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NPD Assignment - CIBA Vision
NPD Assignment - CIBA Vision
Assignment
Submitted By:Group C
(Section 2)
1411370
Mohit Kumar
1411307
Rajat Mangla
1411121
Vishwas Sharma
1411137
Introduction
CIBA Vision is a leading manufacturer for optical contact lenses. It provides a wide range of
product portfolio with more than 20 lines of RGP and soft lenses 200,000 SKUs contributing
98% of overall sales. The company positions itself as a one stop shopping destination for all
contact lenses, with conventional contact lenses being its strongest segment. Its focus has been
on providing differentiated product offerings which give higher margins with lower volumes.
Lately, with novel product launches such as seven-day disposable lens from J&J, CIBA Vision
faces a major threat of product portfolio obsolescence. With consumer preferences shifting
towards the highly convenient disposable lenses, CIBA Vision is contemplating a new and
potentially risky project for manufacturing a daily disposable contact lens.
We believe that this initiative requires brainstorming on various topics of project organization
such as the R&D team structure i.e. physical geographic location and its autonomy, required
financial investments, cannibalization threats to existing business, reducing manufacturing costs
and developing long-term competencies. Successful execution on all of these dimensions will
lead to a successful future integration and an effective overall cross-functional coordination
within CIBA Vision.
Given the firms history of failures with cross-team projects due to internal conflicts and the
criticality of this project for the overall business, CIBA Vision should go ahead with creation of
an autonomous project team based in Germany. The project leader must be given all the required
resources, staff i.e. chemists, engineers etc. and a complete autonomy for designing his/her own
research teams and departments. There must be minimal baggage from existing business model
in US and team must be allowed to develop its own competencies and processes. They can also
leverage the existing unutilized capacity of the manufacturing plant in Germany to
simultaneously work on the process development. From an overall organizations perspective, a
leaner yet robust product portfolio with well-directed budget allocation is recommended. Focus
on efficient resource allocation and long-term planning will be much required, as explained later
in this report.
costs in Germany, in returns to identifying the best practices for collaborative action, which may
be taken over for application in US.
this market. Moreover, this will help CIBA Vision in long-term planning and gain first-mover
advantage in numerous other probable ground-breaking technologies.