A Strategic Analysis of Novartis

The original case was about Chiron, a biotechnology company, in the United States. Chiron was acquired in 2006 by Novartis, a Swedish company formed by the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz Laborites. Since Chiron itself no longer exists, we have focused our case around Novartis as of 2013. Novartis specializes in diagnostic services, generic and name brand medications, ophthalmological tools, as well as a small segment in pet health. The business prides itself in producing the latest drugs, hiring the best talent, and being a global leader in the pharmaceutical industry. Over the years the company has survived by focusing on its internal development in addition to a series of mergers, acquisitions, and corporate restructurings. Being a pharmaceutical company, the entire population is impacted: patients, physicians, employees, hospitals, and investors are some of the most important stakeholders.
We first began our analysis of Novartis by evaluating the company’s strategic direction. Novartis’ mission statement is to care and to cure. They are a company that wants to discover, develop, and successfully market innovative products to prevent and cure disease, to ease suffering, and to enhance the quality of life. Novartis also hopes to provide a shareholder return that reflects outstanding performance and to adequately reward those who invest their money, their time, and their ideas in their company. Like most companies in the industry, Novartis’ vision is to become the best pharmaceutical company through the achievement of sustainable and profitable growth. Novartis has a performance oriented culture and top down leadership style. By having a performance oriented culture the business pushes creativity and free thinking while focusing ...

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...including their expiring patents and inefficiencies in their research and development practices. In the end, Novartis has a very strong internal environment. Their strategic direction, value chain, strengths, resources, and capabilities have allowed them to grow, develop, and truly become a global leader in the pharmaceutical industry.
Novartis is currently one of the largest companies in the pharmaceutical industry, for both generic and brand name medication. One of components that led to Novartis becoming such a large company is their presence in a worldwide geographic market. Novartis is currently in the growth phase of the industry life cycle, and it is expected to be there for the foreseeable future. Novartis will continue to be a threat to its rivals in the industry, which include companies such as Johnson and Johnson, Pfizer, Merck, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.