Despite its market success and competitive advantage gained over the years in the medical device market, Meditech has the problems associated with introducing new products. One of the main ones is the decrease in demand for updated goods, and, as Simchi-Levi et al. (2021) argue, this is due to poor service delivery. The company is not able to ensure the uninterrupted supply of ordered products to customers, and even despite the quality of the goods sold, the quality of service is a deterrent. In addition, based on the details of the Meditech case, the company has difficulties in planning and cannot establish effective forecasting. These procedures are extremely important because they directly affect demand and require the adaptation of the existing production regime to specific parameters. The manufacturing process itself is also problematic; the assembly and packaging stages are separated into independent processes (Simchi-Levi et al., 2021). If the company had a clear work strategy, in which all links of activities are closely connected, this would contribute to maintaining sustainable production modes and more successful control over demand.
Systemically, the aforementioned problems are caused by a lack of clear feedback from the target market and a weak project base, and due to this, inventory products stop receiving interest from consumers. According to Simchi-Levi et al. (2021), despite the company’s efforts, customers remain dissatisfied with the quality of services, and this suggests that the production and marketing frameworks do not meet the real market demand criteria. From an organizational perspective, Meditech’s problems are directly related to a poorly designed control system. As Pekgün et al. (2017) note, decentralized governance does not correlate with success in a competitive market. In other words, the assembly, packaging, and delivery procedures, divided into individual stages, do not allow a clear vision of the real parameters of demand, which, in turn, affects the incompetent management of the resource base.
The reason why the customer service manager at Meditech is the first person to recognize the major issues is that customer demand and satisfaction with services and products are the primary determinants of the company’s market success. Moreover, Simchi-Levi et al. (2021) emphasize that the head of this department at Meditech is also involved in assessing such critical performance criteria as planning and distribution. At all stages of the company’s activities, the customer service manager is involved in productivity monitoring and is the first to receive feedback from the target audience. Therefore, this position assumes full responsibility for the identified issues.
To fix the aforementioned problems, first of all, Meditech should review its operations management strategy. According to Li et al. (2020), vertical centralization, even partial, can help strengthen control over supply chains and, therefore, optimize the modes of marketing of finished products. Secondly, more attention to customer feedback through timely forecasting should be promoted. Keeler and Alsdorf (2012) state that, along with spiritual values, people value material needs substantially. Late delivery of ordered goods and insufficient quality of assembly and packaging are objective constraints to maintaining a competitive advantage. Meditech cannot provide control over all stages of the workflow, which translates into poor distribution and, consequently, customer dissatisfaction, especially due to the fact that the company in question is not the only one in its market. Therefore, more efficient customer relationship management and organizational centralization are potentially effective improvement practices.
References
Keller, T. & Alsdorf, K. (2012). Every good endeavor: Connecting your work to God’s work. Penguin Random House.
Li, J., Yang, S., Shi, V., & Zhai, S. (2020). Partial vertical centralization in competing supply chains. International Journal of Production Economics, 224, 107565. Web.
Pekgün, P., Griffin, P. M., & Keskinocak, P. (2017). Centralized versus decentralized competition for price and lead‐time sensitive demand. Decision Sciences, 48(6), 1198-1227. Web.
Simchi-Levi, D., Kaminsky, P., & Simchi-Levi, E. (2021). Designing and managing the supply chain: Concepts, strategies and case studies (4th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.