Product details

This structured assignment is to accompany the case ''304-339-1''. The abstract of the case is as follows: In an industry where companies spend billions of dollars on research, it becomes an unwritten law for the companies to enter the market when it is still untouched by competitors. Stent, a medical device that obviated open-heart surgeries, turned out to be one of the hottest products for the pharma and medical device companies in the USA. Though Johnson & Johnson pioneered the stent market and dominated it, the company lost its lead to other players such as Guidant, Medtronic and Boston Scientific. Just when the industry was on the point of oblivion, Johnson & Johnson came back with ''cypher'' in 2003 - a drug-coated stent. It instantly became a leader, surpassing Boston Scientific and other players. In record time, Boston Scientific responded with its own drug-coated stent, ''taxus'' in March 2004 and displaced Johnson & Johnson. The case study details the market forces that operate in the stent market, the battle for dominance between Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson and the factors that shape the competitive positions of the incumbent companies. The case offers scope for understanding the critical factors that help companies to wade through a volatile industry.