Managing Intellectual Property in the Dental Impression Materials Market Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

Question 1:

Case Summary

ESPE a medium sized German manufacturer that is involved in manufacturing precision dental impression materials has a long history and with consistent progress the company has attained the position of market leader in the industry. However, the company has a stiff challenge upfront as the market is shrinking consistently. In order to mitigate this challenge and to achieve growth, the company decided to expand the portfolio by investing substantial resources in innovation.

The company is of the view that leveraging the innovation the company has designed innovative impression materials and also focused on enhancing the distribution mechanism associated with it. However, as the trend suggests the market is squeezed and the shrinking market is forcing the competitors to leverage the proprietary channels of ESPE along with their brand equity to sustain their position in the market.

In this regard, many competitors have been copying the dispensing mechanisms and the trademarks of ESPE which is the main reason they are able to sustain their market share. This strategy of competitors is a complete violation of the trademark laws and laws governing patents and is stealing the competitive advantage of ESPE. This violation of the intellectual property rights has raised concern for the company and the top management of the company is in search of the possible options to help them out of this situation and to sustain their competitive advantage.

The case suggests a few options that ESPE can utilize to mitigate the challenge and achieve the desired result. The options provided in the case include developing a new machine and gaining patents and trademarks for it to save the intellectual property for the future. The second option suggests to issue license for the cartridge and foil bags while the last option suggest to file a case against the competitors violating the IP laws and try to nail them down in the court.

In order to decide on the most probable option, it is important to evaluate the alternatives properly and to identify the possible advantages and disadvantages of the every option. The proper evaluation of alternatives will be sufficient for deciding on the best option which is suitable for the company in response to the current situation and can help overcome the challenges the company is currently facing.

Alternative Options

As stated above, the company has around three possible options that are being identified by the Director of Intellectual Property Rights and Research and Development of ESPE, Dr Reinhold Nowak. These strategic options are further discussed in detail in the following portion which will make it easier to identify the best possible option for the company.

Option 1: Develop a New Machine and Better Use of Patents & Trademarks

The first option presented or suggested by Dr Nowak states that the company should focus on the future and invest in designing a new PentaMix machine to enhance its hold in the market. The suggestion is to develop a unique design for this machine that is not currently available and is not easy to imitate by others.Managing Intellectual Property in the Dental Impression Materials Market Case Solution

This is the first part of the suggestion while the later part talks about going more aggressive in the approach towards patents and get patents for every part of the newly developed machine. This will enable the company to further enhance its security and restrict competitors from imitating the design. The strong emphasis is given on gaining strong patents for this new design and protecting cartridges for getting imitated.

The major benefit that the company will obtain from this strategic move is that the company will be able to restrict competitors from imitating this new design and can file a case against them in case of any violation of patent law. Secondly, the company will be able to gain strong competitive advantage once again in the market and will be able to easily differentiate itself from the competitors.

Furthermore, the company will be able to protect every single part of the new machine which will further make it difficult for competitors to imitate the design completely and achieve the same level of efficiency. The company can transform the industry and can easily enjoy a monopoly in the industry for a certain pre-determined period. On the other hand, the company can leverage innovation to design new products and machines in the future to stay further ahead of competitors.......................

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