Analysis Methods
Porter's Five Force in relation to Eli Lilly
Threat of New Entrants
Threat of new entrants is relatively high. Companies forming alliances are potential rivals. Even if earlier such company was not considered to be a threat, after merging with some research and development company or forming alliance with another pharmaceutical company it would become a rival to Eli Lilly. The threat is however weakened by significant research and development costs necessary to successfully enter the business. Eli Lilly’s focus on a relatively narrow market of sedatives and antidepressants weakens the threat of new entrants, but other products that form lesser part of company’s sales such as insulin and others are exposed to high threat of new entrants. The need of obtaining certificates and licenses also weakens the threat of new entrants. Discussed above leads to the conclusion that threat of new entrants is medium.
Bargaining Power of Buyers
It tends to be high in pharmaceutical business as main sales are done using whole sales. Institutions that purchase drugs in large quantities are considering the discounts that drug producers are willing to give and therefore are able to influence price. As long as Eli Lilly have competitors with similar products it is obvious that bargaining power of buyers is high for the industry. Buyers with smaller volumes of purchases do not influence price policy, but such buyers are outnumbered by wholesale buyers. It is also important that people purchasing drugs for themselves are usually covered by healthcare insurance and therefore are not interested in pulling price down. Yet the volumes of sales to such buyers are not significant.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers
It is relatively not high. Th ...