Strategy for maxim in medical technology

Abstract

Maxim is a multi-national company which makes highly integrated, analog and mixed-signalsemiconductors. Medical technology applications and solutions are one of the fields where Maximoperates and wants to increase its concentration. However, Maxim has no direct contact with the enduser of this equipment: its customers are usually the manufacturers and not the end users, like patientsand doctors. Maxim functions in a predominantly business-to-business environment and is two levelsremoved from the users.Given this scenario, there is a gap between what the final consumer might need and Maxim’sunderstanding of these requirements. Maxim needs to first know how important their business is in theentire supply chain of this industry. They also need to interface with end users to make improvements intheir current designs.This report has been divided into three sections. The first part introduces the purpose of this study, andexplains what has been done in the project. This part then details the products Maxim manufacturesand takes a look at how the company is structured. Next, Maxim’s customers are studied, both in termsof their geographical distribution as well as their spread across industry types.Then the supply chain of Maxim has been explained. This is important in understanding some of the keychallenges that Maxim faces in determining what strategy it must adopt. With this basic understanding,Maxim’s operations in the Indian context and key players it interacts with have then been elaborated.This section sets the background for the field-work that has been done in this study, which the secondpart focuses on. The second part is a detailed account of our interactions with doctors working in theprimary healthcare segment. These interviews form the core of this study and hence cannot berelegated to the annexure. The purpose of these interactions was to gain an insight into the equipmentscommonly used by these doctors.Next, these doctors were also asked about whether they have any unmet needs in the day to day carethey administer to their patients. We then attempted to find out whether there were any constraintsthey had (such as cost, space, etc.) which limited the number or choice of the equipments that theywere able to use in their clinics. Finally, open ended questions were posed to them to get an idea of thegeneral pain points that they faced in the course of their work.Through the insights obtained through these interactions, certain patterns were visible. These havebeen summarised in the third section of this report. Based on these inferences arrived at, we haveproposed a course of action to be adopted by Maxim in the medical equipments industry. This wouldhelp them serve the end consumer (the doctors, care givers and patients) better without having to relyon their immediate customers (medical equipment manufacturers) for data. This would also have thebenefit of differentiating Maxim from the rest of its competitors. In the larger picture, due to the natureof this exploratory research and its focus on providing healthcare to the largest number of people, thefuture efforts of Maxim in this area have the potential to positively affect several lives.