“As we continued our work to improve the lives of patients and caregivers, we maintained our focus on five key strategic areas.”

As we continued our work to improve the lives of patients and caregivers, we maintained our focus on five key strategic areas: 1) putting quality first in everything we do; 2) anticipating and satisfying our customers’ needs; 3) offering innovations that help our customers achieve their goals; 4) developing our people and making a real difference in their careers and lives; and 5) delivering to our shareholders the return on investment that they deserve. While focusing on customers’ needs and developing our people is at the core of all our activities, our ability to constantly improve quality, drive innovation and manage costs were the three “levers” that drove our performance in 2010, for both the short term and the long haul.

Quality

The transformation of quality from a compliance process to a long-term competitive advantage gained significant ground at Stryker this year. Where once we had 23 different quality systems across 23 different manufacturing locations, we moved aggressively toward implementing a single process for quality across the company in order to better serve our customers around the world. This $200 million multi-year effort has added deep technical expertise, regulatory insight and individual ownership of specific quality processes. And rather than focusing on correcting deficiencies in our quality processes, our emphasis is on driving systemic improvements designed to create a world-class quality discipline throughout the company. Our quality work is far from done, and our intensity and focus will continue. But a clear indication of our progress in 2010 was the lifting of the three remaining FDA Warning Letters issued in 2007 and 2009.

We feel encouraged by our speed in addressing the concerns raised in the Warning Letters and the progress and dialogue we’ve established with the FDA. Our goal is to become a benchmark for our industry that all of our customers and their patients can consistently rely on for world class products and services.

History Of Revenue Growth ($ Billions)
History Of Revenue Growth ($ Billions)
Year Amount (In Billions)
*The year Stryker became a publicly traded company.
2010 7.3
2009 6.7231
2008 6.7182
2007 6.0005
2006 5.1472
2005 4.6089
2004 4.0174
2003 3.4023
2002 2.8101
2001 2.4214
2000 2.1421
1999 1.9817
1998 0.9874
1997 0.8801
1996 0.8315
1995 0.8117
1994 0.6413
1993 0.5335
1992 0.4627
1991 0.358
1990 0.276
1989 0.2228
1988 0.177
1987 0.147
1986 0.1287
1985 0.1084
1984 0.0898
1983 0.0745
1982 0.0572
1981 0.0437
1980 0.0362
1979* 0.029