Analysis of MST - A Small Bio-defense Company :: Business and Management Studies:

Analysis of MST - A Small Bio-defense CompanyEXECUTIVE SUMMARYMST is a small bio-defense troupe with an exceptional crossway that ispatented in the U.S. They are looking for second twist financing, asource of cash, in order to fulfill their goal of going public. Atthis time there is an unsolicited sales call from Japan, which wouldmean a great amount of money. This sale would mean hundreds, maybeeven thousands of units. MST knows that their harvest-tide is one of a kindnow, but their competitors are working hardly to come up with asimilar item. They posit to make the deal quickly, beforehand the Japanesebuyer has other choices. There are several risks that must beconsidered while considering this deal. The most important one is thatthey might lose the applied science due to either licensing or to reverseengineering, which will probably also mean the end of the company,knowing that it is not strong enough. It is also known that Americanpatents cant be protected when exported to Japan, that is a big risk.There are a number of alternatives available to solve this problem.The first is for MST to export the product by itself, and sell it tothe Japanese. The second alternative might be to contract with aJapanese trading company, and finally, the third alternative is tolicense the technology to a Japanese manufacturer. All of thesealternatives will be evaluated according to the intellectual propertyrisk, reverse engineering risk, costs and implications on profit,MSTs competitive and market tip position, time-to-market, and theconcerns and implications of export licensing. Given an analysis ofthe alternatives, it is recommended to take the second one I flipanalyzed this alternative as the best because it takes a short terminationof time, helping MST to keep their position as market leader, as wellas protecting its intellectual property due to the fact that tradingcompanies have a reputation to maintain.Situation AnalysisMST is a small bio-defense company with an exceptional product that ispatented in the U.S. They are looking for second round financing, asource of cash, in order to fulfill their goal of going public. Atthis time there is an unsolicited sales call from Japan, which wouldmean a great deal of money, but they do not know how to address it.This sale would mean probably hundreds, maybe even thousands of units,plus training. It is in MSTs knowledge that their product is one of akind right now, but their competitors are working fiercely to come upwith a similar item. Therefore, they need to make the deal quickly,