1

1.0 Introduction
1.1 Origin of the Report
SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Limited is the largest pharmaceutical company in Bangladesh and
it has been continuously in the 1
st
position among all national and multinational companies
since 1985. The company plays a significant role in producing quality drugs in Bangladesh. It
also plays a vital role in developing the socioeconomic condition of our country by paying a
large amount of tax and taking participation in social activities. As a part of our study
curriculum in BBA course, we have been assigned to conduct a study on Square
Pharmaceuticals in order to find management practices followed by the company. So we have
selected Square for these characteristics.

1.2 Objectives of the Study
The Primary objective of the study is to find out the management practices followed by
SQUARE pharmaceuticals limited. The secondary objectives of this study are:
To present an overview of the Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
To analyze the performance through the flow of time.
To Understand the efficiency within pharmaceuticals in Bangladesh
To identify and analyse Square Pharmaceuticals Ltds strategies and
management policies.

1.3 Methodology
Primary sources: Primary sources are officers and manager of the Square Pharmaceuticals
Ltd., Local office branch and clients. Following factors were considered to collect
information:
Face to Face conversation.
Telephone conversation
Secondary sources: Secondary information will be collected from following sectors:
Annual Report of Square Pharmaceuticals Limited.
Brac EPL brokerage reports
Periodicals published by Bangladesh Bank.
Other material collected from the bank.
Various books, articles, journals, compilations and also from the web sites.

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Presentation of information: Collected information and findings of the analysis are
presented in both table and graphical form
Methods of data analysis: I analyzed the data in both quantitative and subjective way. I used
some techniques for the purpose of analysis. These are:
The strategic position
Analysing strategic capabilities
SWOT Analysis
Porters Five Forces Analysis
Business level strategy
Corporate level strategy
Theoretical Graphical analysis

Basically, this report has been written in descriptive format and also theoretical in nature to
gain insights and understanding about the assigned topic.

1.4 Limitations of the Study
The limitation of the study is defined by the expensiveness of the facts covered by the study
and those that left out. It is observable that almost all studies have some boundaries. During
performing my work, we may face a number of limitations. These are as follows:
Privacy of I nformation: Companies do not want to share all of the information to
everyone. Sometimes they also use false or modify the financial statements to attract
the investors. For this reason the proper analysis will not be possible without having
direct contact with the top management.
Financial Limitations: Prepare a proper report is not possible in a very limited
amount of money. Because, a huge amount of data and face to face contact with the
people of the organization is needed to make the report more reliable. But, I have not
that much fund to collect information from a various range of sources.
Time Limitations: I have been given a very limited time. Within this time it is some
time difficult to prepare a proper study report. It may be not possible for me to
conduct proper interview with all the employees I have surveyed.
Data Collection: Annual report is the main source of data in this study. But, annual
report doesnt show us the real picture of the financial condition of an organization.



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1.5 SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Limited
SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Limited (SPL) is the largest pharmaceutical company in
Bangladesh and is leading the Pharmaceuticals sector from the very beginning. It has been
continuously in the 1
st
position among all national and multinational companies since 1985. It
was established in 1958 and converted into a public limited company in 1991. The sales
turnover of SPL was more than Taka 11.46 Billion (US$ 163.71 million) with about 19.3%
market share; having a growth rate of about 13.9% (April 09- March 10).
Square Pharmaceuticals Limited is an organization with equal emphasis on Leadership,
Technology, Quality and Passion. Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is the leading branded generic
pharmaceutical manufacturer in Bangladesh producing quality essential and other ethical
drugs and medicines.
SQUARE today symbolizes a name - a state of mind. But its journey to the growth and
prosperity has been no bed of roses. From the inception in 1958, it has today burgeoned into
one of the top line conglomerates in Bangladesh. Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd., the flagship
company, is holding the strong leadership position in the pharmaceutical industry of
Bangladesh since 1985 and is now on its way to becoming a high performance global player.


1.6 Market Players in Pharmaceuticals Industry Bangladesh
Domestically, Bangladeshi companies
including the locally based MNCs produce
95%-97% of the drugs and the rest are
imported. Although about 250
pharmaceutical companies are registered in
Bangladesh, less than 100 are actively
producing drugs.
The domestic market is highly concentrated
and competitive. However, the local
manufacturers dominate the industry as they
enjoy approximately 87% of market share,
while multinationals hold a 13% share.
Another notable feature of this sector is the
concentration of sales among a very small
number of top companies. The top 10
players control around two-third of the market share while the top 15 companies cover 77%
of the market. In comparison, the top ten

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Japanese firms generated approximately 45% of
the domestic industry revenue, while the top ten
UK firms generated approximately 50%, and the
top ten German firms generated approximately
60%.
Square Pharmaceuticals is the stand out market
leader with a market share of 19.3% which
posted domestic revenue of BDT 11.46 Billion
(US$ 163.71 million) in the last four quarters
(Apr 09 - Mar 10). Their nearest competitors are
Incepta Pharmaceuticals and Beximco
Pharmaceuticals with market shares of 8.5% and
7.6% respectively. Incepta and Beximco had
BDT 4.9 billion and BDT 4.4 billion in
domestic sales for the last four quarters.
Although a number of MNCs are operational in
Bangladesh market, no MNCs are in the top ten
in terms of domestic sales.




1.7 Introducing Strategy of SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Limited
1.7.1 Vision
We view business as a means to the material and social wellbeing of the investors, employees
and the society at large, leading to accretion of wealth through financial and moral gains as a
part of the process of the human civilization.

1.7.2 Mission
Our Mission is to produce and provide quality & innovative healthcare relief for people,
maintain stringently ethical standard in business operation also ensuring benefit to the
shareholders, stakeholders and the society at large.



Exhibit 1.1: Market Players in the Pharmaceuticals
Industry Bangladesh

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1.7.3 Objective
Our objectives are to conduct transparent business operation based on market mechanism
within the legal & social framework with aims to attain the mission reflected by our vision.

1.7.4 Values
The SQUARE Pharmaceutical Limiteds strategies are based upon 5 core values, which are:
Understanding, Goodwill/reputation, and Cost-conscious, focused, cumulative effort.

1.7.5 Corporate Focus
Our vision, our mission and our objectives are to emphasise on the quality of product, process
and services leading to growth of the company imbibed with good governance practices.

1.7.6 Strategies
The SQUARE way provides a high-level statement of strategies:
To be the best in pharmaceutical industry
To remain as market leader
To establish competitive cost base
To work together with its sister concerns to accelerate cumulative effort


1.7.7 Competitive strengths
With this SPL identifies its competitive strengths as:
A trustworthy pharmaceutical firm with competitively high company goodwill, which
provides Pharmaceutical products of high standard at a lower cost.
Well branded products and rich product diversification.
Four internationally approved and aligned API units.
Modern cost effective products.
As a listed company in Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), SPL gathers its share-holders
trustworthiness as well.




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1.7.8 Strategy Lenses
Specifically, the strategy lenses of SQUARE Pharmaceuticals can be described with a view to
its pricing and selection of target customers.
Since SPLs inception in 1964 till the early 1980s, the company literally thrived in order to
capture market share. Against Beximco Pharmathe firm which was actively taking the first
mover advantage over SPL, the company was unable to narrow down its option to choose
price based strategy or differentiation based strategy, while also struggling on attracting
customer response. (Strategy as design)
Lately, in 1987 the firm while the company pioneered in pharmaceutical export from
Bangladesh with a strategy ofoffering lower priced products that promises quality; it
started to achieve higher growth. (Strategy as experience)
However, in the start of 21
st
century when the SPL had to live up to its image, US FDA/UK
MCA standard new pharmaceutical factory goes into operation built under the supervision of
Bovis Lend Lease, UK; and the company was accumulating opportunities to grow with
diversification. (Strategy as idea)















***Note: The Strategic Position, Strategic Choices, and Strategy into Action have not discussed here
in this section, because those terms are extensively discussed in the latter chapters. ***

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Chapter 2

The Strategic Position








2.1 Layers of the business environment

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For Square Pharmaceuticals Limited, to make sense of an uncertain world, it is necessary that
the company emphasizes on understanding its business environment. However, this can be
difficult for several reasons. First, the environment encapsulates many different influences
the difficulty is making sense of this diversity. Second is the problem of complexity which
arises because many of the separate issues in the business environment are interconnected.
The layers of business environment typically provides the framework for understanding
environment of organizations with the aim of helping to identify key issues and ways of
coping with complexity and change.



2.2 The PESTEL framework
PESTEL analysis provides a framework examining the external environment of a company
(Gillespie, 2010, p.13; Morrison, 2006, p. 20). PESTEL stands for political, Economical,
Social, technological, environmental and legal factors. PESTEL analysis helps a company to
categorize the relevant issues in its environment, so that it can assess its relative importance
and develop an appropriate strategy (Sloman & Hinde, 2007). The following sections provide
an overview of the factors currently affecting the Square Pharmaceuticals in Bangladesh.

Political Factors
Experienced international businesses engage in political risk assessment, a systematic
analysis of the political risks they face in foreign countries and any changes in the political
environment that may adversely affect the companys business activities (Griffin & Pustay,
2010, p.97; Czinkota et al., 2009, p.102; Daniels et al, 2009, p.154). Politically Bangladesh is
now going through a very unstable period since the recession had struck Europe, USA, and
Exhibit 2.1: Layers of the business environment


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Bangladeshparticularly, Dhaka Stock Exchangeleaving most companies thriving. Yet
domestic Pharmaceutical firms are getting good support from its government.

