Fresenius AG: High-speed Globalization

At first glance, Fresenius' emergence as the global leader in renal care is a classic consolidation story: price pressure on products, a changing regulatory environment, and the advent of truly global competition. Under these conditions, there are first mover advantages to building scale and bringing costs down, and Fresenius was very quick off the mark. The Fresenius tale has two special twists. First, the firm made a major move into services to speed up consolidation in the product sector; and, second, it transformed from a command and control bureaucracy to an entrepreneurial, profit-oriented business structure. These strategic and organizational innovations have changed the character of the industry and enabled very rapid globalization. Broader research suggests that other high-speed globalizers too need to simultaneously adapt strategy and organization to changing competitive conditions.