AstraZeneca Analysis – Competitors, Management, Sustainability & More

Health is the most valuable resource people have. That is why the pharmaceutical industry is such a lucrative billion-dollar sphere.

Ever heard of AstraZeneca? This company was one of the pioneers in COVID-19 vaccine development while fighting the global pandemic. They were also the first to make a cheap vaccine that could be stored in a simple refrigerator.

✅ AstraZeneca Company Profile

1. The company’s worth grew from $25.9 billion in 2020 and to $36.5 billion in 2021. Such rapid growth happened because AstraZeneca was among the first companies that successfully developed and started selling COVID-19 vaccines.
2. AstraZeneca is roughly the 10th biggest pharmaceutical company in the world. In different ratings, AstraZeneca remains one of the industry leaders in all of them.
3. AstraZeneca’s name is the result of the two companies merger. Swedish Astra, founded in 1913, and British Zeneca, founded in 1933, merged in 1999.
4. AstraZeneca’s Open Innovation initiative helps young scientists and smaller companies. This program allows scientists to access AstraZeneca’s expertise, technologies, compounds, and tools to encourage progress in healthcare.
5. AstraZeneca made several significant acquisitions. They include:
   • Alexion,
   • MedImmune,
   • Acerta Pharma,
   • ZS Pharma,
   • Cambridge Antibody Technology,
   • Adrea Biosciences,
   • Novexel.

💡 AstraZeneca Case Study Analysis – Inspiring Ideas

• Core business priorities.
• Mission, vision, and values.
• Salary inequities in AstraZeneca.
• Operations management.
• Environmentally friendly activities.
• Supply chain management.
• AstraZeneca’s philanthropy initiatives.
• R&D department.
• AstraZeneca’s pharmaceuticals in India.
• Media coverage of the company.
• AstraZeneca’s therapy areas.
• Investor relations in AstraZeneca.
• Corporate governance code.
• Partnerships and cooperation.
• AstraZeneca’s marketing in the US.
• Earnings per share.
• PR strategies.
• Project management approaches.
• Financial performance.
• Corporate acquisitions.
• AstraZeneca’s dividend policies.
• Expatriate management in AstraZeneca.

🧐 AstraZeneca Management Team

1. AstraZeneca’s board of directors. They are responsible for setting strategic goals, ensuring fair judgment of the accomplishments, and challenging the management.
2. AstraZeneca’s CEO. Pascal Soriot is the CEO of AstraZeneca since 2012. He is also a member of the Board of Directors and directly manages the Senior Executive Team.
3. AstraZeneca’s senior executive team. CEO is responsible for leading the SET. The main focuses of the SET are management, performance, and development of the team. The Board controls the SET’s strategic decisions and reviews its suggestions.
4. AstraZeneca’s research and development departments. All the R&D departments, including the major Oncology and Biopharmaceuticals units, report to SET or directly to the CEO. AstraZeneca’s R&D units share the same biology and science platforms.
5. AstraZeneca’s US leadership team. AstraZeneca has one of its central R&D departments in Gaithersburg (Maryland, US). The Leadership team is also responsible for marketing and legal operations in the US market.

🧘‍♀️ AstraZeneca CSR

1. AstraZeneca’s CSR objectives. The company aims to provide affordable healthcare to everyone and create workplaces in a friendly and prosperous environment.
2. CSR integration methods in AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca uses different approaches in integrating CSR because it is an international company that works in various cultural, financial, and corporate environments.
3. AstraZeneca’s CSR policies. They developed a set of ethical rules and standards to implement in their internal and external environment. All the employees have to know and follow these policies.
4. CSR monitoring instruments used in AstraZeneca. The company’s Head of Corporate Responsibility reports directly to the CEO. However, there is no standardized monitoring system when it comes to international departments.
5. Charity as a part of AstraZeneca’s CSR. The company spent $112.9 million on charitable donations, community investment, partnership, and sponsorship in 2021. In addition, AstraZeneca’s Patient Assistance Program helped fund treatment for more than 11 million patients in 2021.

💐 AstraZeneca Sustainability Case Study

1. AstraZeneca’s sustainability approaches. Apart from healthcare and disease prevention initiatives, AstraZeneca is also socially responsible. They include social, environmental, and economic issues.
2. AstraZeneca’s sustainability report 2021. The report describes the accomplishments made in three main sectors:
   • Access to healthcare,
   • Environmental protection,
   • Ethics and transparency.
3. AstraZeneca’s environmental sustainability. AstraZeneca aims to reduce water usage and achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. The company also focuses on recyclable packaging.
4. AstraZeneca’s board sustainability committee. This department appeared only in 2021 and reports directly to the Board of Directors. The sustainability committee controls the execution of the company’s sustainability strategy.
5. Stakeholder engagement in AstraZeneca’s sustainability. Both internal and external environment is a part of AstraZeneca’s sustainability strategy. The company’s sustainability impact is created by:
   • Patients,
   • Healthcare professionals,
   • Communities,
   • Suppliers,
   • Analysts,
   • Investors,
   • Government regulators.

