Strategically Thinking and Haemonetics Corporation.
My thoughts on strategic thinking at Haemonetics was based upon my review of an article by Michael E. Porter from Inc. Magazine online. It was written in September of 1991 and titled "Know you Place, Assessing the attractiveness of your industry and strategically positioning your company". Michael E. Porter, a Harvard Business School Professor, is a leading authority on competitive strategy and has authored 16 books and over 100 articles on the subject. He is such a leading authority that Harvard University created the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness to further his work and his ideas are taught in virtually every business school in the world. His article, Know Your Place, discussed several key points that every business must know to be competitive and survive. His points focused around analyzing your industry and strategic positioning within that industry.
Analyzing your industry is the process of understanding the attractiveness of the industry in regards to long term profitability. To understand how to access attractiveness Michael outlines five basic competitive forces that fit all industries. They are the character of the competition, threat of new competition, threat of substitute products and the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers. Each of these needs to be understood because the potential profit in any industry is determined by the balance of these forces.
Haemonetics industry is unlike a typical manufacturing industry because of the medical device regulatory implications. We sell to blood banks and hospitals but in the end the true requirement we strive to meet is that of the volunteer donor.
Haemonetics and our competitors do enjoy a rather calm industry and that there is not a lot of cost cutting going on. These factors, according to Michael, help the industry retain it's attractivenns for profit potential.
