Pfizer's Innovative Strategies for Success in the Pharmaceutical Industry

This case study evaluates Pfizer's strategy frameworks and key drivers of innovation contributing to its success in the global market. It discusses both business unit level and corporate level strategies, including policies pertaining to operational, transformational, and financial aspects. The report also presents a critical review of the Blue Ocean strategy followed by Pfizer and its impacts on the company's success. The successful application of Blue Ocean framework in Pfizer is assessed using tools such as strategy canvas and value curves. The subject is Strategy Enterprise and Innovation, and the course code and college/university are not mentioned.

CASE STUDY STRATEGY
ENTERPRISE AND
INNOVATION

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Key drivers of innovative contributing to the success of Pfizer- ................................................3
Approaches undertaken by Pfizer to shape its entrepreneurial vision and business model-.......3
Blue ocean strategy-.....................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
In the case study Pfizer Ltd is taken which is a global organization engaged in
manufacturing pharmaceutical products, vaccines etc. The report will be evaluating various
dimensions of the entity that how its strategy frameworks are pouring out better performance in
the global market. For this sake, a mind map would be prepared covering all key aspects such as
in-depth evaluation of key drivers of innovation which are contributing to rapid and drastic
success o Pfizer (Lawrence, 2021)
Both business unit level and corporate level strategies of Pfizer Ltd would be taken into
consideration which will be discussing various elements such as its policies pertain to
operational, transformational and financial aspects. With this regard some examples shall be
shared in attempt to substantiate the arguments. At the end of the report a critical review would
be presented in order to response to the notion of Blue ocean strategy, the strategy has been
followed by the organization so in the report all hidden dimension of the strategy and its impacts
on the success of Pfizer Ltd is assessed. For fulfilment of the purpose blue ocean framework will
be applied considering tools such as strategy canvas and value curves, and a comparative study
will be presented for Pfizer and its market competitors.
MAIN BODY
Key drivers of innovative contributing to the success of Pfizer
There are certain key drivers which help in understanding and providing knowledge of
innovatively contributing to the success of Pfizer. And these are –
 Pfizer has invested $120 in biotechnology innovation with the help of Pfizer
Breakthrough Growth Initiative (PBGI).
This is one of the major key drivers of innovatively contributing the success of Pfizer. The other
major drivers of innovatively contributing to the success of Pfizer are –
 Due to end to end clinical rates of success of 21% Pfizer is able to ensure that how the
market value has been increased for Pfizer (Fernando, Menon and et.al., 2021).
 There are enhanced data driven decisions which have been taken place which has
helped in innovatively contributing and making Pfizer the key enabler.
 The Research and Development (R&D) have been the major key drivers which have
helped in enabling the success, growth and development at large scale.

Thus, these are some of the major key drivers which have helped in contributing to the success
and of Pfizer (Ameis, Lai and et.al., 2020). Due to these, high quality standards for the product,
safety and customers value has been increased and this also helped in providing proper
healthcare services and products to the customers and patients in the healthcare system. With the
help of these key drivers the success of Pfizer is being analysed and the company is able to
expand its business in addressing to the major key concerns which are associated with the
development and of the medicines and vaccines for COVID - 19.
The investments in the Pfizer have also helped in gaining the business advantage and
have helped in analyzing that how the healthcare needs and requirements are fulfilled at large
scale within the patient’s care system (Wu, Fernando and et.al., 2021). With the help of research
and development the medicine has proved to be effective and has incorporated and analyzed the
best ways possible in creating value for the basis of success to be analysed and incorporated in
the healthcare system and providing the basis as to how the innovation has been of great
importance at large scale and has developed the business in an appropriate manner.
The enhanced data driven decisions have also helped in collecting and establishing the
basis as to how effectively the company is able to take and initiate concerns at large scales. The
research and development in the medicines have also enabled and created value for the growth
and success as to how the biotechnology innovation should be included and framed in this
category of healthcare system. This has provided high quality standards in the medicines which
are to be delivered to the customers in an appropriate manner and this has enlarged the major
aspects of growth and development within the business to be framed and to consider and apply it
in the healthcare system at large scale (Page, Khan and et.al., 2022). With the help of research
and development which are the key drivers of how innovation is framed and has been occurred in
the success of Pfizer within the healthcare system, is denoted and is addressed at large scale.
This has been the major aspect as to how effectively and in appropriate manner there are
changes and modifications which are to be drawn which will further help in analyzing the greater
aspects of providing the patients the care facilities in an appropriate manner at large scale (Read,
2021). With the help of innovative technology, Pfizer is being able to take the biotechnology
innovation as their prime aspect in delivering the basis of how effectively Pfizer is able to
deliver the best value in the range of products and services to be delivered at large scale within
the healthcare system for patients who are suffering from COVID - 19. Pfizer vaccines have also

made the patients live more when there were chances of their dying due to COVID - 19. There
are aspects as to how effectively and in appropriate manner there is changes and modifications in
the medicines which have also been done at large scale by providing the aspect of protecting the
patients from COVID - 19. There has been more sustainability and innovation which has been
drawn from the innovation of Pfizer medicines in an effective and significant manner.
Approaches undertaken by Pfizer to shape its entrepreneurial vision and business model
The main vision of the organization from beginning was to be a leading innovative
biopharmaceutical company in the market, as it is having a very long experience of doing
business from more than 170 years which make it strong brand with higher reliable entity in the
market (Scott, 2020)
The strategy framework of the organization has been much diversified and vibrant in
nature from the beginning it has taken such operational, transformational, financial decisions
Key drivers of innovative
contributing to the
success of Pfizer
End to end clinical rates
of success of 21% Pfizer. Biotechnology innovation
Enhanced data driven
decisions.
Research and Development
(R&D).

