Market Entry Strategy Evaluation for a Medical Devices Producer (The Case of the Russian Med-tech Company) in Southeast Asia

This master thesis is focused on the evaluation of the Southeast Asia market entry strategy effectiveness/efficiency for the fast-growing Russian med-tech company (company X). Company X, an innovative Russian full-cycle med-tech company ready to venture into Southeast Asia's medical innovative products market. Specializing in operating room automation and telemedicine, Company X leverages its proprietary research and development to offer advanced solutions. Since launching its first product in 2018, Company X has achieved notable success in the Russian market, characterized by the revenue over 1 billion rubles in 2023 (growth higher that 100% since 2022), launch of multiple products and modules for these products, securing 6 patents, registration of 20 computer programs, and implementing projects across various Russian regions. The company's growth is attributed to medical technologies (including automation of operating rooms, telemedicine, and medical decision support systems), proprietary software, competitive pricing (relatively to products of foreign competitors), experienced leadership with expertise in medicine, information technologies, management, and government relationships. (Investment memorandum, Company X & Kama Flow VC, 2022) Problem: At the moment, Company X is facing a problem of a limited Russian market size. The current share of Company X is higher than 50%. Thus, the company is interested in foreign expansion to sustain its revenue growth rates. Actuality: Southeast Asia region is considered as one of the most attractive to scale their businesses up and maintain high revenue growth rates by the company X. Russian – Ukrainian crisis and subsequent sanctions from the USA, European, and some Asian developed countries, priorities are shifting to neutral states, including Southeast Asian region. Furthermore, the company has several potential partners in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam, which may facilitate Southeast Asia markets entry. To successfully expanse to the Southeast Asia region the company developed the market entry strategy, which involves a two-stage process aimed at establishing a foothold in the Southeast Asia market beginning with the establishment of a Joint Venture (JV) with a local partner in Malaysia. Before proceeding with the implementation of the proposed market entry strategy, Company X aims to conduct a comprehensive evaluation. This evaluation will encompass prioritizing target markets, analyzing key factors that influence market dynamics, justifying the chosen mode of market entry, assessing the necessary resources, projecting financial outcomes, and conducting a thorough risk analysis. The goal of this research is to provide evaluation of the Southeast Asia market entry strategy effectiveness/efficiency for the fast-growing Russian med-tech company. Objectives: - To prioritize Southeast Asia countries by prospects of entering their high-tech medical devices markets for the Company X; - To analyze key aspects that can influence the market entry strategy: characteristics of local medical devices markets, potential partners, possible ways to differentiate from competitors, legal system and regulation of medical devices companies; - To analyze resources required for the proposed market entry strategy implementation; - To analyze financial effects from implementation of the market entry strategy; - To analyze risks and possible ways of their mitigation; - Based on the conducted analysis make the conclusion about effectiveness and efficiency of implementation of the developed market entry strategy. The object of this research is strategies for entering foreign markets. The subject is fast-growing innovative Russian med-tech company that is going to enter the markets of medical innovative products in Southeast Asia.