encouraging the humanitarian missions and enhancing quality of life for patients. Accumulating the trust with customers and patients is everything what sociable responsibility is. In addition, vision statement that displays the power tool to retain people with continuous shared principles was changing before with Stryker Corp. as well.
Today Stryker Corp. emphasizes on ethics and their eye-sight is: "producing products which enhance the lives of patients, providing employees with a challenging and worthwhile work environment, aiding the communities where we operate, and making exceptional results for our shareholders" (Stryker, 2009). Stryker Corp. is not simply profit oriented as it was before. Now the fundamental part of its success is the actual fact that company became more efficient and sociable sensible. Stryker is everything what entrepreneurship is. It had been found by Dr. Homer Stryker and his ground breaking idea that allowed Stryker to be become what it is today, the first choice in medical technology. Stryker Corp. consists of sense of creativity and constant risk taking that is associated on the daily basis since it is operating in a very sensible environment.
Evaluation of failures
Stryker Corp. is a strong believer in ethics and bringing the special soul within its visitors to remain competitive, make changes and win over the long term. For their strong reputation in such very sensitive industry, where one fault or product defect could leave undesired implications on the image and brand, failures aren't tolerated. Taking the case of Surgical Navigation System, where there is a reasonable possibility a product could cause health problems or even create repercussions leading to fatality, Stryker Corp. recalled the product and halted its usage. This gave the business bad publicity, but it responded fast by taking out all products from the marketplace and arranging repair for all of them. Crucial fact is that in this case Stryker Corp. assumed its responsibility and closely cooperated with public, special control organizations and auditors. Following this company became even more cautious and increased security and safety measurements in order to minimize the risks preventing negative effects that can reduce their performance in a demanding and competitive market.
Recent entrepreneurial thing
Apart from the essential change of the business's perspective that was talked about previously, one of the primary changes, which occurred within Stryker Corp. in 2009 2009, was that the Stryker star, John W. Brown, retired from the table of directors. As mentioned previously he was one of the biggest influences towards the growth of the company. With his old age the company decided to hire two more directors to displace his position in the plank.
One of the new participants, Mr. Howard Lance is a ex - chairman, President and CEO of Harris Company, which centered its businesses mainly on telecommunications. The reason for this recruitment was to use his experience and knowledge within the Hong Kong market, where he has lived and worked well since Stryker's 2010 goal was to increase in the Chinese market.
The second gentleman, Mr. Srikant Datar is a former teacher of Harvard Business College, who already brings new perspectives towards the team, especially on the emerging market segments. However, mainly his responsibility will rest in getting new entrepreneurial ideas for the bio-tech field of the business.
The reason this recruitment is the most entrepreneurial thing the company did in the past year is because it will bring a new point of view and help the company grow better in the years ahead.
Since the company is currently facing results of the economical problems something entrepreneurial had to be organized for the business to distinguish from your competition and persuade with their goal of being number one in the medical industry.
Idea of hiring a former telecommunication CEO may not seem to be much related to the medical industry, but from an entrepreneurial part of notice brings new ideas and dangers, which will lead the business towards progress.
Major problem in the venture
The significant problem area not for Stryker Corp. only, but also for most organizations about the world, is the turmoil. Looking at past years, Stryker has always acquired a significant expansion rate, even in 2007 and 2008. In 2009 2009, however, it transformed. Stryker only maintained a growth rate of 0. 1% in sales and 4% in earnings per share. As Mr. MacMillan claims in the 2009 2009 annual record, "Clearly, this isn't the type of revenue and cash flow progress our shareholders have historically expected from us, and we will never be happy with providing results like these" (Stryker, 2009), indicating these numbers aren't up to the satisfaction level in order to meet their goals. On the other hand he also says that "2009 experienced similar to a boxing match. We travelled toe-to-toe with a volatile global current economic climate, rolled with some market place punches, moved quickly and battled back" (Stryker, 2009). Here he is describing how troublesome the entire year was for the company in terms of keeping it up to the particular level expected by the shareholders.
