Word: vasella
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...this environment, Vasella had something to prove. His family ties to Moret had provoked dark mutterings of nepotism, especially in light of his rapid rise. But that was unfair, says SG Cowen analyst Peter Laing. "To anyone who followed the company at the time, Dan was the live wire. He had the most international outlook, and there really wasn't anyone at Ciba to challenge...
...Vasella came up with the name Novartis, from novae artis, Latin for "new skills." But he found it much harder to forge a dynamic culture for the merged company. Ciba's approach was almost academic and plagued by indecision. Sandoz had a command-and-control ethos that Vasella felt discouraged initiative. And there was the matter of strategic focus. Both companies were old chemical manufacturers that had sprouted pharmaceutical arms. Vasella knew his company's future was in pharmaceuticals. Sandoz had already divested most of its chemicals business; Ciba would be required to do the same...
Coordinating some 200 task forces and 600 project teams, Vasella set about knocking heads together. By the time he was done, 12,500 people had been laid off; an $80 million venture fund helped ex-employees with good ideas start businesses. He got the unions to accept performance-based compensation, a concept new to Swiss industry at the time. "Ex-Sandoz people say there is more freedom," says Novartis' elected employee representative Kathrin Amacker. "Ex-Ciba people say there is more drive and deadline consciousness...
Novartis' sales in 1998 and 1999--slowed by a dearth of lucrative products--increased just 2% a year, while those of its main competitors were growing at about 10 times that rate. Looking for a unifying vision for his new company, Vasella championed "life sciences," the idea that biotechnology would unite nutritional, agricultural and pharmaceutical businesses. But the expected synergies did not materialize for Novartis, or for any other company that tried the life-sciences approach. Once he saw his vision wasn't working, Vasella was quick to abandon it. He divested Novartis of its agribusiness unit...
Novartis has since fashioned itself as a health-care company, but its core business, which generated 63% of group sales last year, is branded pharmaceuticals, led by brands such as Diovan and Sandimmun. Vasella leaves the other units--including generic drugs, animal health, Gerber, the eye-care unit CIBA Vision and over-the-counter medicines--in the hands of trusted lieutenants. Novartis announced earlier this year that it will divest the unit that makes foods such as Ovaltine. Some analysts say Novartis could pick up its growth if it got rid of more of its noncore businesses. But Vasella argues...