to achieve the vision. The competitive strategies of the company is also dynamic, with the
evolution of time and requirements it has shaped up strategies and encountered the competition.
This not only helped to be on top but also paved way for being at apex when it comes to the most
innovative organization. For taking advantage business unit level strategies are being fabricated
which mainly aim to succeed its own vision in the market. It has adapted Broad Differentiation
strategy which means that the organization does not target just one segment of the market rather
they target many at the same time (Am Ende, ed., 2019)
The biggest step in term of its strategy has been diversification of the market. Earlier in
the year 1849 the organization came into existence as an American entity but latter on it has
changed the approach, moved to Germany. Transformation strategy model says that it is
essential for an organization to shift its operations and cultures as per requirements of time so
can be competitive in the market. With this regard it would be fair to say that the organization
has practised the policy in appropriate manner.
On the other side the organization is facing a great market competition since it is not
having single product strategy so other key players are placing great competition before the
pharmaceutical giant. This is not only affecting its vision of being number one in innovative
company of the market but also affecting ability to grab bigger market share.
The operational strategy of the company which consists plan of deciding its planning,
analysing and then executing operational plan. With this respect the organization has formed
collaboration with different parties such as government, healthcare providers, local communities
etc. it not only helped to end competition but also incentivized the entity to enhance its
capabilities in the market taking advantage of their goodwill. This boosted up its reliability,
affordability across the world (Le, Nilsson, 2021). The operations of the entity are being
improved so can enhance its presence in the global market. As the vision stated, company wants
to serve its customers with high quality medicines, commercially viable, sustainable and
financially affordable too.
The organization has been very aggressive when it comes to corporate level strategy
where it strives for competitive advantage. For taking competitive advantage Pfizer invested
around $120 million in four clinical-stage organizations when it took up PBGI (Pfizer
breakthrough growth initiative). It paved way for hiking market share along with encounter of
competition in the market. For giving tough competition the entity also developed its area of

serving. Now the core areas of focus are Internal medicine, Inflammation, Immunology,
Oncology, Vaccines, Rare disease and hospitals. This is helping it to offer great services in the
market. The R&D priorities of the companies are lying in the areas of Trillium, ESSA and
Vedanta, Homology etc. (Hamada, Soh, 2021) it has decided that the only way to be stronger in
the market is to be innovative and keeping strategies flexible with the time and circumstances
make appropriate changes.
On the other hand, for taking competitive advantage in the market the organization is
spending a lot in research and development, so these expenditures of the company are very
higher. The fact cannot be ignored that such higher investments are turning out better to it but at
the same time the cost factor is also getting surged which may be a big threat in the future.
As Pfizer introduced PBGI to make more investments in order to enhance its market
capabilities. It was aimed to aid organization to strengthen its collaboration, in last couple of
years the world faced most severe issues- COVID-19, which has been a strong notion for shaping
up its vision to work on rare disease and oncology. For fulfilment of the purpose the entity
decided to invest in different pharmaceutical entities. It includes ESSA pharma, Trillium
Therapeutics, Vedanta Biosciences, Homology medicines. Where it invested around $120
million, all these organizations are having their different realm of working, and are also situated
in different areas such as Vancouver, Cambridge, Bedford etc. (Soni, 2019)
But the fact cannot be ignored that after attack of the pandemic the economies of Europe
and America are not much efficiently working, in such predicaments if great amount is invested
then there is huge possibility of being at stake. The market performance is not stable where for a
pharmaceutical organization it would be very difficult to get stronger and keeping business
operations in profit. Regulatory environment of EU is getting tougher which may kick off serious
issues to the entity and its competitive advantage strategies. The all collaborations and
investments are made in America and in western nations but now the biggest markets are Asia
and Africa where after the hit of pandemics peoples are getting more concision about their health
and such markets are not much groomed too, which offers a wide window of opportunity to
make entry and expand roots.

