From the August 2012 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
The recent expansion of the Mexican market for medical
devices enlarges opportunities for foreign corporations in this sector to begin or increase their business in the country. Imports are assessed to signify 70 percent of all purchases of medical devices and the U.S. has been the foremost purveyor with around 65 percent of market share. There is growing interest in the Mexican market and this falls under a general focus toward Latin American markets. Aldo Montes, country business manager for AGFA HealthCare Mexico, confirmed this general trend. “Latin America did not represent an important part of AGFA’s global business 20 years ago,” he said. “Today this region signifies 17 percent of our global business.”

Experience has shown that in order to thrive within the Mexican medical devices marketplace it is not sufficient to simply import products from foreign markets and distribute them in Mexico through third party distributors. Indeed, given the size of the Mexican market, many international companies have decided to establish themselves in Mexico. Omron success’ story in the Mexican market exemplifies the advantage provided by a direct presence in the country. “Citizen and Microline are our biggest competitors; however we have a clear advantage over them as, not having a direct presence in Mexico, they have to work through intermediaries,” says Omron’s general manager, Makoto Kato. “The benefits of having offices here have been reflected in Omron’s results: we opened our Mexico office two years ago and since then our market share has grown from 25 percent to 48 percent today.”

Omron is not the only example of an international company reaping the benefits of a locally based office. Since 1992, International Medical Service distributed the products of St. Jude Medical in Mexico. However, three years ago St. Jude Medical decided to transform International Medical Service to an official branch in the country, keeping its resources and employees, including general manager Ramón Soto. Soto acknowledges how the transformation has provided for a steady growth for St. Jude Medical’s business in the country. “Before as distributors, we did not have access to all of St. Jude Medical in the country. Now we do, and we also have more flexibility in our prices. The benefits are so tangible that during the last three years we have been growing at a 20% yearly rate,” he says.

August 2012 Magazine

Read more stories from the August 2012 issue

More Magazine Features

More Voices