Willingness of Small and Midsize Technology Company Founders in the Health Care Industry and of Physicians Reinvesting in Medical Technology to Use Crowdfunding

Willingness of small and midsize Technology Company Founders in the Health Care Industry and of Phycisians reinvesting in medical technology to use CROWDFUNDING Philipp Plugmann1,2,3,4 and Julia Plugmann5 1University of... [ view full abstract ]

Willingness of small and midsize Technology Company Founders in the Health Care Industry and of Phycisians reinvesting in medical technology to use CROWDFUNDING

Philipp Plugmann1,2,3,4 and Julia Plugmann5
1University of Applied Sciences FHM Bielefeld, Germany
May, 2016
Abstract

The upcoming industry of Crowdfunding is getting a serious competitor to the classic bank industry. The fintech industry, which combines modern technologies and financial services, is growing, but still there is a research question about the willingness of decision makers in the Health Care industry to use Crowdfunding offers. Therefore we did research about the willingness of small and midsize technology company founders in the health care industry and of physicians reinvesting in medical technology, to finance through crowdfunding.

The bank industry can still make innovation progress through delivering the customers a better financial service, which can compare with the new fintech and crowdfunding start-up´s. So it would be interesting to research about the factors of the customers that drives them towards crowdfunding. Are decision makers in small and midsize technology companies in the health care sector, like the founders, but also physicians who reinvest in expensive medical technology, willing to use Crowdfunding ?

For this study we asked in the timeline February 2015 – April 2016 two groups. The first group were small and midsize Technology Company Founders in the Health Care Industry (n = 127) from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, which were minimum 5 years at the market. The second group were Physicians of different disciplines which had to reinvest in expensive medical technology from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands ( n= 214 ), and minimum 10 years at the market. Both groups were asked about a minmum financing of an investement of 50.000 Euro. The research process was organized first in an study invitation e-mail with a repeated two-week reminder-e-mail. Secondary, if the answer was positive to participate, we send by e-mail a standardized question paper.

We find about the first group (n = 127) that 33.86 % (n = 43) of the small and midsize technology company founders would use a crowdfunding service in the future. In the second group (n = 214) the results measured 14.48 % ( n = 31) of the phycisians reinvesting in medical technology would use rather a crowdfunding finance solution than a classic bank offer. The 3 most important factors not to invest trough Crowdfunding depending on those individuals in the groups who preferred the classic bank offer were in Group 1 : Long-term relationship with the bank (82%), Support of the bank in difficult times (71%) and Quality of Service of the bank (68%). In the second group the classic bank was preferred for financing because of : Sensitivity of economic IT-Data going to the public if crowdfunded (94 %), Long-term relationship to the bank (88 %) and Qualiy of Service of the bank (86%).

The empirical results of this study showed significantly that there is currently a low willingness in this 2 groups (33.86 % and 14.48 %) to use Crowdfunding, still the industry sector showed a more than double higher percentage of willingness compared to the physicians. Also the 3 most important reasons of each group not to use crowdfunding gave interesting informations. On the one hand these are good news for the classic banks, but still the competition with the fintech sector and the crowdfunding services will lead to a market transition and change the business model design of the financing services in the next years. The classic banks have still time to transform their business models themselfes from inside, better than being changed by disruptive innovation from outside. Similarly the crowdfunding companies can work on the factors that inhibit customers to use their financing services.



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1University of Applied Sciences FHM Bielefeld
Ravensberger Strasse 10 G, 33602 Bielefeld, Germany
plugmann@gmx.de ( Lecturer )

2University of Applied Sciences Karlsruhe – technology and economics
Moltkestrasse 30, 76133 Karlsruhe, Germany
plugmann@gmx.de (Lecturer )

3Forxess Biotech Medtech
Ludwig-Erhard-Platz 1, 51373 Leverkusen, Germany
plugmann@gmx.de (Co-Founder, CEO)

4University Clinics Marburg, Departement of Periodontology
Georg-Voigt-Strasse 3, 35033 Marburg, Germany
plugmann@gmx.de (Research Fellow)

5Teaching Hospital Elisabeth-Krankenhaus Rheydt
Departement of Internal Medicine & Departement of Cardiology
Hubertusstrasse 100, 41239 Mönchengladbach, Germany
(Physician in education for Specialist in Internal Medicine & Cardiology)
julia.plugmann@gmx.de