Medtronics Case Study - Essay Example

Recommendation Once going through the case study, it is not difficult to extract a group of problem present in the company, which are linked in such a way that climbing of one problem leads to increase in remaining existing problem. These setbacks comprises of breakup of coordination among the functions, substandard of product development - too many ideas to work on and slow pace of accumulating resources to keep up with the competitors, projects were not given focus and attendance they needed to thrive and production of malfunctioned pacemakers.

Immediate actions were needed to cope up with the falling reputation of the firm, if the falling statistics were any indication. If skim through the problems, it can be said that what they needed the most was to prioritize their innovation projects. However, initially coordination among the departments is required. A firm is defined from a market because coordination, learning and communication is not doe physically but on a mental level too (Kogut, Bruce, and Udo, 1996). The functional manager, in the first place, should not have zeroed their attention on only their job description but, flow of ideas and communication was to be regulated.

Their second and most crucial complication was product development. (Leonard-Barton, 1992) talks about the core capabilities of a firm, which helps it to focus on the interaction with new product and process development projects. Thus, Medtronic should indulge technical systems, skills, managerial system and core rigidities to push out the innovation into the market.As knowledge is shared imperfectly across organization, employee, departments and market, ideas from one to another can solve innovation and development problem, but only if connection is prompt and timed (Hargadon, Andrew, and Sutton, 1997).

Furthermore, as progress is made in product, it should be counterchecked at all crucial levels through speed, cost, innovativeness and quality. With the aid of these measures, company can make sure that the resources are available on time, every project is given attention one at a time, slow movers and lazy workers would not be tolerated and quality is above the consumer’s expectation.Furthermore, steps such as New Product Development (NPD) practices should be rigorously followed and Research and Development (R&D) departments needed to be given more recognition and awareness to innovate products (Wind, Jerry, and Vijay, 1997).

Moving toward their last complication, the defaulted pace maker hinted that quality control and is direly needed in the firm. As shown in the case study this malfunction was one of the main reasons for decrease in the market share from 70% to 29% in 16 years. Reliability, validity and trust are some major factors along with technological advancement and course (Kaizen) to ensure quality of products (Dunbar, Stephen, Daniel, and Hiram, 1991). Henceforth, as aforementioned a flow of communication and sharing of knowledge are some very useful tactics to ensure that quality of product is being revised and upgrades on a regular basis.

Along with some of these problems solving solution, other steps such regarding commitment to be sacred, creating urgency within the organization and making employees happy can also have positive and fruitful effect on the company’s performance. Work CitedKogut, Bruce, and Udo Zander. "What firms do? Coordination, identity, and learning." Organization science 7.5 (1996): 502-518.Wind, Jerry, and Vijay Mahajan. "Editorial: issues and opportunities in new product development: an introduction to the special issue.

" Journal of Marketing Research (1997): 1-12.Hargadon, Andrew, and Robert I. Sutton. "Technology brokering and innovation in a product development firm." Administrative science quarterly (1997): 716-749.Leonard‐Barton, Dorothy. "Core capabilities and core rigidities: A paradox in managing new product sdevelopment." Strategic management journal 13.S1 (1992): 111-125.Dunbar, Stephen B., Daniel M. Koretz, and Hiram D. Hoover. "Quality control in the development and use of performance assessments.

" Applied measurement in education 4.4 (1991): 289-303.