Mgt 521 - Determining Who and Why

Merck Corporation

David Harness

MGT 521

June 20, 2011

J. Don Collier, MBA

Merck Corporation

This paper provides an over of Merck Corporation. Included is an analysis of the company's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Treats (SWOT). Additionally, it gives an overview of Merck's financials with regard to their position. The research in this paper offers advice to any potential investor knowledge of Merck cultural and its strength to attract future investors.

Merck Corporation is also known as Merck & Company is second largest pharmaceutical company in the United States behind Pfizer (Yahoo Finance, 2011). This company provides health solutions through its prescription medicine vaccines, biological therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. Their values are focused on improving human and animal life and scientific excellence by operating with the highest standards of integrity and employing a diverse workforce to gain from internal and external collaboration. The following paragraphs reflect findings from a SWOT analysis recently conducted on Merck.

Strengths

Merck is a solid company which provides great benefits to both its customers and it employees. Their objective to remain competitive and strong is centered on their ethics and values. They have a well-established management team enforcing company policy to ensure their mission of operating and making profit in this controversial market is both honest and transparent in the eye of the public. Management also makes sure the company complies with all laws in place both here in the United States and in their overseas market. Because of their global footprint Merck has been able to increase their operations efficiency and financial position. Their overall strength can also be a direct result of their continued ability to meet the needs of their patients. They are meeting these needs with their products by combating conditions associated with diabetes, high blood pressures, and cholesterol to name a few.

Weaknesses

Merck completed a buyout of one of its competitors Schering-Plough in November of 2009. As a result of the merger, Merck has not been successful as expected in the area of research and development (R&D). They have lagged in the ability to develop a big name drug to replace any of the current best sellers on the market today. Management in their R&D departments has confirmed it is harder to manage utilizing large teams of people (MarketWatch, 2011). A restructure of their R&D is a major area of concern for Merck where they continue working for the best possible solution.

Opportunities

An opportunity afforded to Merck as a result of the merger is the ability to reduce its operating cost. A portion of the operating cost was cut through a reduction in its workforce. Another opportunity for Merck is their ability to used individuals to test their product under the clinical trial program where they agree to test their drugs before they are officially approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (Merck, 2011). As stated earlier, Merck has a diverse workforce. This workforce has afforded the company the opportunity to improve their operations through the use of process teams where they are able to gain synergies from the various ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

Threats

Merck