• What company and industry have you selected, and what are some of the risks that the company and industry are facing in the current economic and political environment? You need to research risks from current financial publications (e.g., Bloomberg, The Financial Times, The Economist). Note: For this assignment, a current publication is no older than four years. Quote your source.

I have chosen CVS as my company which is a major player in the retail pharmacy industry. The retail pharmacy industry is facing a lot of risks currently. Politically pharmacies are in the limelight for the opioid crisis. They are taking some of the blame for the opioid crisis where so many people have died from overdoses or have become so addicted to the medication. Pharmacies have even been sued over this issue like they did in Florida when Attorney General Pam Bondi added CVS and Walgreens into a suit against the opioid industry saying they should be held responsible, along with the manufacturers, for the opioid crisis (Coombs, 2018).

Economically the retail pharmacy industry is facing the risk of Amazon entering the pharmacy world. Amazon is a very successful company and the company entering the pharmacy business could bring a lot of harm to brick and mortar pharmacies, including the large companies like CVS and Walgreens. Amazon entering the industry will hurt retail pharmacies economically if they can make a successful run at it. “Amazon has shown that they have mastery of the technology and innovative approaches to really transform how the marketplace delivers product,” said Linda Pissott Reig, who co-chairs the FDA section of the Pittsburgh-based law firm Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney PC. (Court, 2017).

• Has the company addressed these risks? If yes, how? If not, what should they have done?

CVS has been trying to stay ahead of the other competition in the retail pharmacy industry as well as trying to stay ahead of Amazon. One way they did this is by acquiring Aetna to diversify their business portfolio even more. Getting into the insurance game can help CVS acquire a stronger customer base since Aetna was a leader in the insurance industry before the acquisition. Not only do they get the extra business but they also get the added advantage of the knowledge of all the people at Aetna. This acquisition also made CVS the only company to have an impact on consumers, payors, and providers with their broad range of business. CVS has also been a leader in innovation in the industry and continue to innovate by updating their app constantly and introducing more technology into their services.

• Is another competitor on the market facing the same risks, and how did they address them? Briefly summarize.

All companies in the retail pharmacy sector face the same risks. Walgreens continues to battle these risk in different ways. They have been trying to come to a deal with Humana so they can be more like CVS and be able to compete better with them. This would also help against the risk of Amazon because any strengthening of the company will help combat Amazon as well.

 Please note I have answered the questions above already. What I am asking of you is to provide an analytical feedback. No plagiarism. In your response to the above post, please provide feedback, including different examples related to the risks and their impacts on CVS Company

*Note* I am asking for feedback on CVS. I am NOT asking for feedback for other companies.