Marion Laboratories - Executive Summary

Marion’s corporate mission is to “achieve a position of market leadership through marketing and distribution of consumable and personal products (…),” to achieve a “long-term profitable growth through management of high risk relative to the external environment,” and to “achieve a professional, performance-oriented working environment that stimulates integrity, entrepreneurial spirit, productivity and social responsibility.” In addition, they set a specific sales goal of $250 million with no time frame that should be attained to satisfy the stockholder expectations.

In 1979, Marion was divided into two

Its good sales and marketing are the company’s competencies while it lacks in the research and development department.

Marion’s competitors are unbranded drug companies. Thus, there are two identifiable strategic groups in the agriculture chemical market: large chemical manufacturers including Dow Chemical, DuPont, Stauffer Chemical, Gulf Oil; and “large ethical drug manufacturers” that include Eli Lilly, Pfizer and UpJohn. Economies of scale permits larger companies to produce “large amounts of what might be perceived as a commodity product (…) at a much lower cost per unit than the smaller companies.” Kalo is concentrated in specialized markets with unique product needs. Therefore, its competitors are small specialized companies.

The FDA is a threat to Marion since they demand that they submit test data to prove product quality, safety and efficiency. The lack of research and development investment impairs Marion to effectively accomplish the FDA’s standards. Also, it would take them from seven to ten years to prove that their product is safe and effective. Th

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