The Key Drivers behind Novo Nordisk’s Growth in the Diabetes Market in China

• Main Author: Hind Louiza CHITOUR
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Academy of Economic Studies (ASE) 2013-12-01
• Series: European Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies
• Subjects: China; Novo Nordisk; diabetes; competitive advantage; PEST analysis
• Online Access: http://www.ejist.ro/files/pdf/376.pdf

To enter the Chinese Pharmaceutical market, “Big Pharma” has adopted different strategies to tackle the challenges specific to the country in terms of size, demographics, specific sales channels and logistics adjustments. While the majority of Global Pharmaceutical players have opted for an aggressive M&A approach to penetrate the Chinese market and gain local insight; the Danish Novo Nordisk has instead chosen a strategy focusing on innovation and developing its R&D structure to capitalize on the local talent pool. To illustrate Novo Nordisk’s growth strategy in the Mainland, we analyzed its competitiveness in the diabetes market by demonstrating the key drivers behind this success. We applied a various set of tools for this research: Novo Nordisk, Dong Bao Pharmaceutical executives’ interviews and personal observations accounting for the primary data, we also reviewed secondary data to perform a PEST analysis in addition to Porter’s competitive advantage model in order to extract the reasons behind Novo Nordisk’s marching success in the Mainland.