Ethicon breaks into Chinese suture market:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Scotland-based Ethicon, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson (US), has won a £0.25 million ($0.39 million) order from China for 22,000 sutures. The company sees the purchase as launching its entry into a market which could be worth "tens of millions of pounds" by 2004. According to distribution manager Jim Milligan: "One of the keys to breaking into the Chinese market has been giving them exactly what they require, including the instructions in Mandarin on all the packaging. Doing this in Edinburgh was far from easy but we have been assured the Chinese characters say what they are supposed to." Ethicon also intends to start manufacturing in Shanghai within 18-24 months.