Many Japanese pharmaceutical companies have been languishing
under low growth and profitability amid a "triple whammy"
business environment. The number of companies with operating profit
margins below 5% has surged to around three times that of 20 years
ago, and the gap vs. global pharmaceutical companies continues to
widen. Shareholder and investor confidence is low, and
approximately half of the listed pharmaceutical companies in Japan
have a Price-Book Ratio (PBR) below 1. Furthermore, further
declines in stock prices create a risk of losing management control
in the medium to long term.
Amid such circumstances, business leaders are expected to have
to make even more difficult decisions as they steer their
companies' futures, responding to changes in the business
environment brought about by the COVID-19 as well as to changes in
business models brought about by disruptive innovations such as
generative AI. Through a series of radical structural reforms with
clear
