Swot Analysis-Pfizer

Pfizer SWOT analysis

Pfizer is a global pharmaceutical and consumer products company, which discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets medicines for humans and animals. The company consists of three SBU's (Strategic Business Units):

• •Health Care

• •Animal Health

• •Consumer Health Care

The company produces the impotence treatment Viagra, cholesterol lowering Lipitor and, for high blood pressure and angina, Norvasc. The animal division produces treatment both for livestock and pets. The company's consumer division produces the consumer drugs Listerine, Certs, Dentyne. Pfizer engages in international business both through their subsidiaries and distributors. The company's headquarters are located in New York, US.

Pfizer is a leader in the research-based healthcare industry, and its strengths lie in its innovative R&D and strong marketing capabilities. When Pfizer's operations began in 1849, its focus was on the research and development of innovative pharmaceutical compounds, and it is this activity, which remains core to the company's interests.

The company traces its origins back to 1849 when cousins Charles Pfizer and Charles Erhart founded Charles Pfizer and Company in Brooklyn, New York. In 1928, Dr. Alexander Fleming's discovery of penicillin started the expansion of modern medicine and offered hope in the battle against infection. But penicillin couldn't be manufactured in large quantities to help people until Pfizer pioneered its mass production.

"The success of penicillin lead to the company's initial public offering in June 1942. In 1950, Terramycin (oxytetracycline), a broad-spectrum antibiotic represented the result of the company's first discovery program and became the first pharmaceutical sold in the US under the Pfizer label."

A new pharmaceutical company had been born. The second half of the 20th century has been an era of unique advances in medical discovery, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Pfizer continued to develop and market new pharmaceuticals.

The company's plan of investment into research began to pay off in the 1990s. Pfizer's roster of drugs grew with the launch of Viagra (sildenafil citrate) in 1998, a treatment for erectile dysfunction. Pfizer invested close to $2.5 billion in research into the product, which quickly became a bestseller. In the year 2000, Pfizer and Warner-Lambert merged to form the new Pfizer.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

• •R&D innovation with a broad therapeutic coverage

• •Marketing strength in major geographical and therapeutic areas

• •Patent protection for a number of years on key products

• •Using technology in improving customer relationship and business efficiency

Pfizer's strengths lie in its innovation with broad therapeutic coverage, its global marketing strength, and its key product portfolio, which remains product protected for a number of years.

Pfizer has established itself as a global provider of innovative healthcare solutions, and rather than focusing on a small number of specialist therapeutic areas, Pfizer has, instead, concentrated on product innovation in any attractive therapy area, and its current portfolio and R&D pipeline reflect this. It has strengths in a number of therapeutic areas, and its size and strong market presence is sufficient to support this diversity.

Pfizer has a global marketing strength, which has made it a very attractive marketing partner for smaller or less experienced companies. The company's recognized marketing strength will mean that opportunities for promising products are likely to be discussed with Pfizer, giving it access to an array of promising compounds for sale on the international market.

Pfizer's product portfolio is considerably stronger than a number of large pharmaceutical companies, with the majority of its high selling products remaining patent protected until 2002 and beyond. For Pfizer, the patent protection of its key products places it in a strong, competitive position, and promises revenue growth for a number of years to come.

Pfizer is committed to adding value to its business relationships. The Pfizer Business to Business section is an e-commerce area designed to maximize relationships with vendors and wholesale distributors already doing business with Pfizer. If you are a wholesale distributor, you can submit orders online through the Pfizer E-Commerce web site. Pre-approved vendors can track invoices through the Pfizer Accounts Payable web site, and potential IT vendors can introduce themselves to Pfizer using the Pfizer Infrastructure Vendor Registration web site.

Weaknesses

• •Discontinuation of products in the latter stages of development

• •Co-marketing agreements can limit Pfizer's global presence

Discontinuation of products in late stage development, its lack of promising products in its early stage pipeline and the potential geographic, and therefore revenues limitations for Pfizer through its establishment of marketing agreements for other companies' products.

Concentration on the large number of products which it has launched recently, and on its late stage development pipeline, has left its early stage pipeline somewhat weaker, lacking promising products in phase I development able to support growth in the longer term. This deficit in the R&D pipeline will not be manifest for a number of years yet, and Pfizer is well placed to ensure that it balances its R&D pipeline before it becomes a worry for the company.

Whilst the number of co-marketing agreements Pfizer has established are proving very