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Pharma and Healthcare industries are increasingly facing high pressures with increasd demand. The environment to function in a competitive and shrewd market is such that company operations are becoming extremely complicated with rise in demand due to the global aging population, diet related illnesses, diseases. Many industries face uncertain and challenging environments, as a result there arises a need for strategic alliance for inter-organizational co-operations. In healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, alliances represent mechanism for organizations to operate in collaborations and find conclusive solutions to common problems. There can be variety of collaborations that can be categorized into opportunistic, services and stakeholder alliances. The existing healthcare and pharma alliances serve to illustrate and characterize the structure, purpose and operations.

Many strategic alliances offer significant challenges such as managing an inherent fragile relationship between or among the alliances. Mostly these challenges are centred on maximum control, expectations, management, communication and operations. Overall the overcome capability on these challenges depends upon pro-active participation in programs and activities and stable productions over a particular period of time. Every strategic alliance requires uniqueness and fresh new ideas for improving the foundation and performance with more efficiency; with new ways of thinking about organizations, their sensitivity and a characteristic understanding helps the alliances to lead to a successful result.

The healthcare industry over a course of last few decades has become a very high-pressure environment; with regulations and policies being the factors impacting a prospective enormous growth, the attention and constant focus is not entirely levied upon development and innovation. Many governments face the struggle of trying to provide healthcare for all while the attention is constantly focused on budget and ways of cutting it. The cost pressure with dynamic nature of healthcare and pharma sector; it requires a significant change in approaches to strategic management and planning along with strategic formulation; in addition, the implementation of all together efficiently through the use of appropriate tools and medium is when strategic alliances happen.

Deals and Alliances (Pharma & Healthcare) Current Trends

More than the business reasons and strategic rationale, factors such as personalities, behaviour, ability, willingness and commitment to implement make alliances work successfully. Business managers usually are aware of the strategic alliances' fate and forecast, and they utilize the strategic alliances for a good future. Structuring and negotiating strategic alliances and joint ventures in the highly regulated pharna and healthcare sector requires a comprehensive understanding of the business and legal issues raised by such complex relationships. Pharma and Healthcare alliances include the formation of new entities and negotiate contractual arrangements for the purpose of manufacturing, services, R&D, distribution and supply.

The Indian healthcare industry, which comprises hospitals, medical devices and equipment manufacturers, clinical trials, outsourcing and health insurance, was valued at US $79 billion in 2012, and it is expected to reach $160 billion by 2017. The Indian healthcare sector is expected to grow at about 15% yearly on the account of factors such as rapid growth in infrastructure development, rising awareness of end users, creation of demand for higher levels of healthcare and launch of innovative insurance, reimbursement, and financing policies. The growth of the Indian healthcare sector is driven by the 300 million strong middle class populations with significant increase in income, which is likely to demand superior healthcare services. The healthcare equipment sector attracted 8.8% of the total investments in terms of deal value with an aggregate $249.01 million, in which there are about 20 deals, according to VCCEdge.

The favourable demographics offer an attractive market for healthcare industry and prospective investors in India. An increase in FDI and private equity (PE) deals in the industry’s various segments have also been recorded with an addition to the increased focus received from the Government. According to Gartner, the Indian healthcare industry plans to spend $ 986.16 million on IT products and services in 2013, a 7% rise over 2012 revenues of $916.96 million. In addition, the Indian and UK healthcare sectors have signed a MoU for better assistance and partnerships to achieve low-cost, high quality healthcare.

Major Deals and Alliances in (Pharma & Healthcare) Industry

Major players in pharma and healthcare that have had the biggest deals and alliances are, Smith & Nephew Plc,Ìý Sushrut Surgicals Pvt Ltd, Kirloskar Group, Toyota Tsusho Corporation,Ìý Secom Hospitals,Ìý New Medical Centre Group, General Electric, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd, Manipal Health Enterprises and Ankur Healthcare.