The company that I chose to focus on is Stryker Corporation. Stryker is best known for their development of orthopedic products and implants, patient handling and emergency medical equipment, to name a few. SWOT Analysis is a way of evaluating the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats that affect the company. One of Stryker's strengths is its key attention to innovation. In 2013, the company acquired Mako Surgical and produced the Makoplasty robot which assists in partial nee or total hip arthroplasty. Another strength to consider would be their business in reconstructive products which accounts for 45% of their current earnings. A weakness for the company from a student standpoint would include the regard of their product recalls. In June of 2012, Stryker recalled their ABGII modular hip implants for metal on metal contact which caused adverse effects within the patient's hip joints similar to the Johnson & Johnson case. Another weakness within this company resides in their overseas actions in the European countries. The European countries have been affected due to the European economy as well as the debt crisis.

Potential opportunities that exist for Stryker Corporation include their strong salesmenship within the US. The increasing number of senior population and number of people with healthcare will be able to access markets. If Stryker would expand their operations further overseas into China or India they would be able to develop higher growth. A threat worth mentioning would be the number of incidents the company has been involved in regarding recalls which will/have result[ed] in probable litigation. Due to the Medical Excise tax, Stryker and many other companies will now have to account for this change.

What company would you choose to analyze, alexandrabuga?

I would pick Intuitive Surgical. Intuitive Surgical is a leader in minimally invasive robotic-assisted surgery, especially known for the da Vinci systems. They have the most units in operation among robotic systems. Today, there are more than 4,100 Intuitive Surgical da Vinci systems installed at hospitals globally, and those systems were used to perform 750,000 surgeries in 2016, up 15% from 2015.
Strengths-Intuitive Surgical dominates the robotic surgery market with their quality robotics. They have close relationships with doctors and hospitals and come out as a market leader globally and are able to profit on training for surgeons. Sales of da Vinci instruments and accessories and service revenue were $1.4 billion and $517 million last year, respectively. Overall, Intuitive Surgical reported $735 million in net income last year.
Weaknesses- da Vinci systems are very expensive. Expensive to develop and expensive for hospitals. They also require a lot of training, which can be time consuming and although it is supposed to be "intuitive". Safety-Intuitive Surgical recently avoided a class-action lawsuit over the da Vinci robot after plaintiffs claimed that the robot left tiny metallic particles in the body that eventually made their way to the brain.
Opportunities-Increases in the number of robotic surgeries being performed and development of da Vinci systems which allows it to be used for a number of applications which is also growing internationally. In addition there are increases in services which are required for training surgeons.
Threats- Intuitive is still the market leader for robotic surgeries, but as stated before even though they are able to used for multiple applications-they are competing with other companies that have robotic devices for a particular procedure. Just today (October 17th) NASDAQ released an article stating" Intuitive Surgical 's (NASDAQ: ISRG) robots enjoy a near monopoly in hospitals, but that could change following last week's FDA approval of TransEnterix 's (NYSEMKT: TRX)  Senhance. Senhance is a robotic system that assists surgeons performing laparoscopic surgeries. It offers advantages, including haptic feedback, that could differentiate it from Intuitive Surgical's da Vinci system."

Overall, Intuitive Surgical' Strengths and Opportunities out way the Weaknesses and Threats. It will be interesting to see if this TransEnterix will become a real threat and if Intuitive's monopoly in ORs ends.

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/a-tiny-upstart-takes-aim-at-robotic-surgery-cm861087
http://www.massdevice.com/intuitive-surgical-dodges-class-action-lawsuit-da-vinci-robot-assisted-surgery-device/

The company that I focused on is Medtronic, Inc., a medical technology company. This company specializes in manufacturing, development, and marketing of medical devices as well as services and therapies for use in treating chronic ailments like spinal conditions, heart diseases, diabetes, vascular diseases, and so forth. The three strategic priorities for this company are globalization, therapy innovation, and economic value creation. SWOT is an acronym that stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Medtronic Inc. uses SWOT analysis to create an overview of its strategic situation. It is SWOT analysis is as follows:
Strengths: The strengths of Medtronic include innovation, employee retention and satisfaction, global growth, and brand name recognition. They describe the positive attributes of the company.
Weaknesses: The weaknesses of Medtronic include a lot of government investigations and over-reliance (more than 50%) on the United States markets. These are areas that need to be improved if the company is to compete with its competitors.
Opportunities: Opportunities for Medtronic include access to care as it champions the largest access to healthcare worldwide. Another opportunity is product quality. It needs to ensure that their products conform to the highest safety standards. Other opportunities include ethics in marketing and sales, product stewardship, and responsible sourcing.
Threats: These are factors beyond the control of the company. Some raw materials and components can only be obtained from one supplier, and this poses a threat to Medtronic if the supply is interrupted with. Another threat that Medtronic faces is that if it fails to comply with the relevant legislation or meet the quality standards, its reputation could be damaged. A damaged reputation would mean loss of customers and revenues.

