Strategy, Enterprise and Innovation: A Case Study on Pfizer

This case study on Pfizer covers the key drivers of innovation contributing to its success, the different approaches undertaken by Pfizer to shape its entrepreneurial vision and business model, and a critical evaluation of Pfizer's success with blue ocean strategy using proper frameworks and tools.

Strategy, Enterprise
and Innovation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Appropriate frameworks and any appropriate tools to identify and evaluate the key drivers of
innovation contributing to the success of Pfizer.....................................................................1
Strategy frameworks to critically analyse the different approaches undertaken by Pfizer to
help shape its entrepreneurial vision and business model......................................................5
Evaluate the statement into critical manner “Pfizer’s success can be attributed to the
successful application of the “Blue ocean strategy”. Apply the proper blue ocean frameworks
and tools such as value curves and strategy canvas to compare Pfizer and its competitors
which is based on the success factors for the industry which is critical in terms of nature........8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Strategy enterprise and innovation refers to the skills to develop to develop ideas which
strengthen organisation from entrepreneurial start-ups to national governments and also helps
them in growing it. An effective strategy innovation basically clarifies about the goals and
priorities but the strategy of innovation basically outlines about the goals of an organisation
innovation activities. They also help in terms of focusing on reaching towards the goals. In the
present report, a case study is taken into consideration which is named as Pfizer. This case study
is about the research based global biopharmaceutical company which is headquartered in New
York. The company is specialised into chemical compounds which included an anti parasitic
product called santonin. The company has collaborated themselves with governments, health
care providers and local communities in order to support and epand the access to reliable, health
care affordable on the world wide basis. The present report will cover discussion about the key
drivers of innovation which contributes to the success of Pfizer and also about different
approaches which is undertaken by Pfizer in order to help shape their business model and
entrepreneurial vision as well. Moreover, the report will cover analysis about the critical
evaluation of statement with support of blue ocean strategy.
MAIN BODY
Appropriate frameworks and any appropriate tools to identify and evaluate the key drivers of
innovation contributing to the success of Pfizer
With the help of PESTLE analysis the key drivers of innovation can be identified that have
contributed to the success of Pfizer. The PESTLE analysis is a framework that is helpful in
identifying and understanding the external environmental factors that affect the business
activities and leads to changes (Chepsarakov, 2022). With the help of PESTLE analysis the
external environment factors that affect the activities of the organisation can be evaluated and
understood easily. The PESTLE analysis of Pfizer is given below.
 Political factors: It includes the effect of changing political conditions such as trade
restrictions, international relations, quota barriers etc. that directly or indirectly affects the
activities of the business. Pfizer the organisation operates in a global market and has a
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major impact on its activities due to the regulation by the political or government forces
across different nations. Countries across the world are constantly facing uncertainty in
their political environment that creates complexity to the abilities of the company to
operate smoothly in various countries. The government is responsible for creating
pharmaceutical policies and regulations in their countries that affect the overall activities
of the organisation and its innovation strategies in a given country. For instance, the US
and UK adopted nationalist agenda in 2016-17 that aroused variation in political
conditions and led to the lack of clarity in relation to the legal and regulatory Health care
reforms. Pfizer tries to engage in the policy making, government decisions and regulatory
frameworks for active engagement to anticipate better political understanding and
suitability for performing their business activities effectively and efficiently.
 Economic conditions: It can be explained as the economic factors such as the changing
demographic conditions, employment, taxation, currency exchange etc. that affects the
activities of business. The aging and changing demographic conditions throughout the
world have led to increased pressure on the health care institutions. The changing
economic conditions such as the increasing or rising prices across the global economy,
high level of competition, healthcare budgets etc. are reducing the chances of the
organisation to have better impacts on providing good health care and enhance healthcare
activities for the people. Pfizer is trying to invest in medicine delivery that is cost
effective and increases the quality of life for the people. The company tries to provide
medicines and services that are reasonably affordable for the patients, government and
payers, to create better values of the organisation.
 Social factors: This can be explained as the social behaviour or community aspects in
which the people reside that affects their lifestyle as well as the activities of the
organisation (Deng, You and Wang, 2019). Changing patient demographics and their
lifestyle such as urbanization, health habits, diet planning or food, prevalence of non-
communicable diseases, occurrence of catastrophic diseases etc. are major causes that are
impacting the innovation activities of the organisation for enhancing its success. The
diseases like cancer, cardiovascular failure, diabetes, obesity and the occurrence of highly
communicable diseases such as Covid-19 have affected and created a need for medical
and pharmaceutical organisations to innovate and develop new breakthrough medicine
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and vaccines. Pfizer is trying to address most of the public health challenges with the help
of focused research and development activities as well as collaboration with civil society
and global institutions for providing better information and novel solutions to tackle these
challenges.