Support of Government
Bangladesh Government regards the pharmaceutical industry as one of the key sector for
attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country (BOI, 2010a). With strong
government support Bangladesh is developing a robust manufacturing and technically
experienced industrial base for this sector, while extensively supporting the domestic firms.
Bangladesh was placed 15
th
globally for the protection which it affords investors in the World
Banks (2009) Doing Business survey.

I ssues
General strikes by opposite political parties those caused huge loss to the business and
industries were a regular part of political life in Bangladesh. The though improved in past
years despite very few occasions (BBC, June 2010), but in the year of 2013, the fact of strikes
has been raising and resulting in a terrible business condition. Companies are still facing
some corruption and bureaucracy issues when to do business in Bangladesh. For example,
according to the World Bank report (2009), it requires 7 procedures and takes 44 days to start
a business there. Despite some bureaucratic problems in overall the current political
environment of Bangladesh is business-friendly for Square Pharmaceuticals.

Economic Factors
Although the economy of Bangladesh is achieving a considerable GDP growth, but the
recent economic condition within the country is very sophisticated. Due to many loan scams
occurred in recent years, the investment portfolio is not raising, instead it seems to be
stagnated. As for Square Pharmaceuticalsbeing the sister concern of Square Group, a
company must growth rate, inflation, unemployment, wages, income, stability, poverty and
the like of that country (Daniels et al. 2009, p. 185). These factors of Bangladesh are analysed
in following sections and also compared with China, India, Pakistan and UK to get a
comparative picture.

GDP Growth
The economy of Bangladesh has grown 5-6% per year since 1996 despite many internal
problems like political instability, poor infrastructure, corruption, and insufficient power
supplies and its growth was resilient during the 2008-09 global financial crisis and recession

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[shown in Exhibit 3.1]. The GDP growth rate of Bangladesh was higher than in Pakistan or
UK, and very close as in India and according to the World Factbook (2009) its position was
18
th
among the 213 countries in 2009. GDP per capita of Bangladesh was US$ 1,600 that was
lower than India, China and Pakistan.







Inflation
Inflation rate is a measure of the increase in the cost of living that influence on many parts of
the economic confidence, and the stability (Daniels et al., 2009, p. 196). From 1991 the
inflation rate of Bangladesh is always under 10 percent until 2011 (Exhibit 2.2).



Country 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Bangladesh
5.2 5.3 5.6 4.4 5.3 4.9 6.4 6.6 6.3 4.9 5.7 6 6.1
Exhibit 2.1: GDP growth of Bangladesh

Table 2.1: Real GDP growth rate of Bangladesh [1999-2012]


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Higher inflation rate raises the cost of living and historically annual inflation rates of 10 to 30
percent, erodes confidence in a countrys currency and spurs people to search for better ways
to store value (Daniels et al., 2009, p. 196). Lower inflation is a good indicator for Square
Pharmaceuticals Bangladesh marketplace.

Unemployment Rate
Daniels et al (2009) argues that unemployment depress economic growth, create social
pressures, and provoke political uncertainty. However, the unemployment rate of Bangladesh
is 5% according to World Bank researchwhich indicates that India and China seemingly
controlling their unemployment rate with 3.8% and 4.1% respectively for the year of 2012.
The proportion of unemployed workers in a country shows how well a country productively
uses its human resources. In Bangladesh unemployed workers do not get any benefits or
allowances from the government. Without unemployment benefits, people are compelled to
engage in some work, even if this is only a few hours in low-paid informal jobs (Mujeri,
2004). Lower unemployment increases buying capabilities of customers in Bangladesh.

Debt
The larger the total debt becomes, the more uncertain a countrys economy becomes (Daniels
et al., 2009, p. 198). The public debt makes up 36.12% of the total GDP of Bangladesh, while
Indias public debt consists 67.59% of GDP (2012 est.), meaning that the economy of
Bangladesh certainly stable enough than India.
The resulting pressure to revise government policies, in the face of growing internal debt, can
create economic uncertainties for investors and companies (Daniels et al., 2009). Bangladesh
is in better position than neighbour countries in terms of debt problem and that is a good sign
for its pharmaceutical industry.


Exhibit 2.2: Inflation Rate in Bangladesh [2000-2011]


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Labor Force and Cost
For the pharmaceutical industry, the cost of labour is one of the key elements of total
production costs. Companies always search the world for the best deal with the difference
between low-cost and high-cost countries (Daniels et al., 2009, p. 201). According to the
Office of the US Trade Representative (2008) the cost of manufacturing one million tablets
was estimated to be $18,000 in the USA, $8,000 in India and $6,500-7,500 in Bangladesh.
This is accounted for Bangladeshs highly competitive labour and energy costs. The report
also highlights that the labor costs in the pharmaceutical industry are 20-30% lower in
Bangladesh than in India. Bangladesh is 8
th
according to the number of total labour force in
the world that is more than Pakistan, UK, Germany, France or Japan (World Factbook 2009).
Abundant supply of cheap labour forces would be attractive factor for Square
Pharmaceuticals to extend their investment in Bangladesh.

Socio-Cultural Factors
A company should identify key cultural differences in the country where it is doing or
intended to do business and then it must need to alter its customary practices to succeed there
(Daniels et al., 2009).
Alternative Medicines
There is a long tradition of self-medication in Bangladesh as many of its population cannot
afford to see health professionals when they fall ill. Majority of population are still using
complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in the country (Islam & Farah 2008).
Alternative medicine refers to health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs
incorporating plant, animal and mineral based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual
techniques and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to treat, diagnose and prevent
illnesses or maintain well-being. Reports of Islam and Farah (2008) estimated that 70-75%
populations of the country still use traditional medicine namely herbal, homeopathy, religious
and magical methods for management of their health problems of various kinds.
Religion
According to the World Factbook (2010), 89.5% of the population in Bangladesh is Muslim.
The religious belief and practices have influence and impact on national/international
business that is seen in a cultures values and attributes toward entrepreneurship,
consumption and social organisation (Griffin & Pustay, 2010; Morrison, 2006 and Czinkota
et al., 2009). Many Muslim workers require extra time break for daily prayer. Muslims are
forbidden from the consumption of pork and alcohol. The pharmaceutical companies need to
consider these religious factors to do the business in Bangladesh.



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Population Demographics
Bangladesh tops South Asia with its average life expectancy of 61 years though per capita
consumption of medication is one of the lowest in the region (World Factbook, 2012). The
population of Bangladesh ranks seventh in the world with about 160 million people and it is
one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Due to the total size of the
population, good life expectancy and the stable growth of economy, the country has
considerable market for pharmaceutical products.

Technological factors
Technological environment is another important dimension of a country and the foundation
of its resource base (Griffin & Pustay, 2010). Three key technological factors are discussed in
following sections.

Research and Development
Foreign direct investment has brought about the globalization of production, but this has not
led to the globalization of technological innovation in Bangladesh. Large companies have
tendency to concentrate their R&D activities in their home countries, but progressively
specialized R&D is being decentralized to overseas locations, to benefit from different areas
of excellence in different localities (Patel & Pavitt, 1991; Archibugi & Michie, 1997).
According to the World Bank report (2008), pharmacists of Bangladesh have been trained for
quality assurance and skilled engineers for reverse engineering and manufacturing but its
workforce has lack of new research and innovation skills, which is very important for
innovative drugs.
Bangladeshi pharmaceutical firms target mainly lower-end branded generics. Despite the
country possessing huge manufacturing capabilities of domestic need, the complete lack of
R&D in domestic companies could cause the market to be idle. According to the
Kostermanss (2008) report, universities and government research is currently under funded
in Bangladesh and the pharmaceutical industry here currently invests about 1% in R&D.

Energy
Bangladeshs unreliable power supply forces most Bangladeshi firms to depend on self-
generation of power (World Bank, 2008). Disruptions of power supply result in significant
productivity losses in Bangladesh. The World Bank (2008) reports that the power cost could
be lower when generators are running on highly under-priced natural gas of Bangladesh.
Large pharmaceutical companies like Square Pharmaceuticals Limited can install gas based
energy system.

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Environmental Factor
Couple of key environmental factors discussed in following sections those significant for
Square Pharmaceuticalsoperation in Bangladesh.

Climate Change
Bangladesh is now widely recognized to be one of the countries which are most vulnerable to
climate change as a result of global warming. It is a low-lying region that risks submerging
some of its parts beneath the sea (Morrison, 2006, p. 428). Natural hazards that come from
increased rainfall, rising sea levels, and tropical cyclones are expected to increase as climate
change, each seriously affecting agriculture, water & food security, human health and shelter
(MoEF, 2008). Environmental impacts are often considered necessary side effects of
development or the price to pay in order to achieve progress (Furley, 1996; Hesselberg, 1992;
Weissman, 1993). Square Pharmaceuticals (Bangladesh) claims in its website that it takes a
leading role in its work in the areas of Health, Safety and Environment in pharmaceutical
industry.

Waste Management
The National Drug Policy 2005 of Bangladesh states that the pharmaceutical plants must
need to comply with environmental legislation like disposal of waste streams. Environment
may have hazardous impact if the wastages of manufacturing plants are not managed
properly. Square Pharmaceuticals takes care of all their toxic and non toxic waste to make
sure that all the disposable water is properly treated and disposed.

