Question 1: Going in to this situation, what were Thaldorf’s major strengths and weaknesses as a representative of Mediquip?

Kurt Thaldorf enjoyed a strong set of strengths over weaknesses going into the tendering process with Lohmann University Hospital (LUH).

Strengths:

1) Mediquip had successfully positioned their brand as Kotler et al. point out (2012 P 396) as it enjoyed a reputation for technology and after sales service. This reputation also gave Mediquip some corporate credibility in the market.

2) Kurt believed strongly in the Mediquip scanners superiority, therefore giving him confidence and positive selling intentions towards the product. These attributes have been identified to positively impact on
Thaldorf had all of the ingredients of a strong customer value proposition, but failed to communicate it. Anderson, Narus & Van Rossum (2006) outlined the building blocks of successful customer value propositions to be made up of three parts, points of parity, difference and contention (Anderson, Narus & Van Rossum (2006) p.94). Mediquip’s scanner met all of the specifications required, therefore meeting points of parity. Their scanner also offered upgrading facilities and faster operation creating points of difference. Technology was the only point of contention and Mediquip’s scanner was more advanced than competitors.

Thaldorfs interactions with Professor Steinborn were his most successful. Steinborn, as the initiator, wanted to have Mediquip involved. Thaldorfs’ pointed out strong points of difference to Steinborn, and this helped in winning his support as Mediquip’s scanner was the radiologist’s choice.

In his six interactions with Hartmann Thaldorf did not communicate the differentiating factors the points of difference above gave him. Showing they resulted in lower “life cycle costs” (Kotler et al. (2012) p.309), and increased revenues through faster operation would have created a strong customer value proposition for him.

Thaldorfs interactions with Dr Rufer were also ineffective. He only met Dr Rufer twice. Rufer did not seem to want to interact with Thaldorf. The introduction of a Product Specialist to Rufer