Taking it one tear drop at a time

Discussion in 'Merck' started by Anonymous, Jun 19, 2014 at 12:21 PM.

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  1. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I can't believe how low our company has sunk. When I joined this organization it was a respectable position and most took pride in their work. There were promotions and good raises for performers and there wasn't a lot of micromanaging. Now, we are not respected by customers, there are not many promotions available for performers, not much of a raise for high performers, not many reps caring about their jobs, micromanaging to the tenth degree, and tons of layoffs. Every time I turn around the company is announcing cuts. I find it hard to believe it is all because of the economy and regulations. Although those contribute to our issues I truly believe it is our leaders being incompetent and simply not caring about the culture of our company. They do not care if Johnny or Suzy are happy with their jobs. Everyone is just a number. Knowing that you are merely a cog in the wheel leads to a lack of caring. Lack of caring leads to not going the extra mile. Couple that with clueless leaders and marketing teams you have a sales force doing just enough to be deemed acceptable while following poor directions. Not a recipe for long term success.
     

  2. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    A lawyer runs the company - what else did you expect.
     
  3. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    If you keep selling off pieces of the company and downsizing number of reps eventually you have no company. The stock is as strong as our economy. All it is going to take is a little hiccup and Ken and friends will sell off all their stocks before Otis completely worthless, and ride off into the sunset in search of another company to destroy.
     
  4. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Otis should be it is
     
  5. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    You people think that selling off one piece at a time is going to be the demise of the company. NOT!!! They want to be biotech company, not a primary care company, they are positioning themselves as a powerhouse in onc and hep, big money bitches. Billions over the long haul. Copper tone don't mean shit, shrinking tumors does and eradicating hep c is. Sure diabetes is big money, steady money but share holders want to see innovative products and future revenue, we just bought idenex for 4 bil, for one molecule. Roger knows what's up. You got to sell some shit to make more shit and the little pions don't matter in the end. Get your ass in specialty because that is what we are going to be in the future. A specialty company.
     
  6. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    We may have one real product in onc, IF it gets approved. We may have one real product for Hep C IF it gets approved. Not a very robust offering in those areas. Not much in pipeline. As for Idenix, most likely nothing will come out of it. We have acquired plenty of smaller companies like this with hopes that we would gain an edge somehow only to sell them down the road for a loss. Pretty sad. Specialty company? Maybe. Successful company?? Have you ever heard the saying it is not good to put all of your eggs in one basket? Maybe an area is profitable today and sucking wind tomorrow.
     
  7. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Agreed, Merck is re-inventing itself from a PC company to a specialty company.

    That's something that's not going to happen overnight. It will take years to do, and whether or not Merck will be successful at it remains to be seen.

    In the computer industry, IBM has a similar story. They've been re-inventing themselves for years by exiting business that have been commoditized and moving into hot new computing areas/businesses. (They sold their Personal Computer business and are aggressively entering the cloud computing business) Their results from re-inventing themselves? Mixed at best.
     
  8. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    The value we're after with Idenix has very little to do with their molecules and almost all to do with their patent fight with Gilead. We're going after 10% of Solvadi sales for patent issues - that involve Idenix novelties. Do the math - 10% of the biggest drug launch by revenue EVER versus the paltry $4B we paid for Idenix.

    This company is run by layers - follow the court filings. Oh, but just like drug development, litigation also has a degree of uncertainty. The 10% demand is considered highly improbable by most legal standards.
     
  9. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    The problem with being a 1 or 2 trick pony is that when product(s) you have in one of these limited disease segments start to dry up you probably don't have backup compounds to keep the revenue flowing and the ship afloat. Success in this industry is very short lived, that's why in the past Merck spread its chips across a very broad range of therapeutic categories being cognizant of the fact that you really never know where your next blockbuster will come from( at one time I believe we were in 22 different therapeutic categories). We were big in Rheumatology with Clinoril, Dolobid and Flexeril, as these products matured and dropped off we became a player in Cardiology with Vasotec, Prinivil, Mevcacor and Zocor. We were players in Gastroenterology (Pepcid, Prilosec), Ophthalmology (Timoptic, Trusopt), Respiratory (Singulair) and Vaccines, just to name a few. The point is, you have to be able to capitalize on any opportunity that presents itself. You cant just say "we are only going to concentrate on oncology" and ignore serendipitous discoveries that may lead you in an entirely different direction. If Merck of the past thought like this products like Propecia (hair growth was a side effect of Proscar) and Timoptic (timilol was a bad blood pressure medication called Blockadren) would never have seen the light of day and billions of $$s in revenue never realized. This model works if you have smart people in research and management who understand risk, make intelligent decisions and know how seize opportunities. Unfortunately, Merck today seems more preoccupied with process and box checking than innovation. Very sad
     
  10. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Our leaders do not truly care about the future of the company. Decisions are being made to bolster the stock price at the moment. Short term strength in stock leads to long term gains for the leaders who give themselves millions of dollars worth every year. When the bottom falls out they will have enough cash to last 100 lifetimes. In the meantime lets make sure the salesforce doesn't get real raises or promotions. While we're at it lets saw off an arm and a leg. Soon we will be simply a head on a torso without any limbs bleeding profusely. How will our stock price be then?
     
  11. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Hallucinating....the Kool-Aid is electric.
     
  12. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Bravo…you see it all too clearly my friend…

    It is all about the execs lining their own pockets…

    FU MERCK!
     
  13. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    I'll take two drops.