Strategic Development Trends in the World Pharmaceutical Industry

The main purpose of the paper is to research and evaluate the strategic development trends in the world pharmaceutical industry in the period 1996–2006.We aim to find that mergers and acquisitions prevail as a vital strategic development option in the world pharmaceutical industry. The research examines the exploratory hypothesis that the intensive globalization process, increased competitiveness and changed structure of competitors, strongly influence the consolidation development trends in the world pharmaceutical industry which result in an increased number of mergers and acquisitions. The intensive consolidation of the world pharmaceutical industry is a market driven process and conditioned by several strategic issues, such as lack of brand new products, increased competitiveness, fast globalization process, intensive global marketing and sales activities, changed structure of competitors, fight for global market shares and customers’ loyalty. There is clear evidence that the world pharmaceutical industry and market are both becoming more oligopolistic and monopolistic.