Legal Factors
Every company in every country must comply with local legal system and regulations
regarding operations (Daniels et al., 2009). The legal environment has a great impact on
doing business in any country. According to the World Bank (2012) reports Bangladesh is
ranked 122
nd
out of 183 economies whereby India is ranked 132
nd
.

National Drug Policy
The Bangladesh governments Director of Drug Administration (DDA) has an essential
monitoring and supervisory role on all activities related to import, procurement of raw
materials, production and import of finished drugs, export, sale, pricing, etc. for all kinds of

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medicine. The National Drug Policy (2005) states that the WHOs current Good
Manufacturing Practices (GMP) should be strictly followed and that manufacturing units will
be regularly inspected by the DDA. Other key features of regulation are restrictions on
imported drugs (where these are produced by four or more local firms); a ban on the
production in Bangladesh of around 1,700 drugs which are considered non-essential or
harmful; and strict price controls, affecting some 117 principal medicines.

TRIPS
The World Trade Organizations (WTO) Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Right (TRIPS) agreement permits 49 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) including
Bangladesh to reverse-engineer, manufacture and sell patented generic pharmaceutical
products locally as well as for export to other developing and Least Developed Countries
(LDCs) until 2016 (World Bank, 2008, p. 15). Bangladesh is unique among the 49 LDCs as it
has a strong pharmaceutical base. This sector is the second largest sector in terms of national
revenue and it exported drugs to over 50 countries in the world (Azad, 2006). Square
Pharmaceuticals are enjoying the benefit of TRIPS as it has manufacturing based in
Bangladesh.

2.3 Porters Diamond Model on Square Pharmaceuticals
The Porters Diamond model, which was developed by Michael Porter, can be used to predict
a firms success in the industry regardless the country boundary. Here in this section we will
try to study Square Pharma based on Porters Diamond model.
The four factorswhat will be taken under consideration are:
1. Factor Condition
2. Demand Condition
3. Firm Strategy, Structure, and Rivalry
4. Related and Supporting Industries
Now, one by one we will look into each factor separately in the latter section.
Factor Condition
Considering basic factors for Square Pharmaceuticals, the climate, demography, geography,
and natural resources of Bangladesh are more-or-less very optimal for the company to
produce medicines and provide healthcare to the people.
We must look into the various departments of the firm in order to know the condition of the
advance factors of Square Pharmaceuticals.


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1. Research & Development (R&D)
With strong reverse engineering capability, square focuses principally on developing high
quality generic formulations, matching the profile of innovator products.
The growing innovation is evident from Squares successful launching of advanced
formulations like multi layer tablets, sustained release formulations, dispersible
tablets, melt-in mouth tablets, and chewable vitamins, etc.
To ensure the availability of raw materials over the range of therapeutic classes
Square are developing a number of APIs.
The capability of square to product hi-tech, specialized niche products as well as drug
delivery systems have been the firms core strength to transform SPL into an
innovation driven generic drug company.
Advancing R&D programs, such as SPL in collaboration with ICDDRB (International
Center of Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) produced 1.8 million zinc tablets
for the center, which was under a project named SUZY (Scaling Up Zinc treatment
for Young) aimed at advancing research on zinc therapy on children with Diarrhoea
and Pneumonia.

2. Human Resource
Strategic Human Resource Development programs are the energy sources for SQUAREs
Human Resource (HR) department for running towards the peak of success. There are
currently 4197 employees working in Square. The HR department
- Ensures strong supporting role to develop & implement HR policy
guidelines for uninterrupted continuity of operations.
- Maintain an effective way to deal with labor union and still no unrest has
been recorded as dispute.

3. Raw Materials
One of the most key strength of SPL is that the company is comprehensively able to produce
its own needed raw materials. Some information about the firms capability of production is
provided below.
SPL has invested in state of the art formulation plants aligned to regulated market standards.
Four plants based on the Dhaka site can produce Pharmaceutical products to the highest GMP
specifications. These four plants are:
General Plant (approved by MHRA)
Cephalosporin plant (quality system aligned to MHRA requirements, plant being
prepared by European Union regulatory agencies and FDA inspection)
BFS plant (quality system aligned to MHRA requirements)

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Biotech (insulin) plant
As with possessing some internationally
recognized plants, the SPL also represented
as the high quality-bulk drugs manufacturer
in Bangladesh.

4. Distribution System
One of SPLs major strength lies with its
sales and marketing teamthat has help SPL
to attain one of the best distribution channels
of this country.

5. Technology
Square Pharma has always been a leader in adopting ground-breaking technologies that
introduced both skill and scale in the business process. The company is focused on the quality
of the product so that its product can compete with the top level pharmaceuticals in the world.
SPL is pioneer in Bangladeshi pharmaceutical industry in introducing technology driven
products in local and international markets. Such specialty products include: Suppositories,
Inhalation aerosols, including Ozone-benign HFA MDIs; and Nasal sprays, etc.

Demand Condition
In Bangladesh theres a huge demand on Square pharmas products. SQUAREthe brand
itself provides reliability and trustworthiness, which might be simply why demand is pretty
high.
Square is now offering 670 types of medicines in Bangladesh with ensured qualitythat
creates proper perceived value for the money spent.
On the other hand, the present market status of SPL is continuously widening with already
supplying products overseas in United Kingdom, Gambia, Ghana, Bhutan Afghanistan,
Kenya, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, and in many other countries. SPL is now exploring the
Middle-east market for its product to sell.

Related and Supporting Industry
Related and supporting industries such as, hospitals and health care centres, Insurance and
Public Health bodies, Retail Pharmacies and stores, and many diagnostic centres are available
Exhibit 2.4: The Distribution Channel of Square
Pharmaceuticals Limited

18
to support the square pharmaceuticals. To support the company, SQUARE group itself
established SQUARE Hospitals Ltd that went into operation in December 2006. The hospital
is consisted with 300 plus beds built at the cost of $50 million; and which is aimed to provide
global standard healthcare services at an affordable cost.

Firm Strategy, Structure, and Rivalry
In Bangladesh there are currently 245, out of which 200 have operations in the country. The
market is totally dominated by the local companies and there are only 5 multi-nationals
currently operating. The 245 companies together have 5600 brands registered in Bangladesh.
Among these companies Square Pharmaceuticals Limited is being the leaderwithholding
19.3% market share.
We have discussed the company structure widely in chapter 1 and for a better view company
strategy will be discussed in chapter 3 & 4. Now in this section we will only look at the
domestic rivalry below.
Square Pharmaceuticals with being the market leader (with 19.3% market share) earned
domestic revenue of BDT 11.46 Billion (US$ 163.71 million) (Annual Report 2011-12) last
year. SPLs nearest competitors are Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd and Beximco
Pharmaceuticals Ltd (BPL) with market share of 8.5% and 7.6% respectively. Incepta and
Beximco had earned total revenue of BDT 4.9 billion and BDT 4.4 billion. Although a
number of MNCs are operational, but among them Novartis is very aggressively competing
in the market.
Between two top rivalsconsidering Beximco Pharma as the arch rival of Square Pharma,
BPL only owns as much as half of the market share owned by SPL. This typically suggests
the strong positioning of Square Pharmaceuticals in Bangladesh market.

2.4 Sources of Competition the five forces framework
Inherent within the notion of strategy is the issue of competitiveness. And thus, Porters five
forces framework is designed to identify sources of competition in an industry or a sector. For
Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd, it must be used at the level of strategic business units (SBUs)
and not at the level of whole organization. This is because organisations are diverse in their
operations and markets.


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Understanding the connections between competitive forces and key drivers in the macro-
environment is essential, as well as understanding the fact that the five forces are not
independent of each other. Pressure from one direction can trigger changes in another in a
dynamic process of shifting sources of competition.
Over the past few decades, the pharmaceutical industry has been struck by many challenges.
There have also been opportunities such as: revolutionary developments in information
technology and the emergence of market institutions. The pharmaceutical industry includes
all companies that develop drugs to consumers. The analysis of Square Pharmaceuticals in
the light of Porters five forces framework is as follows:

Threat of new entrants
Threat of new entrants in the pharmaceuticals industry is very low because of the high cost of
R&D and patent limitations required to enter the industry. Even though, the economies of
scale for production may not be very significant, other barriers to entry are high. To develop
new drugs is a very costly and timely process that requires a lot of research and development.
Along with high R&D costs, the heavy regulation of the pharmaceutical industry is another
Exhibit 2.5: Porters five forces model

20
barrier to entry. All drugs and chemicals used need to be approved and when the drugs are
not approved, the time and money used to develop them is lost by the firm. The standards are
very strict. The established firms have large budgets to spend on marketing to uphold their
brand, just another cost necessary for a new entrant.

