1. Introduction
Jones and Cousin Ltd has recently advanced to the leader position on the United Kingdom market for fiberscopic medical instruments. This market is shared with the rival company NMC Inc. and is expected to grow quickly over the next years.
The strategy used by the company to establish itself as the main manufacturer on this market seems to be an efficient one, as they started to sell innovative products at low prices and use continuous development to stay on top of the market. It means the development of different new or updated products each year and has the advantage of renewing the product line by using short life cycle products.
Their position is reinforced by the aggressive sales strategy which consists in selling the company’s products to both surgeons and materials managers whereas competitor NMC Inc. focuses on selling to surgeons. Regarding the managers’ power rise in the buying process for hospitals in the United Kingdom, Jones and Cousin is in a good position to keep expanding its business for years to come.

2. Jones and Cousin’s problems in launching and manufacturing products
Recently the company faced some problems when launching new products. The first one encountered is the lack of sufficient amount of finished goods to satisfy all orders after a new launch. In the United Kingdom the company sells its products to a large number of domestic dealers, each one supplying different hospitals. So during the launch process Jones and Cousin central warehouse receives a lot of orders coming from separate dealers and it is every time impossible for the production line to meet with customers demand for new items. Consequences are delivery delayed by six weeks or more, which affects company’s reputation, drains poor service level and possible loss of customers as they become tired of this situation. Given the fact that new customers are