Swot

Strength -Industry leader   2008-Pfizer was the world’s number 1 pharmaceutical company Strong brand name and reputation

-Broad pipeline of new drugs and significant amount of cash  Financial leverage of Pfizer to expand their business, gain more market share

-Merger and acquisition  Advantages of Merger and acquisition Access to global market Gain economies of scale and access to new technologies. Economies of scale (buying in bulk, technology, specialization-cost adv) Acquisition of Warner Lambert gave Pfizer full marketing rights to Lipitor Acquisition of Pharmacia took Pfizer from number 4 in Europe and number 3 in Japan to number 1 globally Merge with Wyeth (access to technology in biologics and vaccines)

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-Strong R&D departments   Merger with Wyeth and acquisition of Warner Lambert, Pharmacia enhance R&D productivity and R&D innovation with a broad therapeutic coverage With larger R&D programme, more projects could benefit from the new capability and help amortise its cost

Weakness -Dependence on blockbuster portfolio vulnerable to generic erosion   Heavy reliance on Lipitor and intensify the impact of a decline in sales Lipitor faced patent expiry with dramatic loss of sales value

-No drug to replace Lipitor, the blockbuster cholesterol-lowering drug  Key drug to replace Lipitor had failed in late-stage clinical testing

-Investor were losing confidence   Due to key drug to replace Lipitor had failed Investors may pull money out and put Pfizer in a dangerous position

-Declining R & D productivity??? Explanation

Opportunity -Market with untapped potential (eg. Italy, Spain, France, Japan), which is driven by generic growth  Generic drugs were growing and patented drugs were in decline in volume terms

-Access to biopharmaceuticals or biologic market (by merger with Wyeth)  Biologics are forecasted to remain the fastest growing element of the pharmaceutical market

-Access to vaccines market (by merger with