Jason Connor

ISCS-570

AbbVie

4/24/2021

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 1. What management problems typical of global systems was AbbVie experiencing? What management,

organization, and technology factors were responsible for those problems?

AbbVie was experiencing difficulty relating to being spun off from Abbott Laboratories. They had

50-60 different legacy systems that all worked independently of each other. They had to continue to

operate all these different locations profitably but also create a way to move forward once their

transitional service agreement with Abbott had ended.

As they moved into SAP ERP they had to contend with multiple issues as well. They had to roll

out SAP to 118 affiliate manufacturing sites within 18 months, so time was of the essence. However,

each location had slightly different business processes, so AbbVie had to standardize end to end process

to ensure for a smooth transition. Then each country had to be accounted for with their own unique

individual currency, legal requirements and regulations. Then they had to look at special request,

approve or deny and then start global testing.

2. What elements of the global systems strategy described in this chapter did AbbVie pursue?

AbbVie practiced a multinational strategy. They are based in Illinois and manage the financial

and large decisions, such as what to do with an ERP out of that location. However, they have

decentralized sales, production, and marketing to countries all over the world. Before the split, Abbott

Labs had a decentralized system where every country had their own ERP systems. Abbvie, however, is

using a networked system which is the same across all countries and all comes together.

3. How did AbbVie’s new SAP ERP system support its global business strategy?

AbbVie was able to successfully implement SAP ERP in only 18 months. Doing so allowed them

to meet the terms of their TSA but it also allowed them much greater insights into the details of the

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 company. Instead of having information in upwards of 50 different systems it allowed them to have all

their data available in one system in real time improving operations and management decision making.

4. How did AbbVie’s new system improve operations and management decision making?

There were several benefits that came about when AbbVie implemented SAP ERP. First off there

were standardized processes across the globe which is always beneficial for any company and their

consistency. It also allowed them unprecedented levels of agility and transparency. They were also able

to develop a set of metrics which can be calculated monthly. These are Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

such as time to create a new customer, vendor payments, and order fulfillment. This gives management

actionable information in almost real time and the ability to compare and contrast different business

locations and units all in one place. To help managers even more , dashboards were incorporated for

management to be able to look at results, by location, and drill down to find the root cause of an issue

and implement corrective actions quicker and more efficiently.

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