Upjohn Pharmacy Case

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1. There are many different cultures in the world in which we live today, and it is important for any organisation planning to globalise their firm to know and understand the cultural differences that occur between nations. This theory is specifically important when it comes to two firms operating in different countries decide to merge to become one, as is the case with Upjohn and Pharmacia. The differences that became apparent during this merger were important as they affected the way business was conducted, in a negative way.

One of the major differences between America, Sweden, and Italy are the diverse beliefs that they each have about the best way for business to be conducted. The American representatives from Upjohn Pharmaceuticals believed that they would be able to head over to Sweden and approach the merger with a ‘command and control’ style, which implies that they went over there and automatically believed that their way was the best way and that they were in charge of the transaction, hence adopting a forceful and less considerate business tactic. This is almost completely opposite to the way that the Swedes and the Italians like to function, as their approach to the business environment is far more passive, and relationship oriented, it was therefore unlikely for the American businessmen to be successful in their methodology. This particular difference with relation to the typical business attitudes that all parties in this case bring to the table would have, and in fact did affect the way in which business was conducted. The Americans representing Upjohn automatically created a rift in the relationship with the Swedish and Italians from Pharmacia, due to the cavalier mind-set that they brought with them to Sweden, and this major difference between the cultures could easily have been avoided with a little bit of research.

The differences in cultures between Sweden and Italy had already become apparent in 1993, when Pharmacia merged with an Italian pharmaceutical company, however the inclusion of the American company into a corporate culture which had only so recently been developed and accepted by employees of the companies involved in the original merger created further cultural confusion. “Communication problems, beyond the obvious language differences, became a real barrier to honest dialogue”. This quote, coming from one of the American representatives of Upjohn goes to prove that there was an obvious problem with the interaction between managers of the three countries involved in the deal.

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