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    Case Study

    Sonova: Hearing a sound digital strategy?

    By Stefan Michel, Thomas Koller and Emanuele Pizzo
    16 pages
    February 2021
    Order this case study
    Reference: IMD-7-2107

    Sonova, market leader for hearing aids, has rapidly grown through acquisitions of manufacturers and retailers while maintaining acquired brands. Recently launched digital solutions offer Sonova’s products with new options but challenging to scale in light of multiple brands and diverse channel situation. Amplifon improves its position by selling own branded hearing aids connected with a proprietary digital platform. As the market moves towards digital, Amplifon seems to be better positioned since they can offer an end-to-end solution under one single brand. In the landscape of multiple product and channel brands and the fast-moving competitive environment, how should Sonova react?

    Learning Objective
    • Understanding of market forces and how those can develop over time. Also, understanding how markets can integrate and create a new competitive environment, which changes the focus of market participants.
    • How new technologies can influence market forces and prioritization of actions in companies depending on their assessment of the impact from the new technology.
    • How key success factors can change and that current competitive advantages are not necessarily the guarantee for future success as well.
    • Understand the difference between digital strategy and digital transformation.
    • The importance of timing and speed of actions
    Keywords
    Strategy, Digital, Digital Transformation, Brand Management, Hearing Aids
    Settings
    World/global
    Sonova, Healthcare, Medical Device
    Until September 2018
    Type
    Field Research
    Copyright
    © 2021
    Available Languages
    English
    Related material
    Teaching note
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