 Technological changes: Technological Innovation and digitalisation are the major
factors of technology changes that are happening throughout the world. Technology
changes are related to the technology factors such as digitalisation, artificial intelligence,
augmented reality, internet etc. that affects the activities of organisations (Jun and et. al.,
2020). In recent years, there has been a need for continuous advancement and innovations
of vaccines and medications in pharmaceutical companies because of the rising chronic
diseases and life threatening conditions across the world. Pfizer has seen technological
changes and approaches the technology changes with the help of continuous research in
development activities within the organisation. The company has optimised the use of
mobile phone and internet connectivity that provides big data analysis and brings new
inside and huge opportunities to drive innovation within the business. Pfizer has
witnessed the technology I'll change that helps scientists to effectively develop medicines
and better define the patient therapy with specific needs.
 Legal factors: It includes the effect of changing legal conditions such as corporate laws,
compulsory pharma laws; Health and safety laws etc. that directly or indirectly affect the
activities of the business. Countries across the world are constantly facing uncertainty in
their legal environment that creates complexity to the abilities of the company to operate
smoothly in various countries. The government is responsible for creating pharmaceutical
policies and regulations in their countries that affect the overall activities of the
organisation and its innovation strategies in a given country. Pfizer tries to engage in the
policy making, government decisions and regulatory frameworks for active engagement
to anticipate better political understanding and suitability for performing their business
activities effectively and efficiently.
 Ecological changes: The changing environment has largely affected the drug and
pharmaceutical industry and its operations. The changing environmental conditions such
as the rising global temperatures, extreme conditions, melting glaciers etc. are more likely
to give birth to higher levels of health risk for the people across the world (Leonidou and
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et. al., 2022). In order to develop better medication services and facilities it is very
important for the organisation to improve its strategies and innovative new medications
and prescriptions that can be helpful in tackling these rapid changes. The changing
environment conditions will lead to the declaration of efforts of medication and require
innovation of the medicines that can be effective and efficient in various dynamic
situations is needed. Due to this Pfizer is focusing on harnessing its full capacities for
innovative pharmaceutical activities, medication and scientific development for
improving the response of medicines in diversified situations.
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5
Key drivers of innovation contributing to the success of Pfizer
The PESTLE analysis is a framework that is helpful in identifying and understanding the external environmental
factors that affect the business activities and leads to changes. With the help of PESTLE analysis the external
environment factors that affect the activities of the organisation can be evaluated and understood easily. The PESTLE
analysis of Pfizer is given below.
Political factors:
Pfizer the organisation operates in a global market and
has a major impact on its activities due to the regulation
by the political or government forces across different
nations.
Economic conditions:
The changing economic conditions such as the
increasing or rising prices across the global economy,
high level of competition, healthcare budgets etc. are
reducing the market growth of the organisation.
Social factors:
Changing patient demographics and their lifestyle such
as urbanization, health habits, diet planning or food, etc.
are major causes that are impacting the innovation
activities of the organisation for enhancing its success.
Technological changes:
In recent years, there has been a need for continuous
advancement and innovations of vaccines and
medications because of the rising chronic diseases and
life threatening conditions across the world.
Legal factors:
The government is responsible for creating
pharmaceutical policies and regulations in their
countries that affect the overall activities of the
organisation and its innovation strategies in a given
country.
Ecological changes:
The changing environmental conditions such as the
rising global temperatures, extreme conditions, melting
glaciers etc. are more likely to give birth to higher
levels of health risk for the people across the world.

Strategy frameworks to critically analyse the different approaches undertaken by Pfizer to help
shape its entrepreneurial vision and business model
Business Level Strategy or Broad Differentiation
Pfizer Inc. has chosen a value creation alternative of differentiation that is helpful in
increasing costs and product price for receiving the value for their products among the
customers. Pfizer has produced high quality innovative products with the help of extensive
research and development through patenting and legal rights making it a highly competitive
organisation. The company has spent approximately 8 billion dollars on its continuous research
and developments just before the rise of pandemic in 2019. Business level strategy or broad
differentiation strategy of Pfizer has enabled the organisation to cover large market areas and
create value by differentiating its products and services in the market.
The company has created a high brand value with a high cost structure that consumes
premium prices for its products that are highly differentiated and provides greater customer
loyalty for the organisation. The company has used consumer directed promotions for promoting
their expensive products and services for increasing the revenue and gaining higher customer
loyalty (Lutchenko and et. al., 2021). Pfizer has used value innovation to efficiently Frontier
their products in the market with the high level of differentiation and higher cost for gaining a
place in the upper left corner of Frontier graph.
