With earnings of $81 billion in 2006, it was ranked Number 19 on the Fortune 500 list, and possessed a third of the drug supply business; yet most people had never heard of Cardinal Health. The case starts in 1979 with the purchase of Monarch Foods, a wholesale food distribution business, which he assembled into a powerful regional food wholesaler, Cardinal Foods, in the following decade of Walter. Through a string of acquisitions, the business was repositioned by Walter into the pharmaceutical distribution sector. The result was the emergence of Cardinal Health, Inc. Cardinal was one of a smattering of big U.S. companies that had achieved earnings per share growth in excess of 20 percent for 15 years straight.
However, by 2007, Wall Street was challenging whether Cardinal Health could continue to grow through acquisitions at this remarkable rate. The acquisition and merger juggernaut, Cardinal Health, had hit on a gains speed bump.
PUBLICATION DATE: March 11, 2009 PRODUCT #: TB0001-PDF-ENG
This is just an excerpt. This case is about INNOVATION & ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Related Case Solutions & Analyses:
Intuit Inc.: Project AgriNova
Polar Sports Inc. Spreadsheet Supplement
Founder-CEO Succession at Acer
Zenecas Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Nolvadex (R)
Strategies of Related Diversification
Analyzing Edison Schools Inc. (A)
NanoGene Technologies Inc.
Nature Conservancy
Compensation and Performance Evaluation at Arrow Electronics
Czech Mate: Jake and Dan’s Marvelous Adventure
