The Global Pharmaceutical Industry Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Global Pharmaceutical Industry - Case Study Example The global pharmaceutical industry is quite unusual and in various geographic markets there happens to only one powerful buyer, i.e. the government. During the 80s and 90s the governments round the globe started to concentrate on the pharmaceuticals as some kind of an easy target in order to control the expenditures related to healthcare and get greater value for money. These typed of activities by the governments is just a reflection of the cultural differences. The industry in true sense has got global and hence the employment and ownership has become concentrated in very few countries. Regulators have quite often been challenged to reduce the overburdening of the growing areas related to the area of biotechnology research.   There are also increasing pressure from inter country pricing inequality as well as parallel trade. One such example would the difference between USA and Canada (Henry, 2008, p. 89).Economic ForcesPatients usually have had very little influence on the choice of price and products, because the doctors make the prescription. Again the medical practitioners tend to favor branded products. On the other hand the incentives to buy products got decreased as the costs were reimbursed or assumed by the insurers or the heath care authorities. The supply of the pharmaceutical market is still quite fragmented as very few companies are holding a share of more than 11%-20%. The industry has the presence of some strong international player’s bases in France, Japan and India in the form of Ranbaxy.... One such example would the difference between USA and Canada (Henry, 2008, p. 89). Economic Forces Patients usually have had very little influence on the choice of price and products, because the doctors make the prescription. Again the medical practitioners tend to favor branded products. On the other hand the incentives to buy products got decreased as the costs were reimbursed or assumed by the insurers or the heath care authorities. The supply of the pharmaceutical market is still quite fragmented as very few companies are holding a share of more than 11%-20%. The industry has the presence of some strong international player’s bases in France, Japan and India in the form of Ranbaxy. However, the recent economic down turn has meant that the companies had to reduce the spending on R&D and as a result number of new products that were supposed to reach the market has fallen (Churchill, 2009, p.211). Social Forces The baby boom generation is approaching retirement and there hav e been new efforts on the part of the companies to serve the purpose of treatment of the elderly. The end users are now a lot better informed about the products. The rise of the internet has helped the customers to get valuable info about pharmacy based products quite easily. Consumers have become a lot educated and as a result a lot more demanding (Brown, 2009, p. 209). Technological Forces Technological factors can actually lower the market entry barriers and reduce the efficient production levels and influence the outsourcing decisions. Some of the factors include the R&D activities, rate of technology change and technology incentives. One of the major implications of the technological development has been the development of drugs that can help