Blue Ocean Strategy
Blue ocean strategy has been practised by Pfizer Ltd which made its task to grab bigger
market share easier. It is a great constellation of practising tow strategies at the same time, where
low cost and differentiation aims are taken into consideration. It helps to grab the uncontested
market. The strategy further believe that the market is not structured it can be structured by our
actions.
It would be fair to say that the success of Pfizer's is mainly due to successful application
of Blue Ocean strategy. Since the organization has shown its capacity to generate new ideas
which led it to hold the control of market and ace ample accomplishments. For instance in
CoVID-19 phase when the world was struggling to cure the pandemics at that time with greater
understanding and higher investments in research it introduced its own vaccine mRNA (BNT
162b2), (Shah and Ahmad, 2019) which not only gave it better growth but at the same time also
piped of the competitors.
But it would not be utterly fair to say that it was blue ocean strategy only which led Pfizer
to make higher profits and being best in the market. Since the strategy believes that a company
explore an unexplored market and make profits but this in not the reality with Pfizer Ltd, in
different markets the performance of the company has been wonderful not due to it explored
unexplored markets but it has shown better practices. The best instance is the Differentiation
strategy of the organization where it tried its hands in different lines. When the circumstances
went in adverse direction, Pfizer also came into collaboration with various parties such as
government, other organization to incentivize its operations which had been bigger reason of the
success.
The application of Blue Ocean framework in Pfizer has been replicated successfully to
certain extent. The innovative ideology of the organization is the first step to apply blue ocean
framework. Entity decided to expand its operations by investing more in such rare disease, for
this sake the organization initiated policy of PBGI where for curbing breakthrough $500 millions
are invested in biotechnology. R&D investments of the organization are also much surged which
is another successful application, cause with new products and better service the entity can
eradicate its competition in the market (Gao and Hafsi, 2019)
Strategy canvas which is a tool of Blue ocean framework. It is being practised by Pfizer
Ltd in order to attain better performance status in the market. This model helps organization to

evaluate all the competing factors in a single picture. What are salient profiles of market players
and how those factors are guiding the industry to Red Ocean. It supports entity to know exactly
what buyers are now purchasing so can fabricate suitable policy to penetrate, forming plans to
shift the focus from previous products to new products and making smart entry in market.
Pfizer tried the same and applied strategy canvas tool. Earlier it was limited in term of
both presence and operations, latter on by changing orientation of the market, the entity shifted
its operations, with investment of over $120 million (Buccieri, 2020) some new markets are also
going to be penetrated.
Value curve is the tool used for application of blue ocean strategy. This is a graphical
model which describes that how the entity can make place in the market, providing higher value
to customers. Pfizer is the entity which is mainly keeping notion of extending value to its
customers in the market. To make sure appropriate application of value curve tool, Pfizer Ltd
focused on aspects such as offering mammoth amount of value to its customers, divergence in
the formation of the value curve and making it in favour of the organization, countering value
giving strategies of the competitors in the market. At the same time the key competitors of Pfizer
such as Eli Lilly, Merck & co, Novartis AG and Roche Holding AG etc. who are also performing
great in the market (Namboodiri, Banerjee and Dasgupta, 2019)
Roche Holding AG, which is one of the biggest competitors of Pfizer Ltd. Whose market
strategy is as same as Pfizer, in the market the reason of success for Roche Ltd has been its
innovative approach and striving to extend value to the customers. Some of the biggest factors
behind success of the industry are robust research, better leadership, health consciousness of
people, better education of the industry, specialization of medical field etc. To avoid competition
in the market and making the entity foster, Pfizer Ltd took such decisions which can pave the
way forward.
But the main reason of the success for Pfizer has been its innovative approach at the same
time the key competitors are having sort of suitable factors in the market which made them
thrived. The best part shown was ability to take risk and dynamic decisions. Pfizer Ltd formed
collaborations whenever it was felt necessary on the other hands the key competitors paid their
attention to just expand their own business. The target market for Pfizer has been US, as it the
contribution of US market in the year 2019 was around 46%, on the other side other organization

are already exploring some new markets so their blue ocean strategy is working appropriately
(Au and Tucker, 2018)
On the other side some factors like risk taking approach, and higher investments in R&D are
such aspects which contributed bigger in the success of the organization so it is not utterly fair to
say that blue ocean strategy is solely behind thriving of Pfizer Ltd.
CONCLUSION
From the report above it can be concluded that the success of Pfizer Ltd is reflecting its
appropriate strategy where the organization adapted practise of innovation which led higher
profits to it and made the pharmaceutical giant. In the report a well-structured mind map has
been drawn depicting framework followed by the organization in order to ace success and
achieve its aim. The mind map has reflected all key business unit level and corporate level
strategies practised by Pfizer.
Report critically evaluated different approaches followed by the organization for giving
shape to its vision and business model. With this respect the competitive strategies were also
taken into consideration. Differentiation strategy has been discussed to the fullest length which
was being followed by the organization where rather than focusing of single business line the
entity had given attention to many segments of the market, Some examples had been shared from
the case study, describing strategic efforts of the company to ace its vision. Examples such as the
organizational efforts over the years to hike market command, introduction of vaccination and
innovative programmes had been overlooked.
At the end, a critical evaluation carried out in attempt to present evaluative review on the
strategy of the entity. Blue ocean strategy which was being followed by Pfizer, the strategy was
taken into consideration to examine whether it was behind such enormous success of the entity,
for this sake, tools like strategy canvas and value curves were also evaluated. The tools were
practically applied and their practise had been seen with respect to the organization and also
compared with other competitors in the market. Key competitors and their performance were
evaluated to make comparison with Pfizer Ltd. On the basis of the evaluation it could be said that
the application blue ocean strategy helped to certain degree in getting success.

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