The strategic responses of Glaxosmithkline pharmaceuticals towards competition in Kenya

Abstract

The business environment within which the manufacturing pharmaceutical industry operates has been very volatile. The political anxiety, competition from the entrants, social reforms, technological advancement and global changes are some of the challenges that have greatly affected the growth of the industry. The dynamism of the pharmaceutical environment in the current times is posing a lot of challenges to all pharmaceutical companies. This study was designed to investigate the strategic response to competition by GSK. The research design was a case study and the population consisted of the 300 employees in GSK.The study used a sample of 10 managers and forty other employees not in the management team. This sample was selected using systematic random sampling technique. Primary data was collected using questionnaires while secondary data was collected from published records in the pharmaceutical industry. The collected data was then analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean and percentages. The results were then presented in form of frequency tables. The study found out that GSKis faced with a myriad of challenges but the most pronounced challenge was competition. This competition was seen in terms of supplies, the supply chain, marketing of products and selling to the final consumer. The company has responded to the challenges of competition by putting up production facilities in many countries across the world to be able to compete effectively with others in the industry. The company also introduced a management accounting system in all its divisions as a response to the kind of accounting systems employed by other companies. The spate of mergers also brought with it challenges that the company has had to deal with such as integrating the separate identities, integrating different strategies and integrating packaging and manufacturing operations of the other partners that formed the merger. These findings have important implications to GSK, the pharmaceutical industry and the policy makers in the pharmaceutical industry in Kenya.