Rivalry among Existing Firms
There is a fierce competition among the existing firms. Among the various pharmaceutical
companies when one of them produces new medicine with same component, existing firms
are forced to produce same type of medicine to exploit the opportunity; and also blocking the
first mover from capturing the whole market share of that specific product.
From a study it has been found that, during a 24 month period 268 patients entered the study.
138 patients were randomized to omeprazole treatment; 130 to ranitidine treatment.
Seventeen patients (6.3%) discontinued the clinical trial without any follow-up assessments,
including 8 (5.8%) in the omeprazole group and 9 (6.9%) in the ranitidine group. Study
dropouts number was not significantly different. As omeprazole being the product of SPL
and ranitidine of Opsonin, both used were used for gastric treatment, it was seemingly clear
that people are being indifferent on choosing medicine.
However, the rivalry between two top players: Beximco and Square, has now poled into the
Square Pharmaceuticals side. One of the key reasons is that, the public trust on Beximco has
been diminishing vigorously due to some scams committed Beximco Groups sister concerns
and the majority share-holder Salman F. Rahman. While on the other hand, SQUARE is
acquiring public trust day-after-day through their corporate social responsible activities and
operations.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers
It is essential to identify the suppliers for the pharmaceuticals industry. The suppliers could
be wide variety of the providers such as the raw materials and intermediates, the
manufacturing and production plants, the overseas head offices who supply finished products,
the local co-marketing partners who supply products or third party suppliers anywhere along
the supply chain. Also labour can be considered as a supplier to industry. All suppliers
provide different levels of threat. It is not easy for the pharmaceuticals industry to change
suppliers even when they threaten to withhold supply. Labour can also be the significant
supplier because labour holds immense power when enquiring for more compensation or
reducing quality by working fewer hours. In the pharmaceuticals industry, each supplier
holds a certain level of power to be a threat, but it is not too high. The threat from suppliers in
the pharmaceuticals industry is not considered significantly bigger than that in other
industries as long as there is no considerable threat from the raw material suppliers. Thus,
supplier power is low in the pharmaceuticals industry.

21

Bargaining Power of Buyers
Major consumers in pharmaceuticals industry include doctors, patients, hospitals, drug stores
and pharmacists. There are several significant indicators of the threat of buyers in the
pharmaceutical industry; they include the number of buyers, product differentiation, and
product significance of a buyers final cost. Buyers do not pose a big threat to
pharmaceuticals industry, because firms spend most of their research and development on
new patent drugs.
Since the industry has many buyers, and given that competition normally occurs among
consumers, (e.g. competition among hospitals and drug stores); the power of the buyers in
terms of the number of buyers in the industry is relatively small. Although big retail stores
possess some bargaining power in the industry, they do not pose a big threat in the
pharmaceuticals industry as they do to the other industries.

Threat of Substitutes
Threat of substitutes is low (with patents) and medium (after patent expiry). Overall, the
pharmaceutical industry shows an upward trend in its core markets. The industry remains
highly valued as a favorable market position with strong financial make-up and strong
earnings growth. Its future potential demand trend is positive and despite increased
competition the industry still shows a continuing upward growth momentum.

2.5 The Dynamics of Competition
The previous section lookedhow competition may arise but has not discussed the process
of competition over time. The competitive advantage of an organisation may be eroded
because the forces discussed above change and/or competitors manage to overcome adverse
forces (Johnson, Scholes et al, 2008). Square Pharmaceuticals in this case, may respond to
this erosion of its competitive position, creating what has been called a cycle of business as
shown in Exhibit 2.6 and exemplified with SPL later.







22


It has been stated earlier that the Pharmaceutical industry in Bangladesh is matured. And SPL
is the market leader in that industry. If any new entrants comes into this industry and starts
operation, then for SPL and other firms like Incepta, Beximco, Aristopharma, will follow the
strategy of Cycle of competition in order to protect its competitive advantage and rip out new
competitions.

2.6 Strategic Group Mapping Matrix
In a given industry such as Pharmaceuticals industry in Bangladesh, there are many
companies each of which has different capabilities and which compete on different surfaces.
This is the concept of strategic groups. But competition occurs in markets which are not
confined to the boundaries of an industry and there will almost certainly be important
differences in the expectations of different customer groups (Johnson, Scholes et al, 2008).
Strategic groups are organizations within an industry or sector with similar strategic
characteristics, following similar strategies or competing on similar bases (Johnson, Scholes
et al, 2008).

Beximco Square Incepta Novartis Gaco
What
products do
they offer?
Inhalers,
Medicines:
Tablets,
Medicines:
Tablets,
Capsules,
Medicines:
Tablets,
Capsules,
Inject-able
drugs,
Medicines:
Tablets,
Capsules,
and other
Exhibit 2.6: Cycles of Competition
Exhibit 2.2: Strategic Group Mapping Matrix


23
Capsules,
Syrups, etc.,
inject-able
drugs
Syrups, etc.,
Inhalers, inject-
able drugs
Syrups, etc. Tablets,
Capsules,
Syrups, etc.
local
drugs.
Which
beneficiary
or customer
group do
they work
with?
Patients of all
groups, with
an emphasized
focus on
Diabetes,
Cardiac issues,
Rheumatic
fever.
Patients of all
groups, with a
slight
differentiation
in hi-tech
drugs,
Diabetes, Skin
issues, Old
peoples
diseases.
Targeting
general
patients
affected
with
common
diseases and
health
issues.
Targeting
mass market
with
differentiation
strategy
focused on
typical health
conscious
peoples.
Focusing
highly on
rural
markets
less health
conscious
and price
sensitive
peole.
What is their
impact?
Impact on the
market is high
with product
diversification,
and
differentiated
products.
Simultaneously
capturing the
market with
unique pricing
and good
quality
products.
Introducing
similar
products as
competitors
offering,
lately
challenging
the
innovators
with
upgraded
product
quality.
Introducing
international
standard in
the local
market and
threatening its
competitors
continuously.
Sourcing
production
formulas,
offering
product at
lowest
possible
costs, and
attracting
rural
people.
What might
be their plans
for the
future?
Focusing on
un-attracted
customers and
produce
quality.
Striving to
achieve
Profitable
growth,
targeting mass
market and
focusing on
product
diversifications.
Emphasising
on product
development
rather than
product
innovation,
acquiring
more market
share and
public trust.
Attract health
conscious
people with
moderate
earning level;
create more
value through
knowledge
based
operations.
Lower
price, and
achieve
advantage
on other
competitor
in price
sensitive
market.
How might
you create
greater
impact by
reconsiderin
g your
relationship
with them?
Investing more
on R&D
projects may
provide a
competitive
edge to SPL
over Beximco.
Acquiring
patent
rights; and
using TRIPS
laws
effectively
by SPL may
earn
exclusive
immunity
from this
company.
Supplying
international
best
standardized
products may
inactive the
policies of
Novartis.
Using cost
efficiency,
and
making
rural
people
more
conscious
will drive
down
Gaco.


24
When information above is depicted in order to find the positioning of SQUARE
Pharmaceuticals Limited, we have derived the chart belowshown in Exhibit 2.3, that shows
that SPL is in a winning position against its competitors.





2.7 Market Segment
In this section of the study, we will identify SPLs market segmentsin which they are
operating. A market segment is a group of customers who have similar needs that are
different from customer needs in other parts of the market (Johnson, Scholes et al, 2008).
Based on three factorsCharacteristics of people / organisations, Purchase / use situation,
and Users needs and preferences for product characteristics, the market segments of SPL is
identified.
Customer needs varies depending on characteristics of people, purchase/use situation, and
user needs, where factors such as age, race, income, customer loyalty, price and brand
preference come into play. For SPL, the target market is the mass market. The company
focuses on customers of all ages from the age of 6 months to ever aged. On the other hand,
the company offers products at lower price but not at the lowest in the market. Square ensures
LOW


SQUARE
PHARMA

SQUARE
PHARMA


INCEPTA


GACO


BEXIMCO


NOVARTIS
WON
Exhibit 2.3: Market positioning of Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd.


25
quality at a price that can be afforded byfrom lower-middle class people to upper class
people.
The relative market share is highest for SPL, with a leading 19.3% in the pharmaceutical
industry. Organisations that have built up most experience in servicing a particular market
segment should not only have lower costs in so doing, but also have built relationships which
maybe difficult for others to break down (Johnson, Scholes et al, 2008). The statement is very
true in case of SPL and pharmaceutical industry of Bangladesh.



2.8 SWOT analysis of SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Limited
SWOT analysis (alternatively SWOT Matrix) is a structured planning method used to
evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a
business venture. A SWOT analysis can be carried out for a product, place, industry or
person. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying
the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that
objective. The technique is credited to Albert Humphrey, who led a convention at the
Stanford Research Institute (now SRI International) in the 1960s and 1970s using data from
Fortune 500 companies. The degree to which the internal environment of the firm matches
with the external environment is expressed by the concept of strategic fit.
Setting the objective of Square Pharmaceuticals Limited should be done after the SWOT
analysis has been performed. This would allow achievable goals or objectives to be set for the
organization.
Strengths
Huge demand in domestic market
Favorable regulatory authorities for domestic manufacturers
Increasing health expenditure due to growing health consciousness
International Standard product manufacturing units
Global experience
Increasing achievement of Public Trust.

Weaknesses
Lack of investment and knowledge-based workforce hindering R&D
Failure to Capitalise TRIPS so far
A weak advertising system

26
Cant produce all the medicine of cancer and some fatal diseases
Sometime owners relative employee act as a disturbance employee
Cant export medicines in all the countries in the world
Time consuming decision making process
Incorrect method for collecting resources and inventory management
Lack of asset management and debt
Minimum profit in comparison with others

Opportunities
Government Support
Banking and information technology
Credit line with well known foreign bank can gear up its foreign exchange business.
Entering in new arena product helps to grow customers' confidence.
Opportunity to take market share away from rivals by offering new
Innovative product or services
Opportunity to enter into the global market

Threats
Hiking price of raw materials: More and more factories, especially small ones, are
facing closure due to price hike of raw materials. As we are just entered in the market
it will be a great threat for us.
Inadequate Power supply: The industry sources also blamed lack of adequate power
Supply for making the industry more vulnerable. We have to face the same problem
here and for this many industries are shutting down now days.
Frequent Currency Devaluation
Competitors are much in pharmaceutical industries.
Competitors are offering innovative new product and services regularly. Matching
them is really hard.







