Ecton Inc. Case Analysis
a. Explain the technology or innovation introduced in the cases.
Cannon knew that his compact echo machine, which he carried under his arm by a single handle, would have to perform competitively in a room filled with state-of-the-art echo machines made by long-standing competitors such as Hewlett Packard -- each machine weighing more than the average NFL linesman and costing nearly a quarter of a million dollars. To view the functioning of the heart, the face of the transducer, which was usually no larger than 9 square centimeters, was placed on the patient's chest at various angles. The transducer delivered ultrasound waves into the body and these waves were reflected back to the transducer as they crossed interfaces of different acoustic impedance. More simply, the ultrasound bounced off the internal structures of the body and returned to the transducer. The transducer converted the returning sound into electronic signals that were processed by the internal computers of the instrument, to create an image of internal body tissues. These images were then displayed on the screen for the user, and videotaped for storage and line analysis.
b. Would demanding customers consider the innovation's performance to be inadequate?
But he worried about how he might penetrate a market that seemed to have been held so tightly for so long by capable, entrenched competitors - and about what mix of product features and services might appeal to the customers he needed to target. Often, the need to move the instrument and a tech to other locations in the hospital could be disruptive to patient flow through the cardiology department's echo lab. Other areas in the hospital in which echocardiography equipment might be used had also been suggested, such as emergency rooms, outpatient clinics and satellite clinics, but it was very difficult for these non-cardiology specialty locations to justify the capital expenditure required for a new echo machine.
Cannon knew that his compact echo machine, which he carried under his arm by a single handle, would have to perform competitively in a room filled with state-of-the-art echo machines made by long-standing competitors such as Hewlett Packard -- each machine weighing more than the average NFL linesman and costing nearly a quarter of a million dollars. To view the functioning of the heart, the face of the transducer, which was usually no larger than 9 square centimeters, was placed on the patient's chest at various angles. The transducer delivered ultrasound waves into the body and these waves were reflected back to the transducer as they crossed interfaces of different acoustic impedance. More simply, the ultrasound bounced off the internal structures of the body and returned to the transducer. The transducer converted the returning sound into electronic signals that were processed by the internal computers of the instrument, to create an image of internal body tissues. These images were then displayed on the screen for the user, and videotaped for storage and line analysis.
b. Would demanding customers consider the innovation's performance to be inadequate?
But he worried about how he might penetrate a market that seemed to have been held so tightly for so long by capable, entrenched competitors - and about what mix of product features and services might appeal to the customers he needed to target. Often, the need to move the instrument and a tech to other locations in the hospital could be disruptive to patient flow through the cardiology department's echo lab. Other areas in the hospital in which echocardiography equipment might be used had also been suggested, such as emergency rooms, outpatient clinics and satellite clinics, but it was very difficult for these non-cardiology specialty locations to justify the capital expenditure required for a new echo machine.