Vantaggi
Dominant possition in many disposible medical devices - needles, syringes, etc. The profit margin is ok and BD is strong in manufacturing. Who else makes 20 billion needles a year?
Svantaggi
1) What make BD strong today makes it weak in future. Competitor is willing to charge a lower profit margin and take market share gradually from BD. Many BD products are commodities or becoming commodities. China and India companys make the same stuff and their selling price is below BD's production cost. The entry to US and EU market is only protected by FDA and EU regulatory and the mis-steps by competitors. But they learn fast. 2) How to compete? This is really the biggest weak point of BD. BD is not capable developing a new product internally. Any new ideas is more likely be killed internally than even taking traction. Internal procedures are setup to protect patients/customers safety, that is correct. However, it leads to R&D and Quality to doing nothing -thus patient is impossible be hurt by a new product does not exist.