27

Chapter 3

Strategic Capability
















28
3.0 Strategic Capability
This part of the study analyses the adequacy and suitability of the resources and competences
of Square Pharmaceuticals Limited for it to survive and prosper. Before discussing the
strategic capability of SPL, we must look into the resources the company already possess.
Typically Square Pharmaceuticals Ltds resources can be considered under following four
broad categories:
Physical Resources: SPL has 7 major unitsthat are simultaneously used for
production and Research &Development. Those units are: Dhaka Unit, Pabna Unit,
Cephalosporin unit, AgroVet unit, Pesticide unit, API units, PET Bottle unit. Among
the units PET Bottle unit was established in 2004 with first integrated machines of its
kindwhich can produce 5000 piece of products in an hour, and can run relentlessly
24/7. Also, one of the SPLs major achievement is that it has invested in establishing
some world-class plants, such as General plant, Cephalosporin plant, and others
which are established to compete in the international market and according to the
international requirements.
Financial Resources: Being the market leader of Bangladeshi pharmaceuticals
industrywith 19.3% of market share, and also BDT 11.46 Billion (US$ 163.71
million) (est. 2012) annual revenue, the financial firepower of Square Pharmaceuticals
is quite phenomenal for the local market. The financial resources of this company can
be overlooked through looking at the financial position of SPL on a basis of
investment and investment financing.

The total investment made by the Company upto 31 March, 2010, 2011 and 2012 as
detailed below:


The above investment have been financed as follows :




29
Human Resources: The human resources of
Square Pharmaceuticals are quite adequate.
With over 3500 employees the company is
exploiting in the field of Marketing,
Production, Finance, and in other business
areas. Basically the Human Resource
Management policy guidelines are strictly
followed within the company which has led the
company to achieve profitable growth.

I ntellectual Capital: For Square
Pharmaceuticals limited, the intellectual capital
is the remarkable strength. With almost 600
types of medicine offering SPL has captured
the high market share. However, the
organization also exports its products in many
different countries, which shows their high
visionary business system and high volume of
consumer database.


3.1 Strategic Capability the terminology
Term Definition Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd
Strategic
Capability
The ability to perform at the level
required to survive and prosper. It is
underpinned by the resources and
competences of the organization.

Market leader and accumulating annual
revenue of BDT 11.46 Billion (US$
163.71 million).
Threshold
Resources
The resources needed to meet
customers minimum requirements and
therefore to continue to exist.

Supporting sister concerns of SQUARE,
world-class production facilities.
Threshold
Competences
Activities and processes needed to meet
customers minimum requirements and
therefore to continue to exist.

Successful & effective HR policies,
Effective marketing plans, efficient
investment and well-managed financial
resources.
Unique
Resources
Resources that underpin competitive
advantage and are difficult for
competitors to imitate or obtain.

Exceptional visionary management,
strategic management, world-class R&D
facilities.
Core
Competences
Activities that underpin competitive
advantage and are difficult for
competitors to imitate or obtain.

A combination of strategic plans:
including short-term & long-term plans,
global competitive experience,
demanding higher competition and
innovation.
Table 3.1: Total Employee Distribution

30
3.2 Cost Efficiency Model and its effect on SPL
An important strategic capability that Square Pharmaceuticals Limited (SPL) possesses isit
ensures that the cost efficiency is achieved over time; and also ensures that the company is
paying adequate attention to its cost management in order to achieve competitive advantage
in the long-run. This will involve having both appropriate resources and competences to
manage costs. Customers can benefit from cost efficiency in terms of lower prices or more
product features at the same price (Johnson, Scholes et al., 2008). The management of the
cost base of Square Pharmaceuticals could be a basis for achieving competitive advantage.
However, it is seemingly a threshold capability of the Square Pharmaceuticals for two
reasons withholding the fact that it faces fierce competition from it arch rival Beximco
Pharma, and some other companies, such as Novartis, Incepta, and Eskeyef. The two reasons
are: first, because customer do not value product features at any price; and second,
competitive rivalry will continually require the driving down of costs. However, the first
reason is omit-able in terms of medicinal productsthat Square Pharmaceuticals basically
produces. For the second reason, it is very necessary for SPL to achieve cost efficiency.
Cost efficiency is determined by a number of cost drivers (Johnson, Scholes et al., 2008),
which are discussed below in the light of Square Pharmaceuticals.

Economies of Scale is an important source of advantage for SPL. Economies of scale
typically indicate the cost advantage that a firm achieves with increased output or production.
Since its inception in 1964, SPL has been growing substantially along with increased
production and sales. Through increased production and sales, the company is being able to
diminish it per unit fixed cost, which is leading the company production cost per unit
significantly.
While Supply Cost influences an organizations overall cost position, in this case, Square
Pharmaceuticals are well armoured. The companys one of the key strength is highlighted in
this areawhereby, Square Pharma is producing it own raw material for the final product.
However, this doesnt end the entire story. Sometimes it is better to source raw materials at
cheaper cost than producing it by own machineries. It is a concept of cost accounting where it
is suggested that while sourcing products from other suppliers the own machineries could be
rented out in order to save cost. But for Square Pharmaceuticals, it seems to be beneficial to
make and not opt to buy raw materials.
Product/Process design also influences the cost position of SPL. Efficiency gains in
production processes have been achieved by many organisations over a number of years
through improvements in capacity-fill, labour productivity, yield (from materials), or working
capital utilization. Managing capacity-fill has been somewhat an issue for Square
Pharmaceuticals, which is one of the reasons why SPL has expanded it market overseas.
However, SPL is successfully producing at its full capacity, and marketing & selling those
products in the global market.

31
In addition to the above factors, the low labour cost in Bangladesh is also facilitating SPLs
sale of products at lower cost in low earning countries, such as Kenya, Ghana, Afghanistan,
Nepal, Gambia, etc.
Finally, it is undeniable that Square Pharmaceuticals, since its inception in 1964 has been
gathering experience in cost management. In
28 years, SPL is doing business in Bangladesh,
with increasing its tally of experience in
managing cost efficiency. However, it is true
for Square that its higher cumulative
experience in Bangladesh market which may
be considered as a reason for its higher market
share than any other companies in the local
market. It is important to remember that it is the
relative market share in definable market
segments that matters. There are important
implications of the experience curve concept
that could influence SPLs competitive
position:
It is seemingly clear that growth is not optional in order to survive in the pharmaceutical
industry. Through different financial statements SPL has illustrated that growth is very
important for itself, and not taking the fact lightly. This is why SPL is achieving profitable
growth over the years.
For SPL the first mover advantage factor has been proven pivotal in becoming the market
leader with highest portion of market share (19.3%). Beximco and Square Pharmaceuticals
started their journey in 1980 and 1964 respectively. Incepta Pharmaceutical Company had
emerged in 1999, three decades later than Square Pharmaceuticals had started business; and
yet Incepta competing aggressively with Square. This is quite clear that Square
Pharmaceuticals has a first mover advantage in cost efficiency, with offering low price
products in the market.

3.3 Diagnosing Strategic Capability of SPL
If Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd is to achieve competitive advantage by delivering value to
customers, they need to identify how that value is crated or lost. This section of the study will
discuss aboutThe value chain, The value network, and Activity mappingof SPL.
The Value Chain of SPL primarily describes the activities within and around the
organization which together create a product or service. It is cost of the value activities and
the value that they deliver that determines whether or not the best value products or services
are developed (Johnson, Scholes et al., 2008).
Experience Curve
Exhibit 3.1: Experience Curve

32
The concept was used and developed by Michael Porter in relation to competitive strategy.
More-or-less the values chain is basically similar for all companies in the Pharmaceutical
industry in Bangladesh. In Exhibit 3.2, the value chain followed by SPL is shown.



The value chain for SPL is almost the same as followed by other manufacturing firms. The
primary activities include: Material handling, stock control, and machining, testing,
packaging, quality management, distribution controlling, and marketing and sales activities,
etc. Whereas, the secondary activities include: process of acquiring materials, technology
development, human resource management, etc.
In SPL, both the primary and secondary activities are delivering positive value, while the firm
may have faced some issues about their service, but that fact has been overwhelmed through
providing regular R&D newsletters to Health Care professionals on a regular basis, and also
with the support of its sister concern Square Hospital.

The Value Network is the set of inter-organizational links and relationships that are
necessary to create product or service (Johnson, Scholes et al., 2008). It is the process of
specialisation within the value network on a set of linked activities that can underpin
excellence in creating best value products (Johnson, Scholes et al., 2008). In the figure below
an assumption of Square Pharmas Value Network is depicted.



Exhibit 3.2: The Value Chain

33

Figure: The Value Network That May Suit Square Best.

34
Some key issues can be helpful in designing the value network for Square Pharmaceuticals
Limited. And the issues are as follows:
The two department of SPL are simply creating the most value; they are: production and
distribution. In chapter 2 the strength of distribution is highlighted with a map (Exhibit 2.4);
and in the beginning of this chapterunder the cost efficiency model production efficiency
gained by SPL was described.
Profit generally pools in the production sector of SPL, whereby the company has shown
many times that they are the cost management leader in the pharmaceutical industry of
Bangladesh with providing a similar quality and sometimes higher at a lower price than its
competitors. Although it may seem disturbing that how this production efficiency is pooling
greater profit, but eventually low cost production increases the sale of final medicinal
products drastically for SPL, while enabling them to increase quantity of supply in both local
and global marketplace.
The make or buy decision is highly under consideration of SPL, while the company is still
pursuing the making decision.

