Abstract
Growth from a small-scale venture to a medium-sized company entails different challenges and strategies to tackle them. This case provides an account of one such company operating in the pharmaceutical sector of Pakistan. International Collaborated Unit Pharma (ICU Pharma) started in 2005 in the small town of Dera Ghazi Khan, in the province of Punjab, as a distributor of Ferozsons (Private) Ltd, a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer in Pakistan. Going through various phases of growth and strategic shifts, it had become a well-established company by 2019, with PKR 200 million net worth and a sales network covering thirty-four districts in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces. In 2018, the company faced a growth dilemma when, despite the growing demand for its products, it had to curtail sales growth and divert resources towards building a manufacturing facility in Lahore. This case illustrates how industry growth, country-level initiatives for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals on Health (SDG No. 3), policies of the Drug Regulation Authority of Pakistan (DRAP), weak contract enforcement in Pakistan and threats from suppliers, along with other external forces, constrained a company’s decision to opt for a backward integration strategy instead of going for the more plausible strategy of product and market development.
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