Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company: Marketing from Palestine

Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company (BPC) was established in 1974. It had successfully completed a number of mergers and had overcome challenges and development phases that led the company to secure a strong position in its local market, Palestine, as well as introduce a wide range of products in the export market. BPC's continuous success, despite political instability and continuous restrictions on its growth and expansion, led the company's vision to focus beyond the local presence. Despite the growth of BPC and its being financially solid, it was very similar to other Arab businesses, which were reluctant to invest massive amounts of money and take big risks in growing outside their areas. BPC did not wish to risk large amounts of money to grow the business further, and instead chose to expand to new markets or introduce new niche products on a conservative basis. BPC invested in an Algerian packaging company named Petrapharm in 2006 and aimed to meet its vision of growth by entering new markets and introducing new products. BPC wanted the packaging company to later grow to a manufacturing company, and accordingly to an export location. In a business environment that was based on quick decisions due to the fast growing businesses, emerging markets and high competition, the company needed to make faster decisions, invest more money and choose a new path to secure its business development and growth. Competition in pharmaceutical manufacturing and especially among generics was increasing massively, and the faster BPC moved, the more competitive it would be.