The medical device company I chose to look at is Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Johnson is a major global healthcare company that has many different divisions, which include consumer products, medical devices, and pharmaceutical products. The company’s main goal is to care for the world and is always working on innovation. With SWOT analysis, we can determine a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Strengths: Johnson & Johnson has worldwide sales that are growing continuously. They have plans prepared to expand further geographically and in market solutions. They use the flexible business model so then they can adjust fast to any changes within the market. In addition, with the model, Johnson & Johnson has been able to work on its innovations in medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare, putting them higher than their competitors.
Weaknesses: An issue that provides weakness for the company is the cost of their pharmaceutical products. There have been protests to some of Johnson & Johnson’s products, which have hurt their standing.
Opportunities: Johnson & Johnson has a major opportunity in crossing their products between the different divisions in their company. For instance, they have the chance to create products that can be sold between the pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and consumer products. In addition, some countries are not open to generic medicines, which is beneficial to Johnson & Johnson.
Threats: A major threat that Johnson & Johnson faces is with regulatory approval. Also, there have been recalls for some of the products, which does not help the company’s reputation.
Using the SWOT analysis, a company can see where improvements can be made, and how to prevent from further damage in their marketing.

https://businessteacher.org.uk/swot/johnson-and-johnson.php

Strengths
Being the world’s leading online retailer, Amazon derives its strengths strategic advancement it has achieved on cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. This strategy has resulted in the company reaping the gains from this course of action and has helped its shareholders derive value from the company.
Amazon primarily derives its competitive advantage from leveraging IT (Information Technology) and its use of e-Commerce as a scalable and an easy to ramp up platform that ensures that the company is well ahead of its competitors.
Weakness
As Amazon offers free shipping to its customers, it is in the danger of losing its margins and hence, might not be able to optimize on costs because of this strategy.
Considering the fact that Amazon is an online only retailer, the single-minded focus on online retailing might “come in the way” of its expansion plans particularly in emerging markets.
Opportunities:
By rolling out its online payment system, Amazon has the opportunity to scale up considerably considering the fact that concerns over online shopping as far as security and privacy are concerned.
Another opportunity, which Amazon can capitalize on, relates to it rolling out more products under its own brand instead of being a forwarding site for third party products. In other words, it can increase the number of products under its own brand instead of merely selling and stocking products made by its partners.
Threats:
One of the biggest threats to Amazon’s success is the increasing concern over online shopping because of identity theft and hacking which leaves its consumer data exposed. Therefore, Amazon has to move quickly to allay consumer concerns over its site and ensure that online privacy and security are guaranteed.

Because of its aggressive pricing strategies, the company has had to face lawsuits from publishers and rivals in the retailing industry. The obsessive focus on cost leadership that Amazon follows has become a source of trouble for the company because of the competitors being upset with Amazon taking away the business from them.

SWOT Analysis Philips Healthcare:
Philips Mission "Improving people's lives through meaningful innovation." .Philips branches in 60 countries and they selling products to over than 100 countries.Philips very successful in medical imaging technology – CT, MRI and ultrasound.
other products: X-ray, Nuclear medicine, Patient monitoring, and medical supplies...
Strengths in the SWOT Analysis of Philips :
1- Strong market position across all segments: Philips is present in diversified segments; healthcare, lighting and consumer lifestyle. This has landed Philips into top 100 world’s most valuable brands in the world.
2- Strong focus on R&D (research & development): Philips has over 50 operational R&D centers spread in Asia Pacific, Latin America and North America. Philips has invested heavily on its R&D which has reaped benefits for Philips with its innovative solutions in all its segments which give it a competitive advantage.
3- Strong brand recognition.
4- Financially stable 14.3 billion dollars in sales in 2011.
5- Offering refurbished medical equipment to reduce financial strain on healthcare organizations.