Pfizer has adopted a broad differentiation business level strategy in order to target every
segment in the market and provide benefits to everyone who requires it's products. It can be
recommended that the company can enhance its brand image by extending its product lines in
various segments for improving its coverage in the market.
Corporate Level Strategy or Integration Strategy
Pfizer has adopted horizontal, forward, backward and vertical integration for enhancing
its product portfolio and anchoring the advantages of greater growth opportunities and comfort in
the market. The company has acquired industry competitors and invested in the advancement of
production or manufacturing equipment for supporting the product line and improving the supply
chain management activities for encouraging market coverage with greater speed. The company
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utilised consumer directed promotions for reaching larger market areas through forward vertical
integration.
Pfizer is indulged in corporate related diversification with the help of essential health and
innovative health segments that contribute a higher level of revenue for the organisation. These
business segments are highly interlinked and they work for improving the diversification
activities of the business. Pfizer uses horizontal integration for getting the advantages of lower
cost structure and creating the economies of scale producing large quantities of products with
differentiation and innovation and getting advantages of cost selling, bundling, lower
competition, increased bargaining power etc. The company focuses on corporate level strategy
by sharing best practices of the organisation by amalgamating and acquiring the companies in the
market (Metechko and Sorokin, 2018). The company is continuously exploiting the benefits of
increased differentiation and innovation that helps in acquisition of pharmaceutical patents and
develop better coverage in the industry.
International Level Strategy or Expansion Strategy
Pfizer tries to distribute its products and services across more than 120 Nations and has
developed more than 58 manufacturing units across the world that employs 1 lakh employees
globally and owns more than 450 subsidiaries that contribute to its profits. The company has
generated much more revenue in the global market and has increased its profitability in growth
by gaining larger market coverage across the globe.
Pfizer has faced a reduction in cost in the local market within various countries and has been
avoided by the local community, legislation and government for creating effective activities in
these countries. The company has utilised a transnational strategy for simultaneously expanding
its business across the various countries throughout the world (Shao and et. al., 2020). The
company had obtained the specific local knowledge to customize its products and services as per
the requirements and needs of the people in the local market. It has allowed the organisation to
create employment opportunities for the local people and developed local management teams for
handling the business operations smoothly in the international market that has provided a high
level of growth to the organisation.
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Evaluate the statement into critical manner “Pfizer’s success can be attributed to the successful
application of the “Blue ocean strategy”. Apply the proper blue ocean frameworks and tools such
as value curves and strategy canvas to compare Pfizer and its competitors which is based on the
success factors for the industry which is critical in terms of nature
Blue ocean strategy basically refers to the low cost and pursuit of differentiation in order
to open up a new market space and also create new demand. It is about capturing and creating
uncontested market space which makes the competition very irrelevant. It is based on this view
that industry structure and market boundaries are not given and can be reconstructed through the
actions and beliefs of industry players(Lazzarotti and et.al., 2017). Blue oceans refers to all the
industries which is not in existence into today’s period of time- the unknown market space,
untainted through competition. Within the blue oceans demand is created rather than fought over
and it is ample opportunity for growth which is both rapid and profitable as well. It is a kind of
analogy which describes the wider deeper potential in order to found out the market space which
is unexplored. The ocean of blue is very deep, vast and powerful into the context of profitable
growth.
Blue ocean strategy is basically grounded in terms of data which is based on decade long
study which has more than 150 strategic moves which is spanning more than thirty industries
over hundred years. In context to Pfizer, it has been observed that the company has done research
for the medicines and vaccines for a very long period of time and after that they have come up
with their final product. It is basically a step by step process from evaluating the current state of
play in an industry which is exploring the six paths to new space of market in order to understand
how to convert non customers into customers(Tsai and Liao., 2017). The strategy of blue ocean
and the shift basically provides the process into systematic manner in order to create the blue
ocean. In context to Pfizer, there is current requirement of Pfizer vaccine due to which there are
various non-customers who are converted into customers.
This is the strategy which allows the individual to test the commercial viability of the
ideas which shows that in which manner to refine the ideas in order to maximise the upside while
minimising downside risk. In context to Pfizer, although there are certain risks of the products of
Pfizer company but it also act as cure for the treatment of corona virus disease. This is the
strategy which is not aim for performing into out of box manner into the competition. It also
make the competition irrelevant through reconstructing the boundaries of industry.
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So the success of Pfizer company, depends on this factor that how much they have taken their
efforts into research and development of the market. There are certain tools and applications
which can be applied in order to compare their competitors into positive manner. The tools and
process are basically inclusive in terms of nature which is easy to understand and visual as well
that makes the process non-intimidating and also an effective path in terms of building execution
into strategy(Arranz and et.al., 2019). The tools of blue ocean strategy basically offers the
frameworks in order to shift from red ocean of competition to the blue oceans of new market
space. In context to Pfizer company, they have lots of competitors into the market due to which
they have to strongly stand into the market in order to have strong brand image into the market.
