how elan grew by staying small

G REW 1 Issue 16 CA SE S TUDY Illustrations by Maris Bishofs N THE WA VE of global mergers that has created su ch ph armaceuti cal leviathans as Glaxo Wellcome, Novartis and Aventis Research & Technologies, mid-sized drug companies have been caught be- tween the manufacturing and market- ing monster s and the nimble, sci ence- driven b iotechn ology concer ns. Y et in the past three turbulent years, Ire- land’ s El an Corpo ration no t on ly has stayed aﬂoat b ut is riding a crest of i ts own. I t has completed a radical cor- porate transformation, tripled its share price and deli vered compoun d- ed annual earnings growth of more than 20 percent. A mong publicl y trad ed Irish com- pan ies, E lan’ s ma rket c apitalization is now seco nd o nly to the Bank of I re- land. It is a major contributor to the growth ph enomenon that has earned the isl and (with just un der $1 billi on in projected revenues this year) the mon iker Cel tic Tiger. A nd , thro ugh a canny mixture of strategy and tactics, Elan has demonstrated how a mid- sized co mpany can play consoli dator on its own terms . RISKY AND REWARDING To some extent the d rug industr y is unique, with a mixture of outsized risks and returns, high barriers to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Law rence M . Fisher has covered technology for The New York Times for more than a decade and has written for dozens of other publ ications. Mr. Fisher, who is bas ed in S an Francis co, holds an M.A. i n jo urnali s m f rom th e Univers it y of Calif orni a at Berkeley. He is a recipient of the Hears t Award f or investigat ive journalism. In an industry of meg a-merg ers, one company has grown by taking smaller bites — and it has thrived. I by Lawrenc e M. Fisher HOW E LAN By Staying Small

how elan grew by staying small

Documents