Conquering International Markets

Abstract

With the advent of selling the AO Instrumentarium publicly, and the resolution of dividing world markets between the instrument producers Mathys and Straumann, an earnest effort was undertaken to market the products outside Switzerland. The first efforts to find adopters abroad was concentrated in Germany and Austria, two countries where the AO surgeons maintained extensive professional contacts. Characteristically, both countries had extensive hospital networks dealing with accidents and trauma. However, Unfallchirurgin (trauma surgeons) in the leading trauma centers in both countries had to be convinced. This did not happen overnight.