As GSK lays off hundreds of scientists in an attempt to make nice with Wall Street, it’s worth asking whether the folks in the company’s marketing and sales arms are picking up the slack.
The chart below suggests they’re just about treading water. Growth in the revenue yield and gross profit yield of every dollar GSK spends on selling, general and administration was flat in the last quarter, down from 1% and 7% the quarter before. (If you want an explanation of this chart see here and here.)
What this means is that GSK is still getting a little more out of each dollar than it spent in the quarter before, but the progress of that investment is fragile at best. The overall trend seems to be down — and if you’ve been keeping up with this series you’ll know that GSK is not alone in seeing the power of its marketing dollars dwindle.
Click on the chart if you want to see a bigger version.
August 13, 2008 at 11:53 pm
[...] there is. See below. (And if you’re late to this series, start here and click your way [...]