EU News Digest Latest News & Updates
Scott Eisen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Signage for Takeda Pharmaceutical is displayed on the exterior of the company’s building in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., on Friday, Aug. 5, 2016.
The company has forecast that its operating profit will rise 15.5 percent to 180 billion yen ($1.65 billion) this financial year compared to one year ago. Still, full-year guidance from Takeda remained below the average analyst estimate of 197.7 billion yen in a Thomson Reuters poll.
While Japanese companies have traditionally struggled to diversify and internationalize, Weber’s push for globalization can be seen within the 235-year-old company. Three out of Takeda’s four inside directors are not Japanese, Nikkei said.
Takeda currently concentrates its research and development in the U.S. and Japan. Weber said the best way to ensure that teams in both countries work well together was to facilitate employee “exchange.”
“We are glad to see so many Japanese [employees] moving to Boston, but we also want our researchers in Boston … to work very well with our Japanese side here,” said Weber.
“I think when you transform a company, you need to understand where your starting point [is and] where you want to go, and also define the pace of change. Not too fast, not too slow,” he said.
As for where Takeda stands on the path to turning business around, Weber said most of the foundation had already laid.
“We have done a lot on many fronts: on the commercial front, on the R&D, on the manufacturing. I will say that we have done the heavy lifting of the transformation and we are starting now to see the result, which is nice.”
