Black MBA - Winter 2007/2008 - (Page 75) CAREER Market Forecast Industry Profile: Healthcare/Pharmaceutical Aging Baby Boomers Make for a Growth Market WHILE MARKET VOLATILITY may affect some opportunities for MBAs in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors, business i s bo om i ng – s o to spea k. According to the Government Accounting Office, in the year 20 0 0 t he nu mber of people age 65 or older was just under 35 million – 12.7 percent of the total population. By 2020, this total will increase by one-third to 16.5 percent, meaning one in six Americans will fall into this group. This coming increase has spurred record growth in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, as companies adjust to prepare for the Boomer influx. While other industries have remained stagnant, the healthcare industry has added nearly 2 million jobs. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates industry growth will account for 19 percent of all wage and salary jobs added to the economy during the 20042014 time period. This offers a diverse landscape for MBAs looking at everything from basic healthcare management to pharmaceutical product development. And because of the international nature of the industry, it also offers more opportunity for travel and work in emerging markets like Latin America and Asia. These days, many MBA programs are running a specialty in healthcare; however, you don’t necessarily need a specialty to find a job in the industry. We asked two people working on different ends of healthcare to discuss working in the industry. Working in the Healthcare Industry Q&A With David Anderson Senior Vice President/General Manager, Hospital & Innovation Strategy, Cardinal Health After working in the telecommunications industry, David Anderson followed a growth market into the healthcare industry. Today, he’s responsible for marketing and strategy within the hospital segment of Cardinal Health’s $80 billion healthcare supply chain services business. Even though he’s essentially worked for the same company since 1990 – Anderson started at Baxter, which is now part of Cardinal Health – it doesn’t feel this way. “I’ve had the good fortune to be able to take on a number of very diverse assignments,” he said. “And that’s not a bad thing. I prefer to be part of an industry that’s this dynamic.” care consistently grows at about twice the rate of overall gross domestic product. I think the fact that healthcare grows and changes to accommodate that growth – is one of the most interesting parts of the healthcare industry. There are other sectors of our economy, namely technology and financial services, that grow at roughly similar rates, but their growth tends to be spikey, whereas healthcare, in addition to growing 7 to 8 percent a year, has a steady growth rate associated with it. For someone who thinks about how that affects the ebb and flow of one’s career and career opportunities and job assignments, healthcare is attractive. What first attracted you to working in the healthcare industry? The dynamic nature of healthcare, [and] also the diversity of experiences that I saw that one could have within healthcare. The healthcare industry also presented a real career path opportunity versus just the next job – and that really appealed to me, too. Healthcare also appealed to me as a noble industry in that it helps people achieve and maintain health, which is an essential element to anyone’s life. In addition to it being a job and a professional opportunity, it felt like a place where one could make a difference on a human level. What are some of the pros and cons of the healthcare industry? Pros: the relative size, the growth and the steadiness of the growth. Those are three core things. Healthcare, I believe, for someone of a finance background, could provide a vast array of different opportunities. An individual could get a number of experiences from the healthQUICK STATS Home base: Columbus, Ohio Time in industry: 18 years Education: Undergraduate – Morehouse College, Finance and Accounting Graduate – Johns Hopkins University, Finance and Marketing Areas of opportunity for MBAs at Cardinal Health: Accounting, Business Development, Finance, Marketing, Mergers and Acquisitions and expanding growth areas Why should MBAs consider the healthcare industry? I talk about this when I’m out on college campuses. Today, healthcare represents somewhere in the range of one-sixth of our national gross domestic product – so $1 out of every $6 in the U.S. economy is spent on some facet of healthcare. Health- BlackMBA • Winter 2007/2008 75
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