Abstract

Maxim, headquartered at San Jose in California, was founded in 1983 by Jack Gifford and other professionals with experience in semiconductor design and sales. The company posted $2.47 billion in sales in 2011, with 9,300 employees, and 35,000 customers worldwide. Maxim had developed expertise in designing and manufacturing highly integrated analog and mixed-signal semiconductors. Maxim set up a technology design center in Bangalore in 2006. The Bangalore center had grown over the years and moved up the value chain in terms of contributing to technology design at Maxim. Gopal Krishna, Head of India Operations, had joined Maxim in 2009. In mid-2011, Gopal Krishna was contemplating the new context that Maxim faced in India. India had been a location that contributed to design in Maxim while now India as a market appeared increasingly attractive. As a first step towards exploring this opportunity, Gopal decided to engage with the marketing faculty at Indian Institute of Management Bangalore who decided to examine the medical diagnostics space in India for value exchange opportunities. Interviews were conducted with healthcare professionals. The management team had to identify attractive market opportunities and develop a strategic plan to enter the Indian medical diagnostics market.

Learning Objective

The case provides a setting to engage in strategic market analysis. Interviews with healthcare professionals provide data that can be used to identify important benefits and possible segmentation bases. Descriptions of the company, competition, and collaborators allow for an assessment of skills and resources required to provide important benefits. The main learning objective is analysis of the consumer, company, competition, collaboration, and context and integration of the analysis of these entities to identify potential value exchange opportunities.

This case set is intended for use in a core Marketing course. The case can be discussed in two 1.5-hour sessions if the intention is to explore all aspects in detail. An overview of the strategic analysis process can be undertaken in one 1.5 hour session using the case. The case can be used in the beginning of the course to provide an overview of marketing or at the end of the course to integrate topics covered in the course.