The turmoil itself is the major problem. But within the crisis, sub-problems are located like the reality it leaves the market place within an unstable condition, where customers are afraid to buy products. The most common solution is to create better and lower the costs. Stryker Corp. do just that. The problem was that the quality decreased. The FDA (Food & Medicine Supervision) has over time become stricter in regulating the medical industry which affected Stryker Corp. by obtaining three warning letters after their quality on products. The grievances mainly dwelling address their biotech and hip implant sector. Company was also accused for falsified hospital documentation, which is not simply a quality problem, but becomes a PR problem. Competition is also a significant indicator in the challenge of cutting your costs. The medical industry is highly competitive industry, particularly when it comes to enhancements that increase quality and safeness. Innovations, on the other hands, require big capital expenditures. To stay competitive Stryker Corp. acquired to further spend money on this sector. The last problem in the year 2009 is the fact Stryker Corp. has some elements of a decentralized company (recent business is cross types between centralized and decentralized framework), which makes it difficult to carry out the same plan towards preventing the crisis in every working countries.
Possible solution and evaluation
The next step in the challenge analysis is to identify possible alternatives towards the problem in order to accomplish better results in 2010 2010. The recommendations are listed below:
Keep the functions because they are, since the market will increase by itself completely 2010.
Increase expenses on increasing the quality
Decrease production costs in order to decrease price
Fully centralize the company
Invest more in innovations to improve competitive advantage
Hire a specialist, who are able to ensure the grade of the products being produced
Increase PR spending to boost the company's image
In order to find best-match solution, most of them have to be evaluated. The first point can be good, if their market analyst is correct. On the other hand, the market is unpredictable in most cases, therefore, the business would take on a risk by third, statement of growth. Thus, first option is not a valid answer to the problem. Second possible solution predicated on the actual fact that quality was the major sub-problem that arose from the crisis which is essential to ensure both PR and customer commitment. Therefore, this program is highly recommended. Next option outlines a theory that is clearly a "must do" to any company's future success. Lessening production cost should be a major part to be able to achieve economies of range, but decreasing that should not be considered a reason for reducing the price, because once the recession should come to a finish, the business will benefit more from devoid of changed the price. Solution number 4 4 can be an utter no-go solution. A major change such a centralizing the business in the changing times of turmoil will just bring more trouble and confusion then there is already. In addition, if the communication is strong, your choice making towards changes on the market will be identified much faster in a decentralized company or cross. Alternative #5 5 is typically not the best answer in this case. In the times of crisis there is no need to further increase shelling out for innovations & most likely that opponents will not undertake it either since every company is wanting to manage their expenses properly. However, it generally does not mean that development segment must be neglected since it is one of the key elements in this industry. Probably the most realistic solution is number 6 6 in conditions of sustaining the quality of the products produced and redistributed. It is always helpful to have someone from beyond your company to provide opinions upon the merchandise and basic operations. Last option would also not add towards the major problem of fighting the problems, since it could mean more expenses, which indirectly plays a part in growth.
To finalize after the options examined above, the suggestion for Stryker Corp. would be to hire a specialist and continuously make an effort to decrease costs. The expert would ensure higher quality and ultimately increase in company's image since fewer customers would have complaints upon the products. In addition, with consultant's help, reduced number or no warning letters from the FDA can be achieved. To be able to come back to the growth expected by shareholders, our advice is to constantly decrease costs and in so doing achieve economies of range.
Conclusion
Stryker Corp. is a significant company in the world's medical device industry and not an individual business any longer, as it sometimes appears from entrepreneurial point of view. However, its key people and their activities are exceptional from this viewpoint. This venture comes with an organized structure, clear goals and goals that drive company towards ongoing growth. Based on evaluation of central business model and major issues that Stryker Corp. has today, you may still find many business opportunities that can be undertaken and recommendations provided will contribute in the foreseeable future success.
