Business Research Applications Paper - Essay Example

Research happens to be an integral part of any science and medicine related company. Merck & Co., Inc. is also a global research-driven pharmaceutical company. Established in 1891, Merck discovers, develops, manufactures and markets vaccines and medicines to address unmet medical needs. The stated mission1 of Merck is, "To provide society with superior products and services by developing innovations and solutions that improve the quality of life and satisfy customer needs, and to provide employees with meaningful work and advancement opportunities, and investors with a superior rate of return.

" With this mission the company has been carrying on the producing medicines for different needs. Core values with which the company operates its business are; v. Recognizing that the ability to excel -- to most competitively meet society's and customers' needs -- depends on the integrity, knowledge, imagination, skill, diversity and teamwork of company's employees. Company has affirmed its respect to these qualities and how it values these qualities most highly. Traditionally 'maximizing' profits has been considered to be the objective of any organization.

Not any more.This criteria has been discarded. Now organizations are supposed to have multiple objectives, monetary as well as non-monetary. There are short-term objectives as well as long-term ones. Research is an important tool for long term objective strategies. It helps in value creation as well. Value addition is one of the best strategies to take on the competitors. The term "value" can be defined in different ways according to the adopted perspective of the analysis: it is possible to determine a "customer value", a "firm value", a "stakeholder value" (Mele and Colurci, 2006).

Research Activities at MerckMerck has a shown its commitment to research and developmental activities. For example the company invested $4.8 billion towards Research and development investment in the year 2006. In a pioneering effort Merck has associated itself with HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), an international collaboration of scientists and institutions sharing all their trials and results in the field of aids medicine. This network is actively pursuing the research headed towards discovering a medicine for Aids.

This network shares trial results of researches being carried out by different companies and scientist organisations. The HVTN also facilitates parallel and concurrent testing of the effects of new experiments and medicines. The HVTN is a unique hybrid combining the depth and diversity of the academic community and the flexibility of a commercial drug company like Merck. Working with industry and government, the HVTN seeks to expedite and coordinate the trial process, advancing vaccine candidates and building a body of knowledge about HIV vaccine trials.

This network is the most ambitious one in the industry with