Anshul Mishra

C_05

INTRODUCTION

BPL Medical Technologies has served the medical community for over five decades. Since
1967, high standards of product performance has made them the leading choice for hospitals,
clinics and practicing physicians across the country. Their commitment to service support is
reflected in our wide network of customer care centres with a team of over 600 service
personnel located even in the farthest corners of the country. This makes them one of the
largest and the most accessible medical equipment company.

BPL is widely trusted for its reliable products and dependable service to its customers. Our
products are manufactured in an ISO 13485 certified facility and conform to global standards
of quality assurance and best practices. Their collaboration with the best brands across the
world and our high-quality manufacturing facilities provide our customers the latest
technology at affordable prices.

The range of products includes Electrocardiographs, Patient Monitors, Defibrillators,

Anaesthesia Workstations, Stress Test Systems, Oxygen Concentrators, Colour Dopplers, X-
Rays, Foetal Monitors, Foetal Dopplers and Home healthcare equipments. BPL is committed
to bringing in innovative products in future, and expand its customer support network that
would provide localised solutions to healthcare providers.
 BRIEF OVERVIEW

British Physical Laboratories India Pvt. Ltd. was founded in 1963, during the Licence Raj, by
T. P. G. Nambiar in Palakkad, Kerala, as a company for manufacturing hermetically sealed
precision panel meters for the defence forces. Nambiar had worked in the United Kingdom
and United States, and when he returned to India, he desired to create a company that
manufactured high-quality electronic products, and he wanted to make BPL a household
name.[1] The initial products were precision measuring instruments such as hermetic sealed
panel meters for Bharat Electronics as a subcontract for Indian Army. The newly-founded
company was joint venture with the British company of the same name.

Then BPL expanded its medical product ranges to include electrocardiographs and patient-
monitoring systems. After the 1982 Asian Games, BPL expanded its range further and
manufactured colour televisions and video cassette recorders, and later refrigerators, batteries
and other consumer electrical equipment.

The company headquarters was moved to Dynamic House, Church Street, Bangalore. From
medical electronics, it expanded into consumer electronics, telecommunications, soft energy
and electronic components.

1980s
From 1980 onwards, when the industrial licensing was relaxed, BPL began manufacturing
televisions and telecommunications equipment, demonstrating its potential and future
business area. It began collaborating with the Japanese Sanyo Electric Company in the early
1980s with a technology-transfer agreement. In the early 1990s, after globalisation and
liberalization of the Indian economy, competition entered the market. BPL retained its strong
presence and growth rate. During the late 1990s, the company's annual revenue peaked at
₹4,300 crore (equivalent to ₹160 billion or US$2.2 billion in 2019).

BPL concentrated on importing technology, improving product quality, innovations and

manufacturing of electronic products. In late 1980s, BPL had metamorphosed from an
entrepreneurial venture, into India's biggest consumer electronics & tele-communication
company.

Following economic liberalisation in India in 1991, BPL faced increased competition from
South Korean companies LG and Samsung. Internal disputes within the controlling family
took away attention from external threats, and the company's fortunes declined. By 2004,
BPL and Sanyo were facing serious financial problems due to intense competition in the
global electronics market. In 2005, the companies announced a joint-venture, and BPL
transferred its colour television business, then worth US$80 million, to the new venture.
BPL was restructured with a focus on energy, healthcare, consumer electronics and home
security systems. In 2015 BPL partnered with Flipkart as an online retailer. In 2016 BPL
launched new LED TV's like 32 inch and 40 inch etc with a very economical price through E-
commerce websites like Flipkart and amazon.

HEAR FROM THE CEO ITSELF

Sunil Khurana, CEO of BPL Medical Technologies

"As soon as I came in, I streamlined the product strategy, focusing on multiple products
in critical care, cardiology, imagery, and home care," says Sunil Khurana, CEO of BPL
Medical Technologies.

