Strategic Development Trends in the World Pharmaceutical Industry

The main purpose of the paper is to research and evaluate the strategicdevelopment trends in the world pharmaceutical industry in the period1996–2006.We aim to find that mergers and acquisitions prevailas a vital strategic development option in the world pharmaceutical industry.The research examines the exploratory hypothesis that the intensiveglobalization process, increased competitiveness and changedstructure of competitors, strongly influence the consolidation developmenttrends in the world pharmaceutical industry which result in anincreased number of mergers and acquisitions. The intensive consolidationof the world pharmaceutical industry is a market driven processand conditioned by several strategic issues, such as lack of brand newproducts, increased competitiveness, fast globalization process, intensiveglobal marketing and sales activities, changed structure of competitors,fight for global market shares and customers’ loyalty. There isclear evidence that the world pharmaceutical industry and market areboth becoming more oligopolistic and monopolistic.