Weaknesses in the SWOT Analysis of Philips :
1- Product Recalls in recent times: Philips has had to recall several of its products in the recent time. For instance, recalling Halogen bulbs due to safety concerns. Such recalls affect brand image as well as causing financial concerns.
2- Legal Complaints: Philips has received more than 50 class action suits in the recent years. Many of these are still under investigation. Such issues affect the image of the brand.

Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis of Philips :
1- E-Commerce Growth: The emergence of online retail and trading across the world has opened various options for businesses around the world. Philips operates an online store at Philips-store.com and is expecting to increase sales substantially through its online portal.

2- The growth of Healthcare IT Market: The global healthcare IT market has shown positive growth driven by technology like mobile applications etc. The global healthcare IT market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6% till 2020. Since Philips is well positioned in the healthcare IT market, it set to benefit from the growth.

3- Growing male grooming market: Philips has various electronics products in the men’s grooming around the world and is set to benefit from the growing demand of male grooming market which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8% till 2019.

Threats in the SWOT Analysis of Philips :
1- Competitive Business Environment: Philips competes with various multi-national companies around the world. Its major competitors are Samsung, LG, SIEMENS, GE healthcare and Sony . in electronics segment. In healthcare, it faces tough competition from NeuroLogica Corporation. Such strong competition limits market share and requires strong effort in R&D to maintain market share and customer base.

2- Counterfeit goods: The whole consumer electronics industry faces a big threat from counterfeit goods which not only affects sales but also damages the brand image.

3- Rising labor costs: The labor cost is rising in the Europe which has affected the profitability model of all labor intensive industries in the Europe. This makes a significant dent in the company’s margins.

https://prezi.com/n21cumegjm_6
https://www.marketing91.com

I will choose Simens Healthcare to do the SWOT analysis
First, for the strengths
The Simen Healthcare is the pioneer of technology-driven services, their market leadership through innovation and has presence in industry, Energy, Healthcare, Infrastructure, and Cities. Their financial excellence and stability. There are over 400,000 employees worldwide shows its commanding global position, operates in about 180 companies and has operations in over 190 countries.Their strong advertising and marketing through sports and lifestyle events, sponsorships online media, TVCs etc make it a high recall brand.
The second is Weaknesses.
The dependence on third-party providers can affect operational efficiency. And only few allegation of corruption in the corporate environment by individuals hit the headlines.
The thrid is Opportunities.
Siemens Healthcare can expand market share in emerging markets. Their strategic acquisitions, partnerships, and collaborations can also expand the company. They are still setting up of institutions worldwide for in-house solutions. And the most important is the increase in demand for electricity and related services and products.
The last is the Threats.
In my opinion, the most serious are the strict govt policies and environmental regulation affect operations.
What's more, the economic fluctuations and currency devaluations affect the financial performance as it is an international company

I select a company that design ophthalmological surgical tools, the name is NovOculi. NovOculi employs a method involving iontophoresis, an ionic dye, and a wavelength-specific laser to accomplish effective refraction without the troublesome destruction of epithelium.

Strengths

Patented technology: they have patents on Non Invasive Corneal Sculpting and two novel devices.
FDA approval
Principal expertise: their principal have extensive experience with refractive correction techniques.

Weaknesses

Lack of funding: they need equity investments for funding the first two years of operation
High costs: the refractive laser required for NICs procedures is expensive and not easy to get

Opportunities

Untapped market: Only 0.6% of the available market has had laser refractive surgery
Fast growth: The demand for laser refractive surgery has been doubling each year

Threats

Competition: External visual aids and non surgical procedures are strong competitors to the market
price erosion: The premium they can charge is based on the price of exiting surgery options

SWOT Analysis for Boston Scientific -

Boston Scientific is a global developer of interventional medical devices that target cardiac rhythm management, cardiac and vascular surgery, electrophysiology, tumor reduction, cancer treatments, hearing reduction; and pain management

Strengths:
Broad Product Portfolio in Specific Fields - Well known for its Taxus Stent which is a drug-eluting stent used to open blocked arteries
Strong Market Position - Product marketing is executed in 100 countries through a direct sales force
Strong Upper Management - Share prices increased when new CEO was announced
Strategy - open to new technology in fields that are less competitive and attractive such as gastroenterology with stents. Allows the company to experiment and assess what works and doesn't work without the stress of competitors.

