Harvard Business School case: Smithkline Beecham. Corporate strategy. Scope, Scale,5 forces, SWOT, Direction, long term, Competitive advantages, Stakeholders.

1.Direction The first key concept of strategy is the direction the company wants to follow. The direction of SmithKline Beecham clearly adjusts in order to cope with the increasing competition in the pharmaceutical industry. In 1989, SmithKline Beecham was formed out of a merger of SmithKline Beckman and the Beecham Group. Five years later, the Annual Report Chief Executive Leschly wrote: "Through a series of strategic acquisitions and disposals, SB made progress in its transformation from …showed first 75 words of 3211 total…

…showed last 75 words of 3211 total…'s posture depends on the different area's within the branch. For SB invests lots of capital in the gen-technology and can be seen as playing a leadership role, its' posture is 'shape the future', but as it also follows the market to fulfill the customers needs by capturing opportunities and being flexible, its posture is 'adapt to the future'. Also can be said that SB never that the position of 'reserve the right to play'.