There are certain tools of Blue ocean strategy which basically include value curves and
strategy canvas as well. The strategy canvas of blue ocean strategy basically serves two purposes
which basically captures the current state of play in the known market space that allows users to
clearly see the factors which an industry competes on and invests in and what are the strategic
profiles of the major players are. Another purpose is about which propels users to action through
reorienting their focus from competitors to alternatives and from customers to non customers
from the industry. It also allows an individual to visualise that in which manner a blue ocean
strategic move breaks away from the existing red ocean reality. In context to Pfizer company,
according to lots of research and continuous efforts, the company has stand themselves strongly
into market through specially with the invention of vaccine of coronavirus(INDONESIA.,
2018). Due to this vaccine and medicine, the company can create its strong brand image into this
international market.
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Illustration: Value Curve of Pfizer Company
Source: Strategy for executives
A value curve is about the diagram that can be used to show instantly where value is created
within an organisation products and services. This graph basically depicts about how a company
can create new market spaces and also provide values to customers against customers(Hu and
et.al., 2017).There are lots of competitors of this company which includes Ppoche Holding AG,
Eli Lliy and Co, Novartis Ag and Merck & Co. Inc. So this value curve help in terms of
determining its value into the market. That’s why this statement proves that the success of Pfizer
company is dependent on the application of the blue ocean strategy. So this strategy is helpful in
terms of further growth and development of an organisation.
CONCLUSION
The above stated report concludes that this case study is basically based on proper research
and developemtn of an organisation. For achieving a higher level of success, its very important to
make efforts into continuous manner so that they can do their further development and growth
into positive manner. There are certain key drivers of innovation which contributes into the
context of success of an organisation. There are lots of aspects of an organisation which needs to
be taken into consideration into proper manner so that they can further grow themselves into
positive manner. It has been concluded that with support of proper frameworks and proper tools
innovation can be done into right direction with proper results. It has been determined that there
are different approaches which has undertaken by an organisation in order to shape the
entrepreneurial business model and vision as well. It has been observed that up to a certain extent
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the success of an organisation can be attributed through strategy of Blue ocean. This strategy is
very helpul in terms of determining their position and lots of competitors into the market into
result oriented manner. That’s why its very important to always have proper strategy in order to
do innovation into result oriented manner. A proepr strategy can give peoper direction to an
organisation into proper manner so that further decisions can be taken with the right kind of
approach. Organisations who are working at the international level can achieve higher level of
success through proper plannig and strategies as well so that they can stand themselves for longer
period of time into the market.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Chepsarakov, A. V., 2022. Building An Innovative Strategy For Enterprise
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innovation from the perspective of political competition. Journal of cleaner
production, 235. pp.930-942.
Jun, W. U. and et. al., 2020. Research on Enterprise Cooperation Innovation Strategy Based on
Evolutionary Game. Journal of Systems Science and Mathematical Sciences, 40(10).
p.1766.
Leonidou, L. C. and et. al., 2022. Effective Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Import Strategy:
Its Drivers, Moderators, and Outcomes. Journal of International Marketing, 30(1). pp.18-
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Lutchenko, V.G. and et. al., 2021. Enterprise innovation development strategy. Vestnik
Voronežskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta Inženernyh Tehnologij.
Metechko, L. B. and Sorokin, A. E., 2018. Cluster strategy for eco-innovation at manufacturing
enterprises. Russian Engineering Research, 38(4). pp.316-319.
Shao, S. and et. al., 2020. Environmental regulation and enterprise innovation: a
review. Business Strategy and the Environment, 29(3). pp.1465-1478.
Lazzarotti and et.al., 2017. Openness and innovation performance: an empirical analysis of
openness determinants and performance mediators. European Journal of Innovation
Management.
Tsai, K. H. and Liao, Y. C., 2017. Innovation capacity and the implementation of eco‐
innovation: Toward a contingency perspective. Business Strategy and the Environment, 26(7),
pp.1000-1013.
Arranz and et.al., 2019. Obstacles of innovation and institutional support in the cooperation
agreements: the Spanish case. European Journal of Innovation Management.
INDONESIA, M. P. I., 2018. Competitive advantage and product innovation: Key success of
Batik SMEs marketing performance in Indonesia. Academy of Strategic Management
Journal, 17(2).
Hu and et.al., 2017. How does open innovation modify the relationship between environmental
regulations and productivity?. Business Strategy and the Environment, 26(8), pp.1132-1143.
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