Weaknesses:
Quality Issues - Boston Scientific products such as infusion ports and catheters have had several warnings from the FDA. This has opened the market up for competitors like Johnson and Johnson to create stents and similar products with a better guarantee in quality.
Lack of R&D - Boston Scientific has depended a lot on its Taxus Stent as its premier stent product. Companies like Johnson and Johnson had been closing in for years on the stent market with products such as the Cypher stent.

Opportunities:
Diversifying Product Line - Boston Scientific acquired Guidant Technologies back in 2006 which allowed them to not only focus mainly on stents but expand in other cardiovascular fields and thus offering a more complete package to hospitals, doctors, and patients.

Threats:
Crowded Industry - Johnson and Johnson, Medtronic, and Abbott labs threaten the vascular stent line of business. While St. Jude Medical and Medtronic threaten the defibrillator line of business.
FDA Rulings - Boston Scientific has had to recall products in the past due to quality issues and not filing paperwork correctly. This could have potentially lead to less investor confidence and market capitalization.
Law Suits - Johnson and Johnson and Boston Scientific had filed law suits against each other in the past regarding patent infringements such essentially hurts Boston Scientifics reputation.

A SWOT Analysis of Biomet.

Strengths:
- Strenght of expertise in orthopedic implants
- Strong reputation as a lot of surgeons prefer Biomet over other companies
- Biomet has been a top company for years and has tremendous profits
- Biomet has a large R&D branch

Weaknesses:
- Biomet has not expanded its products to other medical device sectors

Opportunities:
- Biomet is known to buy up smaller medical device companies to increase their repertoire
- There is an aging population so more and more people will need orthopedic implants

Threats:
- Companies such as Stryker are making moves to capture market space as well as expand their services
- The increased level of competition from smaller companies
- Surgeons believing other companies products work better

Siemens Healthcare is a global medical device company which undertakes the design, development, manufacture, and distribution of medical devices and technologies for diagnostic markets. Siemens offers various imaging equipment, healthcare information systems, management consulting and support services. It is a huge corporation, conductive operations in North America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

Strengths: They are the pioneer for technology driven services. They market leadership through innovation and has a strong existing presence in Healthcare. The company has operations in over 190 countries. It also has joint ventures with many international renowned companies.

Weaknesses: They have a dependence on third party providers, which can affect their operational efficiency. They also have a couple allegations of corruption in the corporate environment which had made the headlines of a few papers.

Opportunities: Medical technology is still advancing and developing in this day and age, and the company focuses on innovation to develop new products and to expand its markets principally in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China). It has the aim to enhance its innovative capacity and competitiveness by reaching a global market and higher investments in product developments. It also plans to expand sales activities and adopt measures aimed at realigning the radiation therapy business.

Threats: Their operations are effected by strict government policies and environmental regulations. Their economic fluctuations and currency devaluations affect the financial performance as it is an international company. They also have a heavy depends on a few suppliers.

SWOT analysis is a useful technique to understand the strength and weakness of the person or the organization and to identify the opportunities and threats that an organization or the person faces. GE Healthcare is a manufacturer and distributor of diagnostic imaging agents and radiopharmaceuticals for imaging modalities that are used in medical imaging procedures. Strength includes recognized brand image, excellent technology, innovative research and development, has ability for innovative technique to design products, strong organization culture. Weakness includes product recalls, environment legal constraints, change in revenue and profits. GE has opportunities in new product launch, it has ability to enter new business segments, it can expand through mergers and acquisitions, developing new product lines for each segment, creating new segment sub-brands, reorganizing the sales/service force, integrating diagnostics and information services to provide more complete segment solutions. GE has threats with increased competitive environment, there is increase in legal and regulatory pressures.

I chose to do an analysis of Merck

Strengths:
-Huge product portfolio
-Brand Name trust
-international presence
-large size company
-public faith because of not increasing drug prices and donating drugs to poor countries
-continuous growth

Weaknesses:
-counterfeiting of products hurt the brand trust
-product safety controversies (ex. Vioxx)
-environmental regulation controversies (violating clean air/water acts)

Opportunities:
-strong innovation
-open in emerging economies/developing countries

Threats:
-increasing competition
-patent expirations approaching