The Big Orthos have realized that they are not very good at R&D, new product development or even innovation for that matter.
So the Big Orthos have learned to outsource their R&D, but not to a single company… but to everyone.
They outsource their R&D to M&A.
Yes, its true. The Big Orthos let the startup run all the experiments for them in all sectors (sports, trauma, joints, spine etc).
In each sector there are at least 15+ startups that get funded and essentially become the R&D laboratory for the big boys.
The Big Orthos sit back and wait for one of these R&D laboratory startups to gain traction, then they snatch them up
No risk.
No messiness.
No effort.