Corporate strategy and business objectives (Michael Porter) - Case Study Example

An elimination process enables us to confirm that MDCM falls into the Efficient, Predictable Operators quadrant. To begin with, we are informed that MDCM did neither research and design (R&D) nor marketing. A company that is focused on using differentiation as its competitive strategy would typically be actively engaged in R&D. Secondly, the medical device manufacturing industry is not one defined by a relatively high rate of change partly due to the nature of its market and partly due to the high cost of medical devices.

The first overall strategic goal of MDCM is to bring down the company’s cost structure (more information would be required before we can specify by what percentage). From the case we are informed that MDCM had the worst operating and profit margins and also that its high internal costs did not allow it to price competitively against smaller, more efficient rivals (Jeffery and Norton 3). The CFO, Sharon Leis, confirm this where she states that MDCM had the least efficient cost structures in the industry.

In spite of its high cost structure we are informed that MDCM continued to excel in customer satisfaction (Jeffery and Norton 3). The second strategic goal of this company is reduce the time it takes for different business functions to access updated, relevant information in 24 hours or less. When gather from the case that it takes too long for both CFO and marketing and sales staff to get the information they need. CFO Sharon Leis laments that it takes her 45 days whereas the VP of marketing and sales Pat Perry complains that it takes his staff a week to get the relevant information.

This means that it takes too long before the organization devises a plan to tackle whatever threat or opportunity that may arise. The CEO Max McMullen realized that both of these overall strategic goals will depend a lot on the IT infrastructure and systems of the organization. For this purpose McMullen hired a CIO to