📦 Compound Management AstraZeneca

1. Compound management changes after the merger of Astra AB and Zeneca Group PLC. Both companies had advanced chemical libraries and management approaches. After the merger, they needed to unify and standardize their compound management.
2. AstraZeneca’s compound management strategy. The company focuses on the following:
   • Enhancing its informational systems,
   • Interaction and cooperation with other global systems,
   • Outsourcing.
   
   AstraZeneca also pays attention to safely storing all chemical compounds and ensuring their quality.
3. AstraZeneca sample management. The company also invests in screening and experimentation for chemical compounds. That is why AstraZeneca developed acoustic tubes that are more efficient in sample handling.
4. Analytical chemistry in AstraZeneca. Scientists in this department study matters of chemicals to define the storage conditions they need. They also ensure that data about all radioactive and volatile samples is available and is used properly.
5. Compound management control in AstraZeneca. Compound management involves such knowledge areas as:
   • Robotics,
   • IT,
   • Database management,
   • Chemistry and biology.

🏆 Competitive Advantage Case Study – AstraZeneca

1. AstraZeneca’s employment competitive advantages. Although AstraZeneca’s CEO reported having the lowest salary among people with similar positions, the company offers competitive remuneration and career prospects.
2. AstraZeneca’s competitive advantages in the pharmaceutical industry. AstraZeneca is among the 10 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. With $37.42b revenue in 2021, the company showed growth of 41% compared to 2020.
3. AstraZeneca’s competitive advantages on the stock market. AstraZeneca has become almost 2 times more expensive since 2018. The company doesn’t pay high dividends (3.59%) but is a good choice for a long-term investment having a primary listing on the London stock exchange.
4. Scientific competitive advantages of AstraZeneca. The company promotes its R&D culture not only in vaccine development. The core areas include:
   • Oncology,
   • Cardiovascular,
   • Renal and metabolism,
   • Respiratory and immunology,
   • Rare diseases,
   • Neuroscience.
5. AstraZeneca’s pricing competitive advantages. AstraZeneca’s product pricing remains on the average market level. However, the company funds various local non-profit healthcare organizations to reduce patients’ healthcare costs.

🤓 AstraZeneca Competitors: Pfizer & Moderna

These three pharmaceutical companies were the pioneers in COVID-19 vaccine development. Although they all possess strong R&D departments, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Moderna differ greatly. Take a look at some of the key characteristics in this table:

	AstraZeneca	Pfizer	Moderna
Founded	1999	1849	2010
Headquarters	Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, England	Manhattan, New York City, USA	Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Company Size	Revenue: $37.4 billion (2021) Number of employees: 76 000	Revenue: $81.28 billion (2021) Number of employees: 79 000	Revenue: $18.5 billion (2021) Number of employees: 2 700
Company Type	Public	Public	Public
COVID-19 Vaccine	2 doses with a 28–84-day break Booster dose: 5 months after the last shot Up to 95 percent efficacy Adenovirus vector technology Storage conditions: refrigerated between 35°F and 46°F	2 doses with a 21-day break Booster dose: 5 months after the last shot ≈ 70.4 percent efficacy mRNA technology Storage conditions: frozen between -112°F to -76°F	2 doses with a 28-day break Booster dose: under development Up to 95 percent efficacy mRNA technology Storage conditions: refrigerated between 36°F to 46°F
Pharmaceutical Focus	Oncology, infection, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, inflammation, respiratory, neuroscience.	Oncology, immunology, neurology, endocrinology, and cardiology.	Vaccine development (COVID-19 vaccine is the only commercial project)

🧨 AstraZeneca Crisis Management Case Study

1. AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 crisis response. AstraZeneca developed a cheap vaccine due to its lower production cost and more accessible storage. However, the vaccine had a lower efficacy percentage, making some lean towards Pfizer or Moderna alternatives.
2. Lars Bildman fraud allegations. Lars Bildman, AstraZeneca’s former CEO, was accused of spending the company’s money on his own needs and sexual harassment of female employees.
3. UK and EU commitment conflict. This issue happened when the EU stated that AstraZeneca offered exclusive conditions for the COVID-19 vaccine to the UK. However, the contracts signed for vaccine supply were almost similar.
4. Nexium drug efficiency research. Nexium is one of AstraZeneca’s most commercially successful drugs. During the study, scientists compared Nexium with Prilosec but used higher dosages of Nexium.
5. 2016 foreign bribery case. U.S. Justice Department began an investigation regarding bribing Russian and Chinese government officials. The company didn’t admit or deny the accusations and paid the largest in the industry a $5.5 million fine.

🔗 References

1. Astrazeneca Turns Quality into a Key Competitive Advantage – a Case Study
2. How effective are the Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines? – ABC News
3. How AstraZeneca Spun Its COVID-19 Crisis
4. Compounding and the FDA: Questions and Answers | FDA
5. Where Did it All Go Wrong for AstraZeneca?
6. AstraZeneca: Scaling Simplification | Stanford Graduate School of Business