While its former parent company made big news this week through a merger, MicroPort Orthopedics is still quietly getting on its feet as a separate company.
And after almost a year in business, Ted Davis, the company's CEO, likes where it's heading.
Davis moderated the final panel of the 12th annual Musculoskeletal New Ventures Conference and discussed the company's strategy when it first launched and how it stacks up against larger companies, including Wright Medical.
Once MicroPort Orthopedics was created from what was previously the OrthoRecon division of Wright Medical, Davis said the company became a startup, even if it was a startup with decades of history and 600 employees.
However, that focus allowed MicroPort to discover what its strengths were and how it could grow the hip and knee business.
"Wright is an innovative company, but there was a shift away from the hip and knee side," Davis said. "We don't have to build anything. We just have to be more efficient and have a strategy outside of marketing 100 products to 100 different people."
Mike Carroll, vice president of research and development for MicroPort, said the company needed to narrow its focus from more than 50 products at the time of the acquisition to "just a few" that met its needs in hip and knee implants. But they also needed to make sure they continued to develop new products that were attractive to customers.
Part of the company's strategy was contracting with Memphis-based MB Innovations to help design instruments for MicroPort's hip arthroplasty procedures.
Carroll said that strategy was practical, and it will be long-term.
"We're working with engineers who are right out of school, but most engineers aren't able to contribute for three to five years," Carroll said. "This not only helps our process, but will prevent us from overstaffing."
Davis said unique thinking and the willingness to try new things is a benefit of being a smaller company.
"In a period of disruption and change, that's where we see opportunity," Davis said. "In this environment, I like position. I like being the little guy."
And being a smaller company also means innovation and success can come quicker.
"In innovation, we're playing offense while everyone else is playing defense," he said. "We started at a point a lot of companies are trying to get to."