International business strategy - Essay Example

Being directly related to the health of the customers, the industry possesses certain unique characteristics which in turn influence its market status. For instance, the industry attracts strict legal barriers, intense political considerations, along with effective technical collaborations. However, the industry gains an advantage of lesser economic constraints and social influences (Verbigena, 2004). Since its initiation, the industry has witnessed a rapid growth despite certain major barriers such as, increasing debt and the effect of recent global recession.

The turnover of the international pharmaceutical industry as recorded in the last month of 2009 was $ 233 billion. This depicts that the industry was on a growth when compared with the 2006 statistics reporting revenue of $193 billion (Moody’s Investors Service, Inc., 2010). However, the industry also witnessed challenges in terms of mergers and acquisitions. For instance, Pfizer acquired Wyeth for 68 billion; Merck Sharp & Dohme was acquired by Schering for 41.1 billion and Roche acquired 43% of the total stake in Genentech.

Notably, all the companies were recorded to be among the major players in the global industry. Hence, it can be stated that the mergers and acquisitions strongly influenced the structure of the industry which can prove to be a constraint from the marketing perspective (Hornke & Mandewirth, 2009). 1.2. Demand & Supply In the economic perspective the demand and supply in an industry is referred to the interdependent relationship between the total amount of products and/or supply rendered to the industry’s customers and the actual need or requirement to the total population of the customer.

To be related with the pharmaceutical industry, one opportunity that the industry gains in this context is that it renders a product which is categorised as a basic requirement of human population. Therefore, the suppliers in the industry enjoy more power in comparison to the buyers. However to be precise, the market demand was recorded to fall back during the early 2000s and after the recent economic downturn it is again increasing. Accordingly, the supply chain of the industry comprises of the manufacturers and marketers, who are altogether reflecting a positive outlook to render their products to their ultimate customers (Holland & Batiz-Lazo, 2004). 1.3 Key Countries of the Market The international pharmaceutical industry can be categorised in three main regions, i.e. the American region, the European region and the Asian market region.

Notably, the industry structure and performance vary from one economy to another. It is due to the fact that the industry depends highly on the legal, political and technological issues beside the social and economical barriers. The statistics recorded in 2005 revealed the following facts regarding the annual contribution of various economies to the international pharmaceutical industry (Medicines Australia, 2007). Economies North America Europe Japan UK Australia Other Economies Shares in Sales (2005) 45% 20% 10% 3% 1% 21% Source: (Medicines Austra