An exploratory survey of current practice in the medical device industry

Purpose – This study seeks to examine the extent to which mainstream tools and strategies are applied in the medical devices sector, which is highly fragmented and contains a high percentage of small companies, and to determine if company size impacts on manufacturing strategy selection.Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was developed and disseminated through a number of channels. Responses were received from 38 companies in the UK and Ireland, describing 68 products taken to market in the past five years.Findings – Because of the limited scope of the survey, the findings are indicative rather than conclusive, and interesting trends have emerged. New to the world products were much more likely to exceed company expectations of market success compared to derivative products. It was found that the majority of these innovative products were developed by small companies. Large companies appear to favour minor upgrades over major upgrades even though these prove – on the data presented – to be less ...

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