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Food for Thought: Re-thinking Operations for a Two-speed World

How to sustain in both high and slow growth markets at the same time? The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) have teamed up to analyze the most recent trend for global businesses: meeting the requirements for two different rates of growth, fast and slow, simultaneously. While regions like Europe, North America and Japan have turned to slow growth rates, emerging economies like China, India and Brazil are characterized by fast growth. To succeed in this so-called “two-speed world”, companies must develop different strategies, new products, and innovative, low-cost operating models.

According to BCG, big pharma expects about 70% of future business to flow from developing countries. To stay in the game, companies will have to develop a sound corporate strategy to cope with both speeds. Key strategic differentiators include profit vs. growth, best price vs. best value, differentiated product design, and new (interal) reward systems for meeting market expansion goals. Smaller biopharmaceutical companies will need to adapt to these changes, too, if they want to sustain in this two-speed world.

The full report called “Rethinking Operations for a Two-speed World”, which was published in early Febuary, can be downloaded here