Analysis on Opportunities and Challenges of Chinese Medical Device Industry under New Health Care Reform :  Reference of Sweden, USA and UK

Abstract: Purpose and Execution –The purpose of this paper is to seek feasible suggestions and recommendations to the Chinese medical device industry under the new current market situation—Chinese health care system reform. In order to achieve this aim, we will start with introducing the background of current status of related issues. The next part will be the preparation of further analysis, which contains the theory and descriptions of the health care system reform histories of China, Sweden, the USA and UK. We will consequent present the environmental potential influential aspects. The main discussion will take place around medical device market analysis, together with three representative company case studies. After identifying the opportunities and challenges of the industry, we will draw the conclusions which are the recommendations for Chinese health care industry and also some suggestions for the Chinese government. Design/Methodology/Approach – To explore these issues, besides literature reviews on market analysis (five forces, SWOT analysis), this paper applies generic competitive strategy, value-based service and service innovation as well. In addition, it also illustrates with 3 mini cases. We acquired both secondary data from related databases and primary data through questionnaires. Limitation – Due to the restricted access to the specific database, the acquired information is limited to analyze the paper. Furthermore, according to the fact that the data we obtained is mostly on the basis of the whole medical device industry and it is quite difficult to be classified into particular parts, we decided to limit our research to the medical device industry that caters to both medical equipments and disposable tools when doing the analysis. In addition, since the design of questionnaire includes open questions, the research quality is heavily dependent on the individual skills of the researcher. Findings – The new health care system reform will definitely boost the growth of medical device industry, but also create fiercer competition. Chinese Medical device companies need to enhance abilities of marketing, research and development, and aim at meeting customer needs to exploit new profit alternatives.