Integrative Case 3.1: Corporate Strategy at Cardinal Health Discussion question 1: What are the benefits and costs of Cardinal Health’s product-related diversification strategy? Firstly, Walter started implementing its product-related strategy on time, in 1996, when FoxMeyer went bankrupt. If, the company was not diversified and dependent only on one product division, it might have ended up as FoxMeyer. Also, the drug distribution division has been forced to lower its prices by health care providers, patients, insurance companies and HMOs. Moreover, related costs are increasing, reducing profit margins of the company. This division is not as profitable as other three divisions, generating less than 50% of the company’s total profits, …show more content…
The company may face structural problems associated with the diversification strategy. As the company gets larger and larger and diversify into different product divisions, the organization structure should be changed to fit the diversification strategy. An inappropriate fit may result in low performance and lead to strategic changes. Also, internationalization or geographical diversification may lead to problems related to psychic distances. As the company gets more diversified, information flow will be harder due to differences in language, culture, level of education, political systems, foreignness and level of industrial development. Discussion question 2: What has made Cardinal Health the biggest player in the US health care industry in general and the undisputed profitability leader in the drug distribution business in general? Its product related diversification strategy, through series of successful acquisitions, has made the company the biggest player in the US Health care industry. Diversifying the company into industries with high growth rates and potential profitability enabled the company to outperform its competitors who depends mostly only one product division. As it is mentioned in the study, the acquisition strategy is in Cardinal Health’s blood and it is extremely good at acquiring firms and integrating them with the parent company. Cardinal Health’s acquisition success can be explained in four aspects. First, the company acquires only
Back in December of 2015, Kaiser Permanente planned to acquire Group Health Cooperative for 1.8 billion dollars with a proposition to invest $1 billion in new equipment, staff, facilities and research in hope to improve health in Washington state. In the Advisory Board’s article Eyeing growth, Kaiser announces first major acquisition in over a decade it says, “these deals are focused on delivering a better product to
In addition to staggering the directors tenure, the company initiated employee severance agreements with key officials, providing a severance package agreement to provide a “safety net” should any of the board member positions be terminated by a hostile takeover or leveraged buy-out by an unwanted suitor. By providing these lucrative packages for senior managers, many were able to stay with Church & Dwight and allowed for continuity of leadership styles, vision and mission focus. It is because of this steadfast devotion to principles that have promoted steady growth over the years that we find Church & Dwight identified previously as a “Star” but more recently labled a “Cash Cow” using
Diversification involves taking a new product or service into a new market; this strategy is notably the riskiest as the organisation has to carefully research the market and plan the launch of the product or service. Due to the risk involved, a public sector organisation like the NHS cannot afford to take the associated risk, but the NHS does compete in one whole new market in catering and weight loss. Here the aim of the NHS is to provide weight loss menus, but their USP (unique selling proposition) is associated with health.
Key Dates and Timelines Date Acquisition 1971 Robert Walter acquires Monarch Foods in leveraged buyout 1980 Walter acquires drug distributor in Zanesville, Ohio 1983 Company goes public as Cardinal Distribution 1988 Walter sells food group to Roundy’s Inc. 1991 Cardinal’s revenues exceed $1 billion 1994 Cardinal acquires Whitmore Distribution and Medical Strategies; company name change to Cardinal Health 1995 Cardinal acquires Medicine Shoppe International 1996 Cardinal acquires Pysix and PCI Services, Inc. 1997 Cardinal acquires Owen Healthcare Inc. 1998 FTC blocks Cardinal’s purchase of Burgen Brunswig; Cardinal acquires R. P. Scherer 1999 Cardinal acquires Allegiance 2000 Cardinal acquires Bergen Brunswig Medical Corp.; Cardinal established Cardinal.com and
CVS Pharmacy is the retail division of CVS Caremark. It is also one of the largest Pharmacy Retail Chains in the country and operates more than 7,400 stores domestically. Although the retail pharmaceutical division of this corporation accounts for a significant amount of this company’s success, CVS Caremark focuses more on its corporate strategy to compete with other industry rivals such as Walgreens and Rite Aid. Considering CVS Caremark is the result of the 2007 merger of CVS and Caremark Rx, this analysis will begin with a brief history and the merger of these corporations, its current performance, strategic posture, and the strategic managers of this organization.
Knowing the importance of a strategic vision, every company undertakes a complete analysis periodically. In order to create a strategic plan the parties involved must know every aspect of the industry and the company at hand. The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze the retail drugstore industry and then focus on Walgreens, the industry leader in terms of sales. As part of the in-depth analysis of Walgreens, its major competitors will also be described and analyzed. The retail drugstore industry consists of all those stores that contain a pharmacy and sell prescription drugs. It also includes businesses that sell prescription drugs online and through the mail. Most retail drugstores also offer other
The business challenge here was to justify the higher price of drug by highlighting its significant benefits to multiple decision makers through effective marketing and education efforts.
CVS Health happens to be one of the largest pharmacies serving people in every community. In fact, there is a CVS across the street from just about every hospital, on every major interception, and are within a 2-mile radius of one another. This is the way it has been since the company was founded “in Lowell, Massachusetts by brothers Stanley and Sidney Goldstein and partner Ralph Hoagland” in 1963, and it’s the way the company plans to keep expanding the company in a proximity to one another. They have even gone as far as expanding the size of the store to fit the community. All in an effort, to be responsive and committed enough to meet the needs of not only the customers, but the clients and the community as well (CVS Health, 1999-2016). Especially, since the company admits that over the past fifty years, they have changed to better service people in their health.
Cardinal Health has at various points in history depended on a strategy of heavy acquisitions to diversify. This strategy has slowed in recent years and the drug-distribution giant continues to struggle, looking for opportunities for growth, as they continue to pursue global expansion. To continue expanding global Cardinal Health should focus on the following factors:
One tool that can help an organization to understand its competitive positioning is the BCG Matrix. This matrix is based on the product life cycle theory and is typically used to help organizations make decisions about what products or services should be given priority over scarce resources (VBM, 2012). In analyzing Jackson's portfolio it is important to bear in mind that not all services are going to be in any one category. With a hospital this large and diversified, there will be things in which it is especially strong and things in which it is especially
I work at Fresenius Kidney Care, one of the largest dialysis companies in the United States and the world. Our competitors are DaVita, DCI, and American Renal Associates. We all offer dialysis services to include hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, and home hemodialysis to the community. Although our strategies and methods of execution are primarily the same, there are some differences. One difference is that my company, Fresenius Kidney Care, diversifies into other dialysis services that the other three competitors aren’t involved in. Fresenius Kidney Care has its own pharmacy, it’s own pharmaceutical services, and it makes and distributes dialysis machines and disposable products. Fresenius Kidney Care has also formed strategic alliances
As discussed in Finding 1, diversifying revenue streams ensure the sustainable development of the organization. I recommend
3.) Strong presence in high margin health services business. In addition to UnitedHealth Group’s leadership position in the health benefits market segment, UnitedHealth Group has strong information and technology based health services platform through its business segments which is Ingenix, OptumHealth and PrescriptionSolutions. The “CNN MONEY” (2012) website states Ingenix is one of the largest health information, technology and consulting companies in the world. The UnitedHealth Group derived $2.3 billion of revenues from Ingenix which contributed $284 million (excluding $200 million in goodwill impairment and business line deposition charges) of operating profit, and an operating margin of 12.1% during FY2010.
In 2008, Johnson & Johnson was named the 3rd best performing stock on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It has uniquely positioned itself to remain a leader in a competitive industry against the rapidly changing backdrop of healthcare. The company’s main competitors are Eli Lilly, Novartis and
Following is an analysis of both GreenHealth and Cranberry company’s strategic change at the beginning of merger in