Analysis Report: AstraZeneca PLC's Strategic Business Overview

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of AstraZeneca PLC, a multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company. It begins with an introduction outlining the company's background and the report's objectives. The main body of the report comprises an external analysis using the PESTEL model and Porter's Five Forces to assess the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors influencing the company, along with the competitive forces within the healthcare industry. An internal analysis utilizes the VRIO and Value Chain models to evaluate AstraZeneca's strengths, weaknesses, and core competencies. The report then evaluates the company's strategies using SAFE tests, TOWS matrix, and Power Interest Matrix, considering stakeholder groups, resource requirements, and potential strategic directions. The report concludes with a summary of key findings and recommendations, supported by relevant references, providing a strategic overview of AstraZeneca PLC's business operations and future prospects.

Analysis Report

Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Main body...................................................................................................................................................3
External Analysis......................................................................................................................................3
Internal analysis.......................................................................................................................................6
Strategy Evaluation.................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................11
References.................................................................................................................................................12

Introduction
Every business organisation uses to develop their strategies in order to get profitability
and focuses on products which are offered by the company and hence the market segment.
Strategic business units have a discreet marketing plan, determining the competition and
marketing campaign. It is done by the large corporations (Bénet, Deville and Naro, 2019). The
report is being discussed about AstraZeneca PLC which is a British swadeshi multinational
Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Company. It was founded in 1999 and headquarters is located
in Cambridge, England (Cahn and et. al., 2020). The company used to sell their Pharmaceutical
products at the global level. This report has been discussed about the external analysis with the
help OF PESTEL model and Porter's five forces model. Internal analysis about the organisation
is discussed with the help of VALUE chain model and VIRO model. It helps in identifying the
unique resources and distinguished capabilities which are possessed by the company. Moreover,
the strategic evaluation is being discussed with the help of SAFE tests while constructing TOWS
and Power Interest Matrix model with the two stakeholder groups which will affect the strategies
of the company and helps in determining acceptable or not also the financial resources and skills
which are required by the company in order to implement the different strategies so that the
company can attain their targeted goals.
Main body
External Analysis
PESTEL ANALYSIS helps in determining the external factor which has an impact on the
organisation. It is discussed about the operating challenges which are faced by the AstraZeneca
and two macro environments and other competitive forces (Colclough and et. al., 2021). The
model is discussed below:
 Political factors play an important role in determining the factors which has an impact on
the long-term profitability of the firm in uncertain countries. The Chosen organisation is
operating in Healthcare products in more than 12 countries and exposes itself into
different kinds of political environment and there risk (Dangas and et. al., 2020). This
factor is treated as an opportunity for the company as before entering or investing in the
certain market the company used to analyse certain risks such as risk of military

invansion, antitrust laws, favored trading partners, mandatory employees benefits and
many others. It is an opportunity for the company as before investing the company used
to determine the above mentioned factors and analyse the amount of risk which can be
faced by the firm in near future.
 Economic factors: these kinds of factors include inflation rates, saving rates, interest
rates, foreign exchange rates and economic cycle which helps in determining the
aggregate demand and investment in an economy. AstraZeneca PLC used to determine
several factors such as interest rate, growth of the economy, labor cost and the cost of
productivity, the level of skills which are purchased by the workforce in the Healthcare
industry and many others. This factor helps in determining the new targeted market on
which the company is planning to expand their business in that area.
 Social factor: the society culture and the manner of doing several things have an impact
on the culture of the organisation. AstraZeneca PLC will be used to understand dare
targeted customers which are given in the market and design the different marketing
message in order to attract and gain trust of their customers which helps them in
increasing their demand and supply. This factor helps in determining the interest of
leisure, attitude of their customers, culture, the standard of education which are
possessed by their targeted customers and many more (Danne and et. al., 2018). These
factors help in determining the opportunities which can be easily gathered by the
company while determining the needs and wants of their customers.
 Technological factors: it is the factor which is fast disrupting various Industries across the
Global. From the last 5 years the industry has been transforming really fast not even
giving a chance to the established flavors to cope with the changes. AstraZeneca PLC
uses different Technologies in order to determine their competitors in the existing
competitive market. Technology has an impact on the products which are offered by the
company and has a very cost structure on the healthcare industry also. It is the factor
where the company has an opportunity to develop their system of Technology in order to
compete the competitors in the market as well as the company also has in threat by the
Revival companies that the techniques which are used by them will be treated as an
barrier in their way.

