The Corporate View 3825

Originally Published MX July/August 2005

COVER STORY

Sometimes the perspective of an executive leading a multinational corporation with diversified interests can be very different from the views of company leaders that are more directly attached to specific product areas. At Abbott (Abbott Park, IL), the task of keeping such a diversified business strategy in balance is the responsibility of Miles D. White, chairman and CEO. Below, White offers his own perspective on Abbott's "strategic transformation" to meet the needs of the medtech marketplace.

MX: The lay and investor press have frequently commented that drug companies are beginning to feel the pinch of blockbuster drugs going 'off-patent' and a dearth of new pharmaceuticals in the pipeline. To what extent did this trend underlie Abbott's determination to reshape and refocus its medical products group?