Research and development strategy for medical textile products

Similar to many other industries, the medical textile industry is made up of a large number of companies, each engaged in a diverse range of business activities. To understand the nature of product development in this particular field, it is useful to have an overall understanding of the various players involved. According to the five-forces model proposed by Michael Porter of Harvard Business School, the five types of players in the medical textile industry are as follows. 

Buyers In the medical textile industry, a buyer can be a large multinational corporation that purchases products from small high-tech companies with specialist technologies and then distributes them to end users, or hospitals that buy products from various types of producers. 

Supphers A medical textile company needs many types of suppliers. Apart from the usual business supphers such as accountants and legal firms, the main suppliers to medical textile companies are raw material and technical service providers. Research contractors are another type of supphers, as are supphers of components and equipment. 

Industry rivals In the medical textile industry, many firms are engaged in the same or similar product areas. These rivals compete with each other on the quality and price of their products. For a company to have competitive advantages over its rivals, it needs to develop cut-ting-edge technologies and manufacturing capabihties so that its products can have superior performance but be manufactured at a low cost 

Substitutes Many types of medical textile products have similar properties, used in a similar way for the same end uses. These so-called substitute products compete with each other on quahty and price. 

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Research and development strategy for medical textile products... 

After a brief introduction to the human body, the book gives an overview of medical textile products and the processes used to manufacture them. Subsequent chapters cover superabsorbent textiles, functional wound dressings, bandages, sutures, implants, and other important medical textile technologies in detail. Biocompatibility testing and regulatory control are then addressed, and the book finishes with a review of research and development strategy for medical textile products. 

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