case study

ICON PLC is a top tier contract research organization (CRO). They help pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies accelerate development of drugs and medical devices. The company also works with government and public health organizations on drug development and testing.

In hiring Healthcare Service Consultants, ICON aimed to better understand opportunities to differentiate itself within the competitive environment. Through our external market research, interviews with internal stakeholders and SWOT analysis, we were able to inform, educate and recommend opportunities for ICON to pursue.

Anytime a company wants to assess performance and market opportunities, it’s valuable to have an outside-in perspective. Even as a large, established company–with plenty of internal resources–ICON desired to work with an unbiased third-party. Our work would complement internal work already performed and help them get a better picture of how their product and services offering stacked up to the competition.  Our assessment included understanding, analyzing, and comparing the messaging of primary competitors and identifying and recommending opportunities for improving and repositioning both.

Our initial research involved speaking with internal leadership and gathering insights and perspectives from key contributors and managers outside of the C-suite. This involved traveling to the company’s headquarters in Philadelphia and interviewing people in person. ICON also provided access to internal documentation so we could get a detailed understanding of company practices.

Analyzing their messaging and that of their competition comprised another important part of our efforts. After gaining an understanding of their competitive landscape and mapping out their strengths, weaknesses and opportunities we recommended refinements to their messaging and how ICON positioned itself in the marketplace. This included new ideas to effectively deploy it. 

Finally, our intensive analysis was presented to the leadership team via a 15-page written report and verbal presentation to the executive team.

This was the first time HSC had worked with a contract research organization. But, our extensive knowledge in the healthcare space provided a solid foundation from which to proceed. Ultimately, it was our ability to provide strategic analysis and meaningful recommendations that provided the greatest value to ICON.