The purpose of this paper is basically to devise a marketing plan for company that produces hydrophilic intermittent catheters. The company that has been chose for this marketing plan is Astra Tech Dental Implants which also specializes in manufacturing catheters. The company produces two very different products; however, the two products hold great significance in the medical science and technology today because of the fact that they help doctors and patients to solve medical problems efficiently, effectively and with much lesser pain then before.
The information that has been collected for the report is based on online search and review of different books written on the hydrophilic catheters. Annual reports of the company have also been reviewed in order to get the financial figures for the company for the current year. The report will start with an executive summary and then it will take into account seven distinct sections of the marketing plan that will explain how the company markets its products. Executive Summary Being a medical equipment manufacturer, Astra tech’s marketing strategy will be to target its core customers rather then marketing massively.
For this purpose, the company has segmented hospitals, pharmacies and those people who are very much concerned about their life and health. The company has targeted these segments because of the fact that the core buyers of the company will be mostly hospitals and pharmacies who must be convinced of the fact that the company has the potential to manufacture and provide quality, hygienic and technically advanced equipment. Marketing to health conscious customers is also important because these customers will actually determine the demand for the company’s products via hospitals and pharmacies when they will go and ask for catheters.
The simple mission and goal of the company is to enhance quality of life for users and patients. Further more the companies goals are to provide its employees with a safer work environment, and lower health care costs for the whole society. Although the mission of the company is apparently very precise, however, when analyzing this mission statement with a bit more detail, it is seen that the reason for the company’s success in the catheter market around the world is due to this very mission statement.
The company is committed to provide best medical facilities for users and patients who will reduce their problems related to injuries, health, hygiene and quality to a very large extent. The company recognizes and surveys for all the problems that the customers face while using catheters and thus, it innovates newer and improved products constantly in order to meet the demands of the consumers.
Moreover, the company’s goal to give its employees a perfect work environment enables it to provide its employees an opportunity to innovate and be creative in the most efficient way. When employees are not satisfied, their output cannot be maximized, thus the company allows its employees to dare to question, think in new ways and promotes employees to work collectively for the betterment of the company, users and thus the whole society. Coming on to the financial side, the annual reports of the company show the figures of $325 MEUR as the revenues of the company.
The company currently has around 2100 employees out of which most of the employees are highly qualified engineers and the rest are technical experts handling machines and the manufacturing process. The most important strength of the company is that it is the pioneer and innovator of the hydrophilic intermittent catheter and it was the first one to market it in 1983. Since then the company has been committed to improve its products and become a market leader.
The most important weakness of the company is that it has many competitors in the market. Although it is the most well known, still the other competitors are also giving the company a tough competition by lowering their costs through increased sales in off-shore markets (Luther, 2001). The current market situation for catheters is on the boom and hydrophilic intermittent catheters have captured a lot of market share as compared to other types of catheters world wide.
The company has planned to educate and inform users and patients of the use fullness of these types of catheters through marketing campaigns which include workshops and seminars. The future of the product is also not bleak because the company is expanding its operations in different countries especially the third world countries where urological diseases are increasing day by day and consumers demand high tech and easy to use technology. This paper will discuss a number of components of marketing that include: