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Abstract

Fresenius Medical Care (FMC) is a leading dialysis product manufacturer and service provider. The company contributes significantly to the healthcare industry by offering critical products and solutions for treating chronic kidney failure and acute kidney injury. This report proposes a new product and business model to create new growth opportunities for the Care Enablement business in Singapore. There are three businesses in the Care Enablement business unit: In-centre, Home Therapy and Critical Care. For many years, emphasis has been placed on growth in FMC’s in-centre and critical care business. There is a need to change the product portfolio and focus on other growth opportunities. The home Therapy business in FMC has been stagnant and less profitable with the current product portfolio. For the past years, the strategic priority for the home therapy business has been to improve profitability as the cost of goods has risen over the years. The current products available are no longer competitive due to rapid technological changes. Home Therapy is dominated by one competitor with nearly 85% of the market share. There is a need for FMC to be the leader in all renal-related businesses and not just in the In-centre business. Therefore, the change proposed in this report will allow FMC to be competitive in the Home Therapy business segment. At the same time, capitalise on the current market situation where the government is exploring alternate home dialysis therapy. There is now an opportunity in the market due to increased interest in home therapy post-COVID from the Ministry of Health. Dialysis patients are immunocompromised, which may affect their health worse during a pandemic outbreak, addressing nursing shortages and high dialysis centres’ operational cost challenges.

Home HD is common in countries like Australia, the United States, and Germany (Braden2019). There is an excellent opportunity for FMC SG to be the first mover in home HD therapy using the latest technology, NxStage. Research by McKinsey & Company shows that companies that innovate through the crisis by focusing on new growth outperform competition that is just reactive to the situation (Furstenthal, 2021). Innovation is vital to growth, as highlighted by Cathie Woods (YouTube,2019). Businesses should continuously look for gaps to grow. The strategy of Home Therapy to maintain business and improve margin needs to be reviewed. It is essential to launch Nxstage, which is a product that has a competitive advantage (Porter & Millar, 1985)

This report will highlight the market trend, analysis, marketing mix, and detailed launching plan to examine the potential impact on dialysis patient care in a home environment. PESTLE analysis tools, which are widely used in highly dynamic situations (Gupta,2013), were used to evaluate the business proposal. The renal landscape in Singapore will transform with the introduction of Nxstage dialysis machines, as the HD segment at home has been overlooked. 

Author: Ng Meng Liang, Karen