Competitive Revenue Strategies in the Medical Consumables Industry: Evidence from Human Resources, Research and Development Expenses and Industry Life Cycle.

Jianxiong Chen,Chung-Cheng Yang

doi:10.3390/ijerph18063180

Abstract

This study attempted to explore the competitive advantage strategies of the medical consumables industry (MCI) from the perspectives of human resources, research and development (R&D) and the industry life cycle. As one of the essential branches of modern medical device industry, the MCI has developed rapidly in recent years as global demand for medical consumables has shown continual growth, but it also faces market uncertainty. This study took Taiwan’s small/medium medical consumables enterprises (SMMCEs) as a sample, and used the translog revenue function to study the competitive advantage of the MCI through human resource and R&D investment strategies and the stage characteristics of the industry life cycle curve. The results showed that the various human resources and R&D expenses of the small/medium medical consumables industry (SMMCI) can interact with each other to influence total revenue and that the SMMCI needs more varied types of human resources to enhance its competitive advantage. The total revenue of the SMMCI decreased as education inputs rose, but it increased along with increases in the number of employee and R&D inputs. Observed from the life cycle curve of the SMMCI, total revenue increased rapidly during the startup and growth stages, increased slowly during the maturity stage, and decreased during the decline stage. Finally, we put forward competitive advantage strategies and management suggestions for medical consumables enterprises (MCEs). We are the first to document the life cycle curve and competitive advantage strategies of the MCI, thereby contributing to the related literature.

Highlights

The objective of this study was to explore the influence of human resources, research and development (R&D) expenses and the industry life cycle on the revenue of the medical consumables industry (MCI)
From the perspective of revenue on economic theory, by discussing the impact of human resources and R&D expenses on the revenue of the small/medium medical consumables industry (SMMCI), we find that the various human resources and R&D expenses of the SMMCI can interact with each other to influence total revenue, and the total revenue of the SMMCI decreases as education inputs increase, but it increases with increases in the number of employee and R&D inputs
The F statistic values is 26.52 for small/medium medical consumables enterprises (SMMCEs), significantly rejecting the null hypothesis. This finding indicates that the translog model is more suitable than the Cobb–Douglas model for analyzing the revenue function of medical consumables enterprises (MCEs). This finding implies that an interaction effect exists between production line personnel, technical personnel, managers, employee educational background, and R&D expenses at SMMCEs, which in turn affects the total revenue of MCEs

Summary

Introduction

The objective of this study was to explore the influence of human resources, R&D expenses and the industry life cycle on the revenue of the medical consumables industry (MCI). A large number of studies have analyzed enterprise data in many industries These include studies of the motor carrier [24,25,26,27], print [28], pulp and paper [29,30], semiconductor [31], mobile phone [32], telecommunication [33], lead [34], food [35,36], building [37], mining [38,39,40], forest [41], iron and steel [42,43,44], power [45,46], furniture [47], and cement [48] industries. Increasing revenue is one of the core goals of corporate development [52,53], The period of rising revenue usually means that the enterprise is in a more active life cycle stage, while longterm revenue decline is usually accompanied by the decline stage of the life cycle, so the promotion of revenue growth is of great significance for extending the industrial life cycle

Objectives

Results

Conclusion