Great sales and marketing organization that relies on acquisition for technological advancement
Pros
Medtronic has a strong product portfolio that is backed up by a strong sales and marketing organization. Medtronic is good at taking technology that has been developed elsewhere and expanding the market.
Cons
The organization if very MBA-centric; if you are from one of the top 10 business schools, you have a career path. For those in the technical, quality or regulatory organization, you will plateau very quickly. Medtronic does not seem to be capable of making a technical "disruptive innovation" on its own; it needs to acquire technical innovation at high price premium. The engineering organizations are very poorly run, led by VP's who have no concept of what it takes to make a great design, especially in the CRDM organization but elsewhere throughout the company. Their leadership style is all stick, no carrot. As a consequence, the scientific and engineering groups within Medtronic have very low morale. R&D productivity is suffering as a consequence, effectively stifling the innovation that upper management so ardently desires.