The Activity map of SPL can be divided into three major areas. The following diagrams
(Exhibits 3.3, 3.4, and 3.5) highlight critical steps in the systems selection, procurement, and
distribution components for Square Pharmaceuticals Limited.

Exhibit 3.3: The Selection Cycle

35










Exhibit 3.4: Pharmaceutical Procurement Cycle
Exhibit 3.3: The Distributing Cycle.

36
3.4 Benchmarking of SPL
There are number of different approaches in benchmarking. In this case of Square
Pharmaceuticals, we will use Industry/Sector Benchmarking method. Insights can be gleaned
by looking at the comparative performance of other organizations in the same industry, sector
or between similar public service providers (Johnson, Scholes et al., 2008). In the
benchmarking process below, we will use comparatively basic factors to analysis the top
three playersBeximco Pharmaceuticals, Square Pharmaceuticals, and Incepta
Pharmaceuticalsin the pharmaceutical industry of Bangladesh.
Note: Companies will be provided with scores in each criterion from 1 to 10. Where 1 is being the
lowest valued score and indicates worst level of performance and 10 is the highest valued score and
indicates best level of efficiency.
Scoring Criteria Firms

BEXIMCO SQUARE INCEPTA
Management 7.7 8.0 8.5
Product quality
(Tablets and Capsules)
8.0 8.5 9.2
Product quality (inhalers
and other Medicines)
9.5 8.9 7.3
Distribution 8.2 9 7.8
Technology
Development
7.7 7.6 8.1
Research & Development 8.4 8.9 8.1
Corporate Social
Responsibility
6.1 8.2 6.5
Customer Loyalty 8.3 9.5 9.2
Medicine
Recommendation by
Doctors
8 9.1 8.8
Public Trust 4.7 9.3 8.9
Total
76.6 87 82.4

The results above are derived from a survey on very short number of respondents being only
10. We had particularly taken the judgements from 2 corporate personnel, 3 general people,
and 5 professional doctors. With 10 criteria selected and each criterion can at most score a 10
out of 10, the generated total scores are: 76.6 (Beximco), 87 (Square), and 82.4 (Incepta).
From the evaluation above, we dont really wonder why Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd has
been a dominant force in the market.

37
3.5 The Game Theory
Game theory is concerned with the interrelationships between the competitive moves of a set
of competitors. The central idea is that the strategist has to anticipate the reaction of
competitors (Johnson, Scholes et al, 2008).

Simultaneous games
Simultaneous games discussed so far the competitors were making decisions or move at the
same time and without knowing what each other was doing. Ethical egoism is the view that
each company like Prime Bank ought to maximize its own interest. As a moral theory it has
been criticized in many ways. For example it is commonly said that we should always look
after our own interest. We have other duties too. Sometimes we need to sacrifice our personal
interest for the greater interest of the society. Absolute selfishness is generally rejected and is
considered immoral.
Criticism: Some scholars like Adam Smith in his book The Wealth of Nation, however
believe that if everyone maximizes his own interest then general interest will be maximized.
For example if each individual firm maximizes its interest then overall (all firms) interest will
be increased. But we believe that general interest will not increase. Let us consider the
following situations:
The Prisoners Dilemma


Suppose, for example, that pharmaceutical firmsSquare Pharmaceuticals Limited and
Incepta Pharmaceuticals dominate in a market and have to decide whether to try to gain
market share through spending heavily on marketing.
Bottom right hand quadrant: Low marketing expenditure by both of the firms i.e.
Square Pharmaceuticals Limited and Incepta Pharmaceuticals. They may know that

38
the return from such expenditure would not offset its cost. Therefore, the logical
course of action would be for both Prime Bank Limited and First Security Islamic
bank to keep marketing expenditure at the current low level of preserve their current
shares: in a sense to collude tacitly to keep the situation as it is for mutual benefit. If
both players select this strategy, the payoff to each firm is represented in the bottom
right hand quadrant of table.

Top right and bottom left quadrant: There is likely to be a temptation by one or the
other competitors to try to take an advantage over the other. Both Square
Pharmaceuticals Limited and Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd know that if they alone
spent more on marketing they would achieve substantial returns. However there is
likely to be a temptation by one or other competitor to try to steal an advantage over
the other. Each knows that if they alone spend more on marketing they would achieve
substantial return. This is represented in the top right and bottom left quadrants. In
this area of marketing Square Pharma is leading compared to Incepta Pharma.
Top left hand quadrant: Suppose Square and Beximco are in the same path to take
decision about spending on advertising. Both Square Pharmaceuticals Limited and
Incepta Pharmaceuticals decide to spend heavily on marketing to ensure that the other
competitor does not get an advantage. Danger of this heavy marketing expenditure
might lead worse return for both parties. The danger is, of course, that, knowing this,
both parties decide they must spend heavily on marketing to ensure that other
competitor does not get an advantage. The result is the top left quadrant which is a
much worse return to both firms than would have happened had they both decided to
keep marketing expenditures at the current level.
Bottom left and top right quadrant: There is likely to be temptation by one or the other
competitors to try to take an advantage over the other. Each knows that if they alone
spent more on marketing they would achieve substantial returns. Same as it is in top
right and bottom left quadrant.

The prisoners dilemma model therefore suggests that the incentives open to a pay-off which
is much worse for both.
Prisoners Dilemma illustrates some important principles:
A dominant strategy is one that outperforms all other strategies whatever rivals
choose. The dominant strategy is to spend heavily on marketing. If we consider about
two pharmaceutical firmssuch as Square Pharmaceuticals Limited and Incepta
Pharmaceuticals then we can easily decide that SPL is in the dominant position in
terms of spending more on advertising.
A dominated strategy is a competitive strategy that if pursued by a competitor, is
bound to outperform the company. If an organisation does not have a dominated
strategy, it is important to identify whether it faces a dominated strategy, that is, a
competitive strategy that, if pursued by a competitor is bound to outperform the
company. For instance just think about Square Pharmaceuticals Limited and Incepta

39
Pharmaceuticals, what about their position regarding product development? Incepta is
in the dominant position.
Equilibrium is a situation where each competitor engineering to get the best A
possible strategic solution for themselves given the response from the other.



A Simultaneous move game
BPL investment
High low
High



SPL
Investment

Low



Here SPL stands for Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd and BPL stands for Beximco
Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
SPL is known to have excellent product quality at a low price and for corporate social
responsibility but is short of enough concentration required to invest heavily in rapid
development of products. Beximco is strong financially but relatively weak in terms of its
research and design. In terms of the crucial choice of investing in research and design or not,
investing heavily would shorten the development time but would incur considerable costs.
These choices can be thought of in terms of the sort of matrix shown above.
In box D each of the competitors probably regards of investing by both as the worst outcome:
SPL because of its weak reinvestment budget and it could be a risky route to follow Beximco
because if it can raise the finance, SPL has better chances of winning given its CSR ideas.
BPL=3


SPL=4
B BPL=4


SPL=2
C BPL=2


SPL=3
D BPL=1


SPL=1

40
SPL has a dominant strategy, which is keep its investment low. If Beximco were to invest
low, SPL would get a better pay off by also investing low (box A). on the other hand, if
Square pharma were to go for a high level of investment, SPL would suffer, but not as much
by keeping investment on the low side as it would if it went for a high level of investment on
the low side as it would if it went for a high level of investment (box B is better than box D
for SPL)
SQUARE Pharma on the other hand, does not have a dominant strategy. However it knows
that SPL does and therefore probable expects that SPL will keep levels of investment down.
Beximco also knows that if it goes for a low level of investment, it loses whether or not SPL
adopts the same strategy or goes a high level of investment (boxes A and C). So does it make
any sense for Square Pharma to go for a low level of investment; it is a dominated strategy.
This is not what SPL ideally wants- but the best it can do is follow its dominant strategy of
investing low which result in the least worst pay off-the Equilibrium solution (box B).

Sequential games
The guiding principle here is to think forwards and then reason backwards. In other words,
start by trying to think through the sequences of moves that competitors might make based on
a reasonable assumption about what that competitors desires as the outcome. On that basis
then decide the most advantageous moves you can make.
If SPL decides to invest low it knows that Beximco is likely to respond high and gain the
advantage. However, if SPL moves first and then invests high it places Beximco in a difficult
position. If Beximco also invests high it ends up with a low pay off as well as Square
Pharmaceuticals Limited. In these situation provided of course that Beximcos game theorist.
Beximco would reject that strategy as a dominants strategy and choose to invest low. That is
the equilibrium situation of Sequential game.
Some important strategic lessons need to be recognised, in particular the importance of:
- Identifying dominant and dominated strategies;
- The timing in strategic moves;
- The careful weighting of risk
- Establishing credibility and commitment
Repeated games
In repeated games, competitors interact repeatedly and it has been shown that it such
circumstances the equilibrium outcome is much more likely to favour cooperation or
accommodation of both parties best interest. This is not necessarily because of explicit
collusion, but because they learn to do so through experience.

41
This is how the pharmaceutical sector of Bangladesh are running with such unstable share
market for such long period of time; still continuing. The entire firms are running with a
strong collaboration among them.
However this cooperation depends on some factors. These are
The number of competitors in the market. If there is less in number then it is easy for
cooperation among organization. In Bangladesh it has become easy for banks as there
few in number.
If smaller competitor competing with larger competitors it is quite possible that
smaller will gain disproportionately by breaking rank.
Depend on substantial difference between organizations.
If there any chance of lack of transparency on bases of competition within the market
then again cooperation is difficult.

