[Strategic analysis and the drug industry]

During the postwar decades, the quasi-spontaneous growth permitted less rigorous management than that of today in terms of the development of enterprises. The choice was made in a more or less well-considered way and often by 'feeling'. The economic upheaval that followed the oil crises, the acceleration of technological discoveries and their practical applications and the speeding up of the dissemination of information have imposed a new way of strategic decision making on society. This type of approach, used largely in the industrial world, ought to be better understood by doctors so that they may appreciate the changes and also so that they can eventually use these methodologies in their field of activity.