Careers at Becton Dickinson

Mission

Becton Dickinson aims to provide efficient and reliable medical devices and solutions to end-users operating within the healthcare sector.

Business segments

As of October 2014, Becton Dickinson has been organised into two worldwide business segments:

  • BD Medical, which is organised into separate Medication and Procedural Solutions, Medication Management Solutions, Diabetes Care, Pharmaceutical Systems, and Respiratory Solutions units; and
  • BD Life Sciences, which comprises units for Preanalytical Systems, Diagnostic Systems and

History

Becton Dickinson was founded in 1897 by American businessmen Maxwell Becton (“Becton”) and Fairleigh Dickinson (“Dickinson”). The Company made its first sale that same year, a glass syringe, and two years later acquired its first patent. After some initial success, Becton and Dickinson’s sons took over the Company in the late 1940s. The change in management and control saw Becton Dickinson enter into a period of rapid expansion, both within the US and internationally, with the Company developing a range of new products – including tsterile disposable products and blood collection sets – and filing a number of patents.

Becton Dickinson has continued to grow and expand its product portfolio, diversifying into diagnostics, biosciences and a broader range of medical devices. In 2015 the Company made a major acquisition, that of competing medical technology company CareFusion, the operations of which have been merged into those of Becton Dickinson. This acquisition has greatly increased the Company’s capabilities and broadened the Company’s product range.

Becton Dickinson’s shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The Company has a current market capitalization of $36.85 billion.

Logo © by GNU Free Documentation License (Wikimedia Commons) under CC BY-SA 4.0

Business model of Becton Dickinson

Customer Segments

Becton Dickinson targets customers within the medical and healthcare sector. Its customers can be divided broadly into three categories:

  • Distributors and independent sales agents, which market and sell Becton Dickinson products to end-users across multiple markets and jurisdictions;
  • Medical and healthcare institutions that use Becton Dickinson products in the course of their work, including life science research organisations, clinical laboratories, pharmaceutical companies, medical facilities and medical practitioners; and
  • General consumers, who purchase Becton Dickinson products for personal healthcare use.

Becton Dickinson divides its customers geographically into four groups:

  • the US, including Puerto Rico;
  • Europe;
  • Greater Asia, including Japan and Asia Pacific; and
  • Other, comprising Latin America, Canada, the Middle East and Africa.

The US continues to be Becton Dickinson’s largest market, accounting in 2015 for almