Walgreens Executive Summary

CVS is a company that has been around for over fifty years and focuses on filling the needs of an older population looking to get their medication and other essentials all in a one-stop shop. A very similar business in this niche is Walgreens. Through evaluation of both sets of financial statements from each company, the investor can make a better educated decision on whether or not to invest in stock at CVS.

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.

Placed within an industry being pressured by reimbursement rates, plagued by market saturation, and in constant fear of government legislation, Walgreens is trying to pursue new avenues to promote company growth. In order to promote market share growth in New York, Walgreens acquired the drugstore chain Duane Reade in 2010 (WAG to Acquire NY Institution Duane Reade, 2010). Walgreens also recently expanded their online presence in May of 2011 with the acquisition of drugstore.com (Walgreens Co.). While Walgreens also focuses on traditional organic store growth, these actions exemplify their large focus on promoting company growth through new avenues.

the benefits of a multichannel strategy” (p. 13). Walgreen’s image is about creating value and making shopping either for consumer goods or prescription drugs more convenient.

Walgreens has attempted to build satisfaction, value, and loyalty for their customers by remembering that loyal customers are at the heart of their business, and thus rely on a customer-on-top business model. To do this, Walgreens has learned the talent of listening and responding to their customers in the following ways: (1) to respond to the busy lives of their customers, Walgreens allowed them to fill prescriptions at different stores and offered them the drive-thru pharmacy; (2) customers who spoke other languages complained about the labels, and Walgreens responded by printing labels in more than 10 different languages; and (3) when customers with eyesight problems could not read the labels, Walgreens offered printed labels with larger font sizes so that customers could more easily read the bigger text (Berenbaum, n.d., para. 19).

Following an organization announcement in 2015, the healthcare system was divided into four divisions headed by a leadership team of 5 that oversee all the divisions. The second division consists of the 3 regional hospitals associated with the New York Presbyterian system. Often hospitals associated with a healthcare system are hospitals waiting on approval from the city and HCOs involved. The 3rd division consists of NY-Presbyterian physician services. Lastly, the fourth division consists of all the health services that make up the health care system’s community and population health. These services include ambulatory care network sites and healthcare initiatives. As a Highly Reliable Organization, New York Presbyterian keeps track of multiple trends to shift and shape it’s organization for today’s always changing and complex healthcare industry. Through the tracking of consumer healthcare decisions, New York-Presbyterian uses this data to adjust its practices and policies to help patients make the best medical decisions and provide the highest quality of care. Positioned in one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the world, New York-Presbyterian keeps track of it’s competition by monitoring the consolidations of healthcare organizations within their market share. Through this monetization, the healthcare system prioritize its marketing strategy that allows them to sell the unique

Since most specialty procedures are inpatient services, EMC’s inpatient occupancy rate suffers. The occupancy rate for Emanuel Medical Center – fifty percent – is far below that of its competitors and industry benchmarks. To accompany this, EMC (on average) receives a lower reimbursement for in-patient Medicare services per patient seen in comparison to its competitors. A result such as this is correlated with directly to the fewer amount of specialty services that EMC offers. In order for Emanuel Medical Center to be able to compete with other hospitals in its service area, it is imperative that EMC evaluates what services they currently offer and are capable to offer in the future to add value to the hospital, increase its revenue stream, and expand its patient mix. Currently, Emanuel Medical Center has not succumbed to its increasing financial pressurealthough EMC has had a negative operating income for five straight years. A negative operating income places EMC at a disadvantage because it limits the hospitals ability to renovate its aging building or hire new specialists to offer revenue enhancing procedures. EMC’s competitors, on the other hand, have large sources of revenue due to their mergers with large healthcare networks such as Catholic Healthcare West. Another competitor, Kaiser Permanente Modesto Medical Center, has extremely large financial resources due to the fact

Walgreens was founded in 1901 measuring 50 feet by 20 feet by Charles R. Walgreen, Sr.. Mr. Walgreen was born near Galesburg, Illinois and his family later relocated to Dixon, Illinois at town about 60 miles north of his birthplace. Mr. Walgreens’ father was a farmer who turned into a businessperson and saw a great potential of the Rock River Valley (Walgreen, n.d., p.1). At age 16, Charles Walgreen had his first experience working in a drug store. He didn’t always have pleasurable experiences but it was a job with pay. He had an accident at a shoe factory that cut off his left middle finger from the top joint. This injury also stops him from playing any sports at school. After a year and a half with the

Walgreens’ principal activity is to operate a chain of retail drugstores that sells prescription and nonprescription drugs. The company also carries additional product lines like general merchandise including cosmetics, food, beverages and photofinishing. Walgreens is one of the fastest growing retailers in the United States and led the chain drugstore industry in retail sales and profits last year.

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 competitive prices, countless discount opportunities, and friendly employees keep customers loyal to Walgreens even if they are not making frequent visits to the pharmacy department. This paper seeks to analyze the different components of the drug store industry and the aspects of the marketing strategy of the Walgreens Company that have kept it a strong competitor for so many years.

This preliminary strategic assessment of Walgreens will describe the company’s current corporate strategy and business model. Walgreens’ acquisitions and mergers will be examined as well as the company’s globalization and competitive frame. A brief overview of how the company is performing and its cost-based business strategy will also be examined. This is the first of four reports that make up the strategic assessment for Walgreens.

We would like to thank you so much for all the hard work that you all have been doing. As Walgreens still continue being one of the top largest retail pharmacy in the United States. Our goal and vision has always been; to be America's most loved pharmacy-led health, wellbeing and beauty retailer and to champion everyone’s right to be happy and healthy and that also include our employees. With that being said we really appreciate your loyalty and the excellent work that you continue to do despite our current predicament.

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,

Hospitals and health systems in the U.S. are experiencing a remarkable transformation in their business models directed from numerous influences that are projected to ultimately turn the industry around. Pressures include providers troubled with the quantity of services they are responsible for, to providers who concentrate on presenting high-cost services that give emphasis to sustaining healthy populations (Dunn & Becker, 2013).