考研阅读精选：企业分家 利大于弊
『医药企业为了继续生存，选择了一分为二的策略，这样可以规避竞争又可以分担风险。』Let's split
企业分家 利大于弊
Oct 19th 2011 | from The Economist
http://images.koolearn.com/casupload/upload/fckeditorUpload/2011-11-14/image/6ac9e6ce492f41429c041d58f6ff74d4.jpg
THEY have been teetering on the edge for years. Now pharmaceuticalfirms are beginning to careen off the patent cliff. Drugs which onceearned firms billions are facing new competition from their genericcounterparts. In such a climate, one might think that diversificationwould help. Apparently not. On October 19th Abbott Laboratories, adiversified American health-care company, announced that its drugbusiness would go it alone. Abbott plans to split into twopublicly-traded firms by the end of next year.
Healthcompanies used to assume that a bigger business was a better one.Virtually every quarter brought news of a fresh acquisition. Butinvestors got squeamish. In January, Jami Rubin of Goldman Sachs warnedthat conglomerates are likely to trade below the sum of their parts.Concerns over the patent cliff, she warned, were distracting investorsfrom the value of other assets. Companies seem to be taking the hint.Bristol-Myers Squibb shed its nutritional business in 2009. This yearPfizer announced plans to sell its infant-nutrition and animal-healthbusinesses.
But Abbott’s announcement may be the mostdramatic to date. Unlike Pfizer, whose pharma business accounts for 88%of its sales, Abbott is truly diversified. Splitting the company in twomeans shielding some of its businesses from the competition facingpharmaceuticals. One of the new firms will sell Abbott’s medicaldevices, diagnostics, generic drugs and nutritionals. This business,with about $22 billion in sales, will keep Abbott’s name and chiefexecutive, Miles White. Thanks to acquisitions such as Piramal, anIndian drugmaker, nearly 40% of sales will be in developing markets. Thecompany’s prospects seem sunny.
The future for the otherfirm is cloudier. It will be led by Richard Gonzalez, the current pharmachief, and will have nearly $18 billion in sales. It will focusexclusively on innovative medicines. Some think that Humira, arheumatoid arthritis drug which is Abbott’s biggest seller, might comeunder attack. Such concerns have weighed heavily on the company’s stockover the past year.
Mr Gonzalez argues that Humira willsustain the firm for a while yet. Sales continue to grow and it may beapproved for additional uses. And because it is a complex biotech drug,competitors may have a harder time producing an equivalent. It will beseveral years until Mr Gonzalez is proven right or wrong. In themeantime, he needs to find his new company a name.（396 words）
文章地址：
http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2011/10/pharmaceutical-firms
页:
[1]