Express Scripts Holding Company is the PBM- pharmacy benefit management organization. It is the 25th largest pharmacy organization in United States in terms of total revenue. The company provides an integrated services of pharmacy benefit. This includes network pharmacy claims, home delivery services, specialty benefit management. The company works along with the subsidiaries Accredo. It provides benefit of design consultation, drug utilization review, drug and medical analysis, formulary management. This helps the company in managing the health plans and self-insured employers and the government agencies (Express script, 2019).
The company is working well in the industry in highly competitive environment. The company needs to have industrial analysis, that ca be avail by Porter five forces model. The model helps the company in identifying the external factor analysis of the company. It determines the opportunities and threats for the company. Here is the detailed Porter five forces analysis of Express Script;
Bargaining Power of Buyers
The contracts of Express Script as the health insurance successfully define their role as drug distributor for consumers as non-negotiable. Consumers of Express Script do not have much bargaining power. This is mainly because the company deals n pharmacy benefits management and provide the drugs and medications to every individual. Healthcare is a field where patients do not negotiate much but want bets quality medications for the treatment. The company also provides the discount and offers on prescriptions. However, Express Scripts try to increase its consumer base by offering discounts and more benefits to the consumers. the company should expand itself geographically to mitigate the risk (Louis, 2015).
Bargaining Power of Suppliers
Express Script is one of the biggest PBM organization in United States. It operates on the small volume of the collective market who have great power of negotiation. However, the suppliers in the industry have much control over the prices but still Express scripts successfully manage this. The development provides the negotiation power to manufacturer and lead to the high-quality service providers. Moreover, supplier depends on the company to be intermediaries for the distribution of their items. This limits their bargaining power to some extent, as without PBM’s the suppliers cannot distribute and sell their products. It is necessary for the company to maintain good relationship with suppliers to achieve the benefits (Louis, 2015).
Threats of New Entrants
Threats of the new entrants are moderate to low. This is mainly because of the high start-up cost is required to set up the business in the industry. It is difficult for the new entrants to develop distribution networks and channels to avoid any hassle. Moreover, the rules and regulations in the health care industry of United States are very strict. It is very difficult for the companies to follow it make good profits. Furthermore, the new entrants have to compete with already existing competitors in the industry. Thus, Express Script is facing low level of threats from the new entrants in grabbing the market share (Henry, 2018).
Threats from the Substitute Products
There are two companies in the United States working in PBM industry- CVS and Express Scripts and they account 46% of market share. This consolidation wants potential substitutes for providing the same specialization level. This could give the threat of grabbing the customers also from large giants. The benefits and services provided by Express Scripts are irreplaceable, and not easy to substitute. Moreover, the switching cost are high for the consumers. High switching cost reduces the motivation of the consumers to switch to other alternatives (Louis, 2015).
Rivalry of Existing Players
The main competitors of Express Scripts are CVS health, Walgreens, Goodpx, Aetna, etc. The company is facing tough competition from both international and domestic companies. Express Scripts maintains its position wisely in the industrial level. The company maintains good relationship with its stakeholders which help it in achieving the desired market share. However, the company should expand geographically to increase the customer base (Owler, 2019).
References
Express scripts, 2019. About us. [Online], Available at: https://www.express-scripts.com/corporate/about, [Accessed on: 1st January, 2020].
Henry, Z. 2018. Express Scripts Holding Company Porter Five Forces Analysis. [Online], Available at: https://www.case48.com/porter-analysis/3944-Express-Scripts-Holding-Company, [Accessed on:1st January, 2020].
Louis, S. 2015. Express Scripts. [Online], Available at: file:///C:/Users/CC/Dropbox/Business%20Law/CFA_Research_Challenge_Report_ESRX_TEAM-A1.pdf, [Accessed on: 1st January, 2020].
Owler, 2019. Express Scripts’s Competitors, Revenue, Number of Employees, Funding and Acquisitions. [Online], Available at: https://www.owler.com/company/express-scripts, [Accessed on: 1st January, 2020].