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Merck

Merck, being on one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in the world today, came from a meek beginning and still encounters many problems today while trying to maintain a lead amongst its competition. While being looked at as a research and development driven company, Merck now has to go beyond R&D to stay competitive in the pharmaceutical industry. Attracting talent to work for the company has never been a problem for Merck, but the bigger question was whether or not this talent would be able to keep Merck's profits at a maximum and keep developing drugs in the pipeline.
Through the late 80's to early 90's, Merck was able to boast profits and sales through biochemistry drugs that were seen as breakthrough drugs in this new market. With this sudden boom competitors started to take notice and emulate Merck's business model. This success also brought up a number of questions within Merck as a company; mainly how was Merck going to keep up with its numbers and keep pumping new drugs into the market. By assessing some strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT Analysis) of the firm itself and offering some recommendations of how Merck may be able to conquer this challenge, you will be able to conclude that the success of Merck as a company relies heavily on its management and how they adapt the business model that is already in place to that of the ever-changing pharmaceutical industry.
Strengths:

Merck has an effective record and has increased its performance through various features. Merck has greatly achieved success with its long history of breakthrough drugs, many of which became known as "blockbuster" drugs. For example, during WWII, Merck had already developed three key technologies of the period, antibiotics, vitamins and hormones. Merck created a world class reputation for itself in revolutionizing pharmaceutical research. Deadly bacterial infections were being treated. Drugs such as Mevacor for arthrosclerosis and Vioxx for...