Bella Healthcare India Case Solution

1. What capabilities and resources do a company need to develop new products? Which of these does Bella India have? 

Skilled Labor Force

To develop a new product, a company should have a highly experienced staff which was motivated and possessed skills of thinking out of the box. Bella India had engineers who were smart and well-trained in the tasks that they performed. The Research and Development team consisted of the top seven team members who had graduated from India’s well-known universities and were considered to be open-minded individuals. They were sent off to the U.S. for training so they were proficient in circuit design and programming. They were risk-takers who were not afraid to innovate in terms of new products. 

Market Research Skills

To produce a product, a company needs to do market research to understand the market and identify the needs and wants of its potential customers. As a result, the team of Bella India knew what products most customers want. E.g., EKG machines for the Indian market were considered to be a smart choice because the company had identified what is the need of the hour. 

High Quality and Lower Costs

To achieve economies of scale, a company needs to develop products made of lower costs so that the price is also kept at a minimum initially. When the products are of high quality, consumers are willing to spend more and as a result, profit margins increase. Bella India was able to gain a competitive advantage due to its cost-efficient product development capabilities in the low-cost Indian manufacturing facility.

Organizational Structure

A company needs to have a proper organizational structure for producing specialized products. Without proper communication, the departments cannot work together in unity. Apart from the St. Louis manufacturing facilities, the Bangalore facilities were also—commanded by suppliers as well as manufacturers. As a result of Asian suppliers, Bella India was able to save up more which ultimately resulted in more product developments. All of these teams were well-integrated and fulfilled demand and supply efficiently. 

2. Why did project Baton fail?

Cultural Barriers

Project Baton failed due to the combination of flaws in technicalities as well as communication barriers between the St. Louis team and the Indian team. The first root cause of the failure happened when the project manager at St. Louis had to be replaced by another skilled member who was difficult to find.