Smith & Nephew: The Conservative Revolution

In the late 1980s, medical supply companies sought to leverage their relationships with new customers by creating a broad portfolio of diverse products. Smith & Nephew is pursuing a different tack--having spent a decade making one acquisition after another, it spent the last several years selling off most of those businesses. What remains is a company focused on products that repair tissue, in areas such as orthopedics, wound care, and endoscopy.

by David Cassak

Having spent much of the 1980s acquiring a wide array of product lines, mostly in the US—every thing from orthopedic...

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