Novartis Insider - What todays announcement really means

[anonymous]

Don’t ask who I am - doesn’t matter. I’ve been in planning meetings about todays announcement since late last year and tipped you off a week ago about todays announcement.

Bottom line is this: There will be MANY more cuts. Conversations at the board level relate to the flat to declining stock price over the past decade - and what can be done to turn it around. You either grow the top line or you cut expenses. Vas is under a lot of pressure to right the ship. If you parse the release - you can read between the lines:

“Both units will assume full P&L responsibility across all therapeutic areas and leadership of customer experience, marketing and sales and market access for each unit’s respective markets.”

This is code for - we have many redundant positions across all therapeutic areas and will cut to manage P&L.

Good luck to everyone.

 

[anonymous]

You want to save money. Cut half the abl's. Our rep to abl ratio is insane. With new covid restrictions you could probably cut 30% of the reps depending on area and not miss a beat either.

 

[anonymous]

Don’t ask who I am - doesn’t matter. I’ve been in planning meetings about todays announcement since late last year and tipped you off a week ago about todays announcement.

Bottom line is this: There will be MANY more cuts. Conversations at the board level relate to the flat to declining stock price over the past decade - and what can be done to turn it around. You either grow the top line or you cut expenses. Vas is under a lot of pressure to right the ship. If you parse the release - you can read between the lines:

“Both units will assume full P&L responsibility across all therapeutic areas and leadership of customer experience, marketing and sales and market access for each unit’s respective markets.”

This is code for - we have many redundant positions across all therapeutic areas and will cut to manage P&L.

Good luck to everyone.

Thanks for the information.
Please keep sharing.
The next months will be rough.
Good luck everyone.

 

[anonymous]

It has always been known that this is a very top-heavy organization!

 

[anonymous]

You want to save money. Cut half the abl's. Our rep to abl ratio is insane. With new covid restrictions you could probably cut 30% of the reps depending on area and not miss a beat either.

the target for reductions is close to 40%

 

[anonymous]

To achieve $1bn savings, Novartis will need to cut around 5000 jobs.

 

[anonymous]

To achieve $1bn savings, Novartis will need to cut around 5000 jobs.

 

[anonymous]

What is the most fascinating about all this is the cluster of disconnected events

US Pharma was already undertaking a massive Reorg of their people. MF title includes chief commercial officer but Victors does not.
Disaster city

 

[anonymous]

I left Novartis in 2016, even back then it was incredibly top heavy. Too many VPs, Directors of everything from products to toilet paper in the bathrooms, redundancy on seroids, many of these people had no skill set outside they kissed the right ass, played the game and checked the boxes. Also incredibly too many field managers.. Reps can barely get into offices and then they need to drag some dead weight around for 2 days each month. Each manager should have 10-15 reps. Do the expenses, once a quarter ride alongs and fix problems.... not create them.

 

[anonymous]

Way to many managers. What revenue do they bring in? Keep the best reps, cut management and you are good-to-go.

 

[anonymous]

I left Novartis in 2016, even back then it was incredibly top heavy. Too many VPs, Directors of everything from products to toilet paper in the bathrooms, redundancy on seroids, many of these people had no skill set outside they kissed the right ass, played the game and checked the boxes. Also incredibly too many field managers.. Reps can barely get into offices and then they need to drag some dead weight around for 2 days each month. Each manager should have 10-15 reps. Do the expenses, once a quarter ride alongs and fix problems.... not create them.

Novartis is stuck in this antiquated business model. They refuse to evolve and acknowledge the mistakes of the recent and distant past. Managers jobs have significantly changed, and their presence is best utilized outside the field. Their traditional purpose is long past the point of needing an overhaul. Get rid of the majority of them as they are a tremendous waste of resources.

 

[anonymous]

Will CRM sales have cuts?

 

[anonymous]

Will CRM sales have cuts?

my guess is CRM is safe for a while. It’s too early to cut leqvio reps as it’s just been launched. However, I think it’s safe to say the CRM division is bloated and the sales goals will not be reached next quarter.

 

[anonymous]

Novartis is stuck in this antiquated business model. They refuse to evolve and acknowledge the mistakes of the recent and distant past. Managers jobs have significantly changed, and their presence is best utilized outside the field. Their traditional purpose is long past the point of needing an overhaul. Get rid of the majority of them as they are a tremendous waste of resources.

 

[anonymous]

Novartis is stuck in this antiquated business model. They refuse to evolve and acknowledge the mistakes of the recent and distant past. Managers jobs have significantly changed, and their presence is best utilized outside the field. Their traditional purpose is long past the point of needing an overhaul. Get rid of the majority of them as they are a tremendous waste of resources.

Hallelujah! Right on! Now can someone please put this in the pigeon hole and ask when they will restructure the ABls and reduce their head count! They need to be managing teams of double or triple reps and quit micro managing experienced reps with worthless field rides. No offices want them in and I have to ask for a favor just to allow me to bring them in! Antiquated!

 

[anonymous]

I left Novartis in 2016, even back then it was incredibly top heavy. Too many VPs, Directors of everything from products to toilet paper in the bathrooms, redundancy on seroids, many of these people had no skill set outside they kissed the right ass, played the game and checked the boxes. Also incredibly too many field managers.. Reps can barely get into offices and then they need to drag some dead weight around for 2 days each month. Each manager should have 10-15 reps. Do the expenses, once a quarter ride alongs and fix problems.... not create them.

20-25 reps. Per manager is better.

 

[anonymous]

You want to save money. Cut half the abl's. Our rep to abl ratio is insane. With new covid restrictions you could probably cut 30% of the reps depending on area and not miss a beat either.

It is insane. They have plenty of time to do frequent ride alongs, send tons of long emails, spreadsheets, trackers, teams meetings, and take copious notes into LCT and Evolve…..if we had fewer, we could focus on selling!

 

[anonymous]

Well let’s be real they’re never gonna do 20 reps per manager, but I’ve been here for 3 years now and I can’t believe how bureaucratic this place is. Companies are supposed to be shaped like pyramids but this one is a like a talk column. In Onc we have all these abutting RBDs who mandate conflicting work streams completely independent of one another causing field chaos and then these idiot HALs all wanna come in the field for 2 days where the offices are barely getting used to having reps back if at all. So you tell your HAL about this and he or she pretends to empathize and “understand”, only to have them giving you grief a few days later about not having appointments set up for their next box checking field day. So why do we need so many of these people again?

 

[anonymous]

Novartis is stuck in this antiquated business model. They refuse to evolve and acknowledge the mistakes of the recent and distant past. Managers jobs have significantly changed, and their presence is best utilized outside the field. Their traditional purpose is long past the point of needing an overhaul. Get rid of the majority of them as they are a tremendous waste of resources.

 

[anonymous]

my guess is CRM is safe for a while. It’s too early to cut leqvio reps as it’s just been launched. However, I think it’s safe to say the CRM division is bloated and the sales goals will not be reached next quarter.

Bloated, thats an understatement.

(unobtainable) goals, yup.