Changing the rules of the game
Here thinking through the logic of the game, a competitor might find that they are simply not
able to compete effectively within the rules as they exist. In this game theory competitors are
flexible to change game plan to gain maximum market share i.e. If organisation A fails to
gain maximum market share by heavily investing on marketing or R&D than change the
game plan to price based strategies or either way. But SPL has got its game plan right and
need not to change the rules of the game.












42




Chapter 4

Business Level Strategy







This chapter is about the competitive strategies of Square Pharmaceuticals Limited (SPL) and
the choices that it made to gain competitive advantage. The important issues are the issues
that underpin competitive advantage. It must be remembered that competitive strategy in SPL

43
is created in the separate business units of an organisation. And thus the business level
strategy begins with identifying Strategic Business Units (SBUs).

4.1 Identifying Strategic Business Unit
A strategic business unit is a part of an organization for which there is a distinct external
market (Johnson, Scholes et al., 2008). The identification of SPLs strategic business units is
essential to the development of business-level strategies since these will vary from one SBU
to another.
Although there are major pitfalls of SBUs exist, yet SPL is overcoming them continuously.
The SPL even if got geographically diversified, and have a total of 670 products available in
the market, the company is focusing highly on its local market, while slightly focusing to
expand globally as well.
With brand categorization and highly managed customer database, Square Pharmaceuticals
has identified a few numbers of SBUs in its local market. Effectively SPL has identified
FI VE Strategic Business Units completely based on product categorisation and category
demand for the product. Those 57 SBUs are: Dhaka, Pabna, Cephalosporin, AgroVet, and
Pesticide units. Even not focusing vigorously in the global market, SPL is technically very
prudent in choosing the countries it has expanded its business to. The company only export
products to United Kingdom within the European Union (EU) with niche marketing, while it
also targeted to expand its business in countries, such as Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lank, Ghana
that are quite similar from the perspective of economic power, norms, values and other key
issues.

4.2 Bases of Competitive AdvantageThe Strategy Clock
This section reviews different ways in which managers of Square Pharmaceuticals might
think about competitive strategy, the bases on which a business unit might achieve
competitive advantage in its market.
As there are number of providers customers will choose which offering to accept their
perception of Value-for money. This consists of the combination of price and customer-
perceived product benefits of each offering.
Since the positions on the Strategy Clock represent different positions in the market where
customers (or potential customers) have different requirements in terms of value-for money
also represent a set of generic strategies for achieving competitive advantage.

44



Exhibit 4.1: Strategy Clock

45
Price-based strategies (routes 1 and 2)
Route 1 (No frills strategy):
A no frills strategy combines a low price, low perceived product /service benefits and a
focus on a price sensitive market segment. Square Pharmaceuticals do not follow the no
frills strategy, which is understood by looking at the companys policiesthat actually
emphasizes on quality while offering not the lowest but a lower price than that of its
competitors. Although the people of Bangladesh are very price sensitive, but in case of
medicines and products that are useful for treatment purposes, the price doesnt really play a
big part in purchasing medicinal products. Hypothetically a reason for this behaviour might
be the country peoples norms and values are highly put on relationships and family care.
1. The products or services are commodity: The products or services are like
commodity. People of Bangladesh are not that much aware or discern about value
differences in the offerings, while yet choosing the medicines that works bestwhich
defines quality of medicine.
2. Price sensitive customers: The economy is growing and there is a considerable
increase in the per capita income of the countrys people with the middle-class people
growing in numbers.
3. High power and/or low switching cost: Although the switching cost is very low,
however, people wouldnt really sacrifice quality ensured medicines in order to
switch.
4. Small number of providers with similar market share: Cost structure is almost similar
and new product and service features are quickly imitated. However, Square
Pharmaceuticals have four world-class internationally approved production and
formulation units. Thus with the ability to provide a higher quality SPL will not
follow no frills strategy.
5. Avoid the major competitors: With only low price, competitors within the
pharmaceuticals industry cannot be avoided.

Route 2 (Low-price strategy)
A low price strategy seeks to achieve of lower price than competitors whilst trying to
maintain similar perceived product or service benefits to those offered by competitors
(Johnson, Scholes et al., 2008). For Square Pharmaceuticals, this is the 2nd most optimum
policy even operating within the local market or else in the global market. With hi-tech
production facility, long experience in the market, cost efficiency achieved, and strong
marketing and distribution, Square Pharmaceuticals can well overcome the pitfalls this
strategy possess. Basically, Square Pharmaceuticals, in order to compete with firms like
Beximco, Eskayef, Opsonin, and others, it had to lower its product price in order to capture
market. However, now being the market leader SPL must not switch their price based
strategy to any differentiation based strategy. Although people of this country praises and

46
adores quality product, but yet being low earning countrymen, these people cannot afford
high price for long.
Pitfalls of low price strategy:
- Margin reduction: Although margin deduction is a major issue, however with the
companys sister concernSquare Hospital, and magnificent reputation in the
market, the company covers a huge sales volume which hold up the margin still
highly profitable.
- Inability to reinvest: As discussed in earlier point that company is generating enough
profit margin to support its R&D and other activities.
- Low cost base: In the long run a low price strategy cannot be pursued without a low
price base; and Square has successfully established low cost base and cost efficiency
achieved with its huge experience, SPL is simply overcoming this pitfall as well.


Hybrid Strategy (route 3)

A hybrid strategy seeks simultaneously to achieve differentiation and a price lower than that
of Competitors (Johnson, Scholes et al, 2008). Here the success of the strategy depends on
the ability to deliver enhanced benefits to customers together with low price whilst achieving
sufficient margins for reinvestment to maintain and develop the bases of differentiation
(Johnson, Scholes et al, 2008).
Following SPLs inception in 1964, during 1980s and early 1990s, SPL had operated through
Low price strategy, but as time passed and the firm earned reputation and booked the 1
st
place
in the market competition. Thus, lately the firm is implementing Hybrid strategy in some of
its SBUs as well. SPL has introduced many international standard medicines in this countrys
market. We have asked some patients and doctors in an informal way thatamong NAPA,
ACE, and NEMO which one should someone prefer the most? About 50% of respondents
had suggested ACE (a product of Square Pharmaceutical), which highlights the trust and
loyalty of the customers.
Hybrid strategy is following two advantages circumstances:
High volumes of services than competitors provide.
Entry strategy in a new market with established competitors. Square Pharmaceuticals
go global policy might be an example of this advantage.

Differentiation strategies (route 4)

A differentiation strategy seeks to provide products or services benefits that are different
from those of competitors and that are widely valued by buyers. The aim is to achieve

47
competitive advantage by offering better products or services at the same price or enhancing
margins by pricing slightly higher (Johnson, Scholes et al, 2008).
SPL is now serving the mass market and attaining profitable growth in a successful manner.
In this case, the company might like to test this strategy in some of its products that comes
expensive and can be heavily improved and charged appropriately. The customer segment
demanding that particular product must be identified in order to implement this strategy.
However, factors to be considered to achieve differentiation strategy are as follows:

- Perfectly identify strategic customers.
- Rightly identify competitors group those are serving in the market with similar products.
- Analyse strategic gap of existing product or service features.
- Offer different product or service features

Focused differentiation (route 5)
A focused differentiation strategy seeks to provide high perceived product / service benefits
justifying a sustainable price premium, usually to a selected market segment (niche). For
medicines, such high differentiation achievement could be really tough, while this must not
also be imitable.

Failure Strategies (routes 6, 7 and 8)
A failure strategy is one that does not provide perceived value-for-money in terms of product
features, price or both (Johnson, Scholes et al, 2008). Here company usually does not follow
market competitors and doing business of their own. Square Pharmaceuticals has successfully
maintaining their product lines in a profitable way.
Route 6: Suggests increasing price without increasing product/service benefits to
customers.
Route 7: This is involving the reduction in product/service benefits whilst increasing
relative price.
Route 8: Reduction in benefits whilst maintaining price, is also dangerous, though
firms have tried to follow.








48

4.3 Lock-in at Square Pharmaceuticals Limited
Lock-in is where an organization achieves a proprietary position in its industry; it becomes an
industry standard (Johnson, Scholes et al, 2008). This statement is proving to be true as we
proceed this section in the light of Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd. The idea of lock-in presented
by Hax Hax and Wilde will be comprehensively applied in this section, on SPL.
The products of Square Pharmaceuticals are not necessarily the best products available in the
pharmaceutical market of Bangladesh. For example, technically speaking, many argue that
Beximco Pharma had a better operational ability, but that did not stop SPL to become
industry standard by achieving a lock-in position. Lock-in means that other businesses have
to conform to or relate to that standard in order to prosper. The architecture of the industry
is built around this dominant player.
However, the achievement of lock-in by SPL is likely to be dependent on a number of factors
discussed as follows:
Lock-in is where an organization achieves a proprietary position in its industry; it
becomes an industry standard. Such as Square Pharmaceuticals.
- Size or market dominance: It is unlikely that other organizations seek standards unless they
perceive the organization that promotes it to the dominant in its market. SPL tops market
share list in the pharmaceutical industry with 19.3% through which it has achieved growth.
SPL tries lock-in on customer value and preference with offering better product features.
- First mover advantage: The first mover advantage of SPL was described vigorously in
Chapter 3 under section 3.1.2, which also appropriately suits this scenario.
Self-Reinforcing: Once first mover position is achieved, it may be self-reinforcing and
escalating. When one or more firms support the standard, then more come on board.
Then others are obliged to do and so on.
For sustaining first mover advantage SPL can reinforce people that will serve better
than any other pharmaceutical firms. They can attract more customers by attractive
TVC and sponsoring more public related services so that people can understand that
SPL is the only solution of ultimate problems of health-care issues.
Insistence on the preservation: there is likely to be rigorous insistence on the
preservation of that lock-in position. Rivals will be seen off fiercely; instance on
conformity to the standard will be strict.
For being in better position by lock in on categorized products, are not such easy as it
may seem. SPL has huge number of product diversity and market segment for those
categories lock-in. So SPL needs to be more concern about its customer groups.