 Environmental factor: AstraZeneca isn't a company which used to serve their products
and services around 12 countries which use to face different environmental factors and
different rules and regulations made by authority which has a major impact on their
profitability. Before entering into a new market or is starting in new business in the
current market organisation used to evaluate the environmental standards which are
required by the company to operate in the marketplace. There are several environmental
factors which must be considered by the company such as whether climate change rules
and regulations are related to environment pollution, air and water pollution, recycling,
endangered species and many more (Dias and Ferreira, 2019). It is the factor which hasn't
read on the company with respect to changing in the rules and regulations by an authority
which will hamper revenue of the Enterprise.
 Legal factors: it is the legal framework which not only protects the intellectual property
rights of an enterprise it also protects the rights and duties of the customers. The company
must always evaluate the norms carefully before entering into this market. Those factors
include data protection laws related to health and safety employment laws related to
antitrust Laws in the Healthcare industry which is applicable over all the countries
(Edwards, 2018). This factor has been a threat to the company when the country used to
change the rules and regulations with respect to the Healthcare industry and has an
impact on their smooth functioning.
Porter's five forces model
It is a strategic management tool which helps the company to analyse and understand the
underlined level of profitability which can be on the organisation. AstraZeneca PLC managers
use Porter's five forces model which helps them to understand the five competitive forces and
helps in enhancing their profitability in competitive and long term profits by the firms. Michael
Porter's Five Forces model is explained below:
 Threats of New Entrance: The Astrazemeca Plc has a threat of an new companies. for
this the company used to lower their pricing strategies reducing cost and providing new
valuable position to their customers. This helps them to overcome with the effective
barriers in order to safeguard its competitive edges.

 Bargaining power of suppliers: every company in the Healthcare industry use to buy their
raw materials from numerous suppliers. The suppliers place a dominant position and
decrease the margin of the AstraZeneca Company which helps them in generating
revenue from the market. The suppliers use negotiating power to extract higher prices
from their business which will lower the overall profitability of an enterprise.
 Bargaining power of buyers: the buyers are the customers of the firm and their demands
helps in generating the revenue for them. AstraZeneca PLC has the highest bargaining
power of the customers and higher their ability to get discounts and different offers.
 Threats of substitute products or services: the new products and services meet a similar
customer's needs in a different manner which has an impact on the profitability of the
firm (El‐Hadidy and Alfreedi, 2021) . The threat of substitute products and services is
higher in this industry because the company cannot easily serve their products in a unique
manner.
Internal analysis
There are several strengths and weaknesses which are possessed by the company some of
them are discussed below:
Strengths
 AstraZeneca Plc is a company which has no debts.
 The company used to gain their stock with more than 20% in a month.
 The company has very strong cash generating ability that helps them to improve their
cash flow from their functions since the last two years.
 The company used to develop their strategies in order to get and effectively use their
capital which will be helpful in order to generate profits for the organization
(Velikorossov and et. al., 2019).
 The company has an effective use of their shareholders funds and return on equity which
helps them in improving their functioning and results in the growth of the overall
organisation.
 The company has a very strong pricing strategy which helps them to attract their
customers of every class.

 The company used to produce 10 different products with the Global sale of above 1
billion dollar. (AstraZeneca SWOT Analysis, Competitors, STP & USP, 2021)
Weaknesses
 The company has fallen down in their quarterly revenue and net profits.
 The company has increased their stocks without evaluating the actual demand in the
marketplace.
 The company has decreased their share holding in the last quarter which has resulted in
the loss of funds.
 The company has been affected by the drugs shortage crisis in the case of Cefotan.
 The company has a high cost of drugs development.
 The company use to provide high gaps of products which can be used by the competitors
in order to defeat the company’s sustainability (González-Martín and et. al., 2019).
 The organization has faced issues in order to enhance their segments. The AstraZeneca is
the famous organization in the health care industry but fails in dealing with other
segments.
 The company has been prosecuted in many legal proceedings on an issue related to
patents and pricing which has affected their image in the competitive market.
VRIO analysis
VRIO analysis of AstraZeneca PLC helps in determining its internal resources whether they
are sustained in the competitive market or not (Smith and et. al., 2017). This model helps the
company to improve their strategies in order to provide a great competitive advantage. The
model is discussed below:
 Valuable: The AstraZeneca Company has strong financial resources which are highly
valuable in order to invest in the external opportunities which are aroused in the market.
The company has patented their valuable resources and allowed the forms to sell their
products without any competitive interference. The company also used to give license to
the other companies in order to produce their products. The company has valuable
financial resources which are used in order to operate their functions.

 Rare: the AstraZeneca has founded and has strong financial resources which are
possessed only by few companies in the Healthcare industry. The company has a strong
distribution network which helps in defeating other revival firms in the competitive
market (Gordon and et. al., 2019). The company has a workforce as a rare resource as
they use it to develop the strategies of the organisation which will be used to attain the
common goals of them.
 Imitable: the AstraZeneca PLC has a cost to imitate their financial resources which are
acquired by the company and helps them to enhance their profitability in the market. It is
difficult for the new companies to generate the seminar profits for a longer period of time
in the competitive market place. It has a very strong and costly network of distribution
which cannot be possessed by the competitors as it took many years to invest the amount
in order to develop a search distribution system. The company has a physical retail outlet
which helps them in maintaining the trust of their customers and enhances the positive
brand image (AstraZeneca Pharma Ltd. 2021).
 Organisation: the company has organized their financial resources in such a way to
capture a valuable identity in the market for the same they have developed different
strategies to invest in the right place by analysing the different opportunities and
combating threats. The patents of the company are not well organised but have a full
potential in it. The company also starts selling their patented products before the
expiration of such patents. The company has an organized team of workforce which are
used to promote their products and services in order to attain the objective of the
company.
VALUE chain analysis
VALUE chain analysis is a model which helps the business organisation in order to
develop search strategies which helps them to ensure the greatest possible value in order to
create the customers (Jabbour and et. al., 2018). It includes primary and support activities which
helps them in creating value and enhance the competitive advantage of the firm.
 Primary activity: it is an activity which is related directly to the physical creation sales,
maintenance of production services and support. AstraZeneca PLC has competitiveness
in the market and their primary activities are further classified into inbound Logistic,

operations, outbound logistics and marketing and sales and services (Rudaya, 2019). This
helps them in developing a strong relationship with the suppliers which resulted in the
enhancement of loyalty and enjoy favorable prices from the supplier.
 Support activities: These are the activities which support the primary and the core
activities of the organisation. This is divided into four categories such as infrastructure of
the company, human resource management, the development in the technology and the
activities of procurement of their patience. This helps in attaining the growth of the form
as the managers know how to develop the strategies in order to boost the sale and also it
is easy for them to reduce their prices dramatically. These activities help the company to
regulate their primary activities in order to attain the common goals of the firm in an
effective manner (Mischoulon and et. al., 2017). The organization must maintain their
infrastructure which helps them in motivating their staff which will be resulted in
enhancement in the productivity of the firm.
Strategy Evaluation
The TOWS analysis extension of SWOT analysis framework which helps the company to
identify their strength weakness opportunities and threats and father match up with the strength
with opportunities and the thread with weaknesses. As with the above discussion it can be said
that AstraZeneca has strength such as:
 The company has a high level of customer satisfaction which is managed by the
management department and enhances the good brand equity among the potential clients.
 The company can make Rapid decisions and streamlined with due diligence processing.
 The company has a great workforce of over 60,000 people and serves in more than
hundred countries.
 The company has a very good brand image in the market which helps them to sell their
products in the globe.
 The company is a leading firm in the Healthcare industry that enables them to thrive in
the Marketplace. It not only protects the market share but also penetrates new markets.
 The company has a strong distribution network which makes a reliable network of
distribution in order to reach the maturity of the area.

 The company also has a superb performance in a new market that helps them to enhance
their image in the competitive market and resulted in expansion of their organisation with
the new revenue stream and diversifies the cycle of the economy (Meyer, Neck and
Meeks, 2017).
 The company has good returns on capital expenditure because of their successful
execution of new projects which helps them to generate good revenue in written and
helps them in generating high profitability.
 The company used to track the innovative products and try to develop the new products
and launch them into the market in order to attract new customers towards their innovated
products (Regent and et. al., 2019).
The above mentioned are the strengths of AstraZeneca PLC. The company used to develop
different test strategies in order to use their strength in the competitive market. This helps them
to attract new customers and resulted in profitability.
Power Interest Matrix
AstraZeneca sustainability e refers to implementing the different strategies and living
there targets in such a manner which helps them to promote the long-term growth of a company.
The workforce in the external stakeholders is the future ability to get new medicines for the
patient in an effective manner on which they are dependent. The external sustainability advisory
board helps in evaluation inside and support which helps the company to shape an appropriate
approach in order to get sustainability in the market. The company has initiated a fresh material
assessment from an internal and external stakeholders which help them to analyze different
strategies and plan a road map towards further building sustainability into the company
(Williams, Chen and Agarwal, 2017). The company used to determine some of the strategies
with respect to financial resources and discuss which are required by the company in order to
develop their strategies which helps them to evaluate its acceptance can be affected by the
groups of stakeholder. The company has possessed various strengths which helps them to attain
their organizational goal in an effective manner.

Conclusion
From the above report it can be concluded that every business organisation must develop
their strategies in order to attain the common goal of the Organisation in an effective manner.
The Chosen Organisation in this report is AstraZeneca which is a pharmacy company and
possesses much strength which helps them to survive in the competitive market. The strength of
the company helps them to overcome the weaknesses and threats which can be faced by the
company in near future. The strength of the company also helps them to grab the opportunity in
an effective manner.

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Online
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