Glaxosmithkline is, after Pfizer Inc, the largest pharmaceutical company in the world. It was formed in 2000 as the result of a merger between two large companies GlaxoWellcome and SmithKlineBeecham. The company operates primarily in 117 countries, their products are currently manufactured in 37 and are sold in over 140 countries. It is headquartered in Brentford, England and employs about 110,000 people with sales of Ł22.7bn. Their strategies for the future are: qrow a diversified global business, deliver more products of value, simplify the operating model. Putting these plans into action they want to contribute to their challenging and inspiring mission – enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. (Gsk. 2009).
Let start SWOT analysis of Glaxosmithkline from strengths. First of all the company has got many well-known brands and top world products like smoking cessation product NiQuitin CQ as well as many medicine staples, including Panadol, Zantac, Zovirax, Augmentin, Solpadeine, Aquafresh and Sensodyne. GSK’s Nutritional Healthcare arm encompasses the notorious drinks brands Lucozade, Ribena and Horlicks (Gsk. 2009). Another good side of the firm is excellent turnover and profit. The total turnover in 2007 was over Ł22bn and in 2008 was almost Ł25bn. Annual operating profit is around Ł 7bn every year (Gsk. 2009).
GSK is the top resarch company, spend around £3 billion on researching and developing treatments. GlaxoSmithKline has created a dedicated R&D group to focus on diseases of the developing world (DDW), specifically malaria and TB, with a DDW drug discovery centre at its Tres Cantos R&D site in Spain and clinical development experts in the UK and US (Ifpma. 2009). They initially discovered and developed the first anti-HIV drug approved for use, the reverse transcriptase inhibitor azidothymidine AZT (Pharmaprojects. 2009). GSK is working with WHO (World Health Organization) and NHS in England. They