He adds that a focus on connected medical devices and smaller towns became a major
driver of business. But first, he had to set the house in order. Sunil began meeting with
distributors to ensure that they stayed with the brand.

"From our investors, I realised that we had a great brand story and our factory was strong. I
met all 97 distributors and told them about our vision. They all stuck by us and we now have
more than 150 distributors who cover two to three districts in India, and have reached
close 160,000 medical centres," he says.

VISION
The CEO claims that BPL Medical Technologies is well on its way to becoming a Rs 1,000
crore company by 2022. Over the next 18 months, it will focus on selling ventilators. The
company will also work with its 42-member R&D team to make its devices connected and
bring affordable products to Indians.

According to PWC, the global medical technology market will be worth $495 billion in the
next three years. India's market size is $9.5 billion, 75 percent of which is imported.

BPL Medical Technologies wants to increase its presence in India as a ‘local for global’
company. Its imports currently stand at Rs 10 crore and it wants to increase this at least five-
fold in the next five years.

Anshul Mishra
C_05
 Kashish Ohri
C_17
MACRO-ENVIRONMENTAL FORCES IMPACTING THE
MARKETING OF A PRODUCT

Macro-environment is the environment in

the economy itself. It has an effect on how
all business groups operate, perform, make
decisions and form strategies
simultaneously. It consists of external
factors that the company doesn’t control but
is certainly affected by:

1. Economic Factors: This can mainly impact the company’s levels of production and
the decision-making of customers.
Example-Interest rates, exchange rates, demand and supply, recession and inflation
2. Demographic Factors: Each and every chunk of the population is affected by these
factors which might be age, education level, cultural characteristics, country, region
and lifestyle.
3. Technological Factors: These factors are essential and can have a huge impact on
how well your business is running- factors like automation, engine performance and
efficiency and internet connectivity play a major role.
4. Natural and Physical Forces: Climate change, pollution, availability of renewable
and non-renewable resources, laws that regulate the environment etc. are some of the
major forces which impact the marketing of a product at any point in time.
5. Social and Cultural Forces: Every product that one brings to the market can have a
huge impact on society. The purchasing habits of people, the different social classes
in a country, different lifestyles, consciousness about health issues and emigration and
immigration are some of the social and cultural forces which impact the marketing of
the product.
6. Legal and Political Factors: The market develops according to the legal and political
environment in various areas. Businesses need to be updated with laws like the import
and export law, copyright law, health and safety law, discrimination law etc. It also
includes government policies and legislations which affect the operations of a
business.
 VALUE PROPOSITION OF PULSE OXIMETER
Value proposition summarizes why a customer would choose a specific product or
service.

Features of the BPL Medical Technologies Oximeter

PULSE OXIMETER FEATURES
1. Portable fingertip oxygen monitor and an auto rotating color OLED screen
2. Comes with big font display and brightness control
3. Comes with a compact and easy to carry pouch
4. Gives continuous peripheral perfusion
5. Monitored data displayed in four directions and six display modes
6. Displays results in 5 seconds
7. Connects to smartphones via Bluetooth
8. It also has a sensor fault indicator and a low battery indicator

In today’s era, when we all are facing a global pandemic, it is essential that we all have a
pulse oximeter at home which has certain benefits to offer:

a) It measures the blood pressure and heart rate. Sometimes, an individual may
not show any warning sign of breathing difficulty and an oximeter helps in
times like these.
b) It is an inexpensive and accurate product to give readings in seconds and
hence, it is important during a critical medical condition.
c) It monitors the oxygen saturation over time and assesses the need for
supplemental oxygen.
d) It alerts dangerously low oxygen levels, which gives a signal as to when
should we visit the doctor.
e) It also checks a person’s ability to endure increased physical activity.
f) It also determines if a person temporarily stops breathing while sleeping- in
case of sleep apnea or during a sleep study.
Kashish Ohri
C_17