49



Chapter 5

Corporate Level and
International Strategy









50
This chapter is concerned with the challenges that the managers of SQUARE
Pharmaceuticals Ltd face in dealing with issues that are necessary to build up an SPLs
Corporate level strategy and international strategy as well.


5.1 Corporate Level issues

Corporate-level issues are generally divided into two parts: Scope decisionconsisting
Product/Market diversity and International diversity, and value creationconsisting
Corporate parenting roles and managing the portfolio. The discussion of scope decision
factors are briefly shown as follows:

Product/Market Diversity has played a pivotal role in capturing market shares in the local
and global market for SPL. More-or-less it can be said that, this is the area where SPL
achieves superiority. In the local pharmaceuticals industry of Bangladeshthere are a total of
5600 different brands available, while the majority brands are coming from SPL, with a total
of 670 brands. That reflects how diversified the product line is, for SPL to be successful. On
the other hand, depending on the market diversification, after 1995 till now SPL is
maintaining a theory behind choosing markets in which it will operate. This is why SPL has
targeted most countries for exporting its products which are not technologically developed
such as Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, etc.

There are many advantages that a company can achieve through product/market
diversification. Nevertheless SPL is also benefiting from those advantages. The three
potential value-creating reasons are:

First, SPL can gain economies of scope. Here, The market and product diversification are
ensuring the capacity-fill for SPL, which is helping the company intensively to achieve cost
efficiency.

Second, there is a gain from applying corporate managerial capabilities for SPL. Managers
of SPL are developing their capability to manage a range of different products and services.

Finally, with diverse range of products or services, SPL is increasing its market power
continuously.

Through international diversity Square pharmaceuticals are availing two major
advantages, which are: globalisation of markets and competition, and bypassing the
limitations in the home market. However, through this type of diversification what SPL is
doing are as follows:

Broadening the size of market
Adding value through international value-added activities

51
Enhancing knowledge
Achieving economies of scale
Achieving stabilization in earning




5.2 The BCG Matrix
In order to conduct BCG matrix we had to create four groups of brands that reflects the
position of each group as star, Question mark, Cash cows, Dogs.

Star group: Ace plus, Tusca, Adryl, Penvik..
Question mark: Sultolin, Ofkof, NidipineSR, Neurolin
Cash Cows: Ceevit, Neotak, Cef-3, Clofenac.
Dogs: Colicon, Comprid, Motigut, Ropinirole.




With identified the Stars, Question mark, Cash Cows, and Dogs, SPL should take according
action as the matrix suggests.
***Note: Data collection in order to know about a products position in the market did not occur in a
conventional way. In fact, it had occurred more in an informal way through having some conversation
with a shopkeeper of several pharmaceutical shops. ***

Exhibit 5.1: BCG Matrix


52






7 FORCES
The Total Business Mastery




53
This Section of the study is the final sectionwhere we will evaluate Square
Pharmaceuticals Ltd according to The 7 Forces of Business Mastery. While these are
challenging times, they are also times of opportunity. In fact, the best companies have always
excelled in the most difficult eras (Anthony Robbins, 2010). In the light of 7 forces the
complacency of SQUARE Pharmaceuticals is tested as follows:

1. An Effective Business Map:

Although in the local market SPL is excelling with its business plans, but
unfortunately, due to lack of business mapping SPL is not exploiting in the
international market. Among the Developed countries SPL is only doing business in
United Kingdom (UK), while there are other big markets and big completion to
exploit in and learn from.

2. Constant & Strategic Innovation

As a leader in Bangladesh Pharmaceutical industry, SPL must constantly seek
innovation and put efforts in creating more value for the customers. Customers expect
a constant evolution of improvement or they will go elsewhere. In this cease, the
investment and efforts towards innovation and creativity is extensively lacking for
SPL, although there are some improvements over time that can be seen in Milestone
of SQUARE.

3. Innovative Marketing

The media or external advertising is very rare for pharmaceutical products in
Bangladesh, as it is also true for SPL. Keeping that in mind, innovative marketing is
working surprisingly well for SPL. Perhaps, this is the most successful area where
SPL excels all other competitors. SPL is successfully identifying who its customers
are, what they want and need, and how to tell the business story in a way that compels
prospective customers to buy.

4. Sales Mastery Systems

Sales is very effectively working for SPL in generating highest Taka 11.46 billion in
terms of revenue, while industry all together gathers Taka 55 billion. Basically, there
are three distribution channel systems in Bangladesh: public hospitals, private
hospitals and private pharmacies. Public hospitals source mainly from the state-owned
Essential Drugs Company Limited (EDCL), whereas private hospitals and pharmacies
source from the private sector. In this sales and distribution area SQUARE is the best
company to imagine in Bangladesh.


54
5. Financial & Legal Analysis

One point must be noted is that, SQUARE Pharma is not necessarily making the best
out of TRIPS, even the company itself is the market leader. Financially, The situation
of our understanding is quite shabby about the organisations in Bangladesh, as the
financial reports do not really include the informationwhat should have been
included. However, the financial condition of SPL is satisfactory and good. On the
legal issues with the advantage of TRIPS it can exploit vigorously. The domestic
government is favouring its local firms of the pharmaceutical industry relatively
highly. Thus, legally there is actually very minimal problems exist.

6. Optimization

In this force the reflection of SPL is significant. SPL has always valued its core
processes on the first hand, and this is why it could gobble-up some precious growth
opportunities over the years.

7. Raving Fan Customers

The performance of SPL in the light of this factor is okay. As the company is still
growing at a high rate of over 10%, the multiple channels of SPL to capture, convert
and close sales are acting effectively.






















55
Conclusion & Recommendations
In our quest of sorting out the strategic management issues of Square Pharmaceuticals
Limited, we have come to understandwhat strategies do SPL follow or must follow, and
what strategies SPL must never follow. In every chapter we analysed SPL from strategic
point-of-views differently. Eventually we have come to a conclusion that SPL does follow
strategic management issues but due to unavailable knowledge based work-force the
company is struggling to implement the projected policies. More-or-less it was clear through
the study that with taking all the facts under consideration, SPL is the ideal firm for the
Bangladeshi pharmaceutical firms to follow, whereas on a global level SPL may struggle
when it comes to the fact of entry into the developed countries, such as Germany, France,
United States, etc.

However, the company may make some room the financial areas in order to support
increased R&D activities. Square Pharma should increase its resources and competences in
order to compete in a more competitive and diversified market where competition will urge
Square to improve in a continuous way.
























56
References:

Parvez M. Chowdhury (July 2010). An overview of the pharmaceutical sector in
Bangladesh. Brac EPL Research.

Humphrey, Albert (December 2005). "SWOT Analysis for Management Consulting".
SRI Alumni Newsletter (SRI International).

The Daily Star, April 04, 2008. Vulnarability Analysis of Pharmaceutical Industry
BD, P.6.

BBC (2010) Bangladesh opposition stages general strike. Reported on 27 June 2010,
Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10427555 (Accessed on 24 July 2013)

Daniels, J. D., Radebaugh, L. H. & Sullivan, D. P. (2009) International Business:
Environments and Operation, 12
th
ed. Pearson Prentice Hall.

Karim, F (2005) National Drug Policy May 5, 2005, Ministry of Health & Family
Welfare, Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh.

Anthony R. (2010). Succeed Now and in Any Economy: The 7 Forces of Business
Mastery. Available: http://business.tonyrobbins.com/succeed-now-and-in-any-economy-the-
7-forces-of-business-mastery/ (Accessed on 17
th
August 2013)

Johnson, Scholes at el., Exploring Corporate Strategy, FT, Prentice Hall, 8
th
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2008.
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th

edition, 2009.

Griffin, R. W. & Pustay, M. W. (2010) International Business, Global Ed. 6th Ed.
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UKTI Report (2010) Pharmaceutical Opportunities in Bangladesh. UK Trade &
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Annual Report 2010-2011. SQUARE Pharmaceiticals Limited.

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Product Guide, 5
th
Edition, 2012. SQUARE Pharmaceuticals Limited.


57
APPENDIX A: ABBREVIATION



SPL Square Pharmaceuticals Limited
BPL Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited
APIs Active pharmaceutical ingredients
BOI Bangladesh Board of Investment
CAM Complementary and Alternative Medicine
DDA Director of Drug Administration
DTL Drug Testing Laboratories
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GMP Good Manufacturing Practices
LDCs least developed countries
OTC Over-the-Counter
PESTEL Political, Economical, Social, Technological,
Environmental and Legal
TRIPS Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Right
TRIPS Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Right
UKMHRA United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare Product Regulatory Agency
UKTI United Kingdom Trade & Investment
WHO World Health Organization
WTO World Trade Organisation