Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Editorial: Financial Times newspaper (October 12, 2010) - Lex: Defence M&A

With regard to the 'Defence M&A' item in the Lex column (FT October 12, 2010) one wonders if, for the government customer, that the pharmaceutical industry holds elements of a model applicable to defence.

The reliance of the major players on small incubator companies - taking risk and creating drugs needed in the real world - which when sufficiently refined are taken on board by the major pharma companies who have the advantages of production, distribution, customer relationships etc.

The likes of the UK MoD and DoD trying to evolve procurement methods such as 'spiral development', 'urgent operational requirements' etc. begs for a different approach.

Simply calling for break-up of a large clique is politically as likely as breaking up Goldman Sachs - like the atom bomb - consolidation in defence cannot be wound back.

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