Competitive strategy

Pharmaceutical industry

Australian pharmaceuticals industry comprises bio-medical research, biotechnology firms, originator and generic medicines companies and service related segments including wholesaling and distribution. In 2009-10 the pharmaceuticals industry had a turnover of approximately $22 billion. With exports over $4.1 billion in 2009-10, pharmaceuticals were one of Australia’s major manufactured exports. The industry employed approximately 40,000 people in 2007-08 and spent around $1.02 billion on R&D in 2008-09. In 2009-10, the pharmaceuticals industry received $6.1 billion from PBS sales. Sales of complementary medicines are worth around $1.2 billion a year.

Market leader: Alphapham is the market leader in Australian pharmaceutical industry. Their total market share is 13%

Market challenger: AstraZeneca is the market challenger in Australian pharmaceutical industry. Their market share is 11%.

Market follower: Apotex, Pfizer, Aspen Pharmacare, Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmith and Merck Shape & Dohme are the followers in Australian pharmaceutical industry. Their market shares are 9%, 9%, 8%,7%,5% and 4% respectively.

Market nicher: AFT is the market nicher in Australian pharmaceutical industry because AFT focuses firmly on the Pharmaceutical Rx and OTC market sectors where it holds considerable expertise. Since its first product launches in Australia in 2005, sales have grown every year to be on target to exceed A$35 million this year.

Our research focus is how those companies are pursuing Adaptation, Aggregation and Arbitrage (AAA) to become successful in the market.