How Do Businesses Grow and Expand in Today’s Market?

Stryker

Natasha Pearson

Business Acquisition

Northern Arizona University

May 8, 2019

Heather Pfeiffer

Michael Sieng

Stryker

How do businesses grow and expand in today’s market? Are all businesses able to grow and expand in the same ways? Many businesses get their starts as small family owned businesses or a business that is passed down to them from generation to generation. Some business owners are content with just being a small family owned business just getting by while other business owners are always on the lookout for new ways to grow and expand their businesses. There are a few ways that business owners can expand and grow their businesses. Business owners are able to grow and expand by either using a business merger or using a business acquisition. Business mergers are not used as commonly or as frequently used as business acquisitions are. Most business owners use acquisitions in order to help to expand and grow their businesses. Stryker corporation is a prime example of a small family owned business using acquisitions to become one the world’s leading medical technology companies.

Homer Stryker was the founder of Stryker corporation, he was from Kalamazoo, Michigan where he attended the University of Michigan where he studied medicine. While at the University of Michigan Homer began inventing new medical products. As stated by Our History, “Dr. Homer Stryker began practicing medicine in 1940 that is when he then began to recognize that the products, he had to use, were not meeting the needs of his patient’s”. He continued to invent new products that would fill his patient’s needs. These patient needs, and Dr. Stryker’s medical inventions are what started the Stryker corporation in 1941. Dr. Stryker started the Stryker corporation so that is could produce the medical products that he was inventing. Dr. Stryker continued to keep inventing new medical products as the business slowly grew. This was only the beginning for the Stryker corporation, it has now grown into one of the global leaders in medical technology.

Stryker corporation has become one of the world’s leading medical technology companies by being innovative and proactive with new inventions of their products and the services that they offer in the industry. Stryker corporation has done many, many acquisitions that has helped their business to grow and expand, since the business was first started in 1941. According to Zacks, “Stryker has been following an acquisition-driven strategy to boost growth” (Zacks, 2019). Stryker corporations have done more than 40 acquisitions since the business was opened many years ago. Each acquisition has been done for their own particle reasons and purposes, but each acquisition has had the same goals in mind, the patients. Stryker corporation has been acquiring companies that are able to fill and expand on their patient’s needs. Stryker is not only just inventing new products to fill patient’s needs anymore. “Stryker acquires companies that they can use to build on what they have already started building with their own medical products and services with their patient needs and their business vision as a guide” (Zacks, 2019).

Stryker corporation has built a global corporation based around the needs of their patients. The needs of their patients have always been at the center of their focus since the day the business was started. As stated by Our Culture, “Our core values of Integrity, Accountability, People, and Performance define what we believe, we do what’s right, we do what we say, we grow talent, and we deliver.” (2019). Each acquisition that Stryker corporation has done has based around all of these values. Stryker corporation strives to be the best at everything they do and also to continue to grow and keep serving their patients. These values have been working in Stryker’s favor and also their acquisitions favor. Stryker corporation, like any other growing company, has had its setbacks and failures but this growing business has not let any of those setbacks’ or failures slowdown their growth or expansion of the business. Stryker corporation has continued to stay focused on what matters the most to them and they have not lost sight of that, no matter what the situation was that has been thrown at them.

Stryker corporations’ resent acquisition with Caesarea, Israel-based OrthoSpace Ltd. will go hand-in-hand with the Stryker’s orthopedic and surgical divisions. Stryker corporation was able to acquire this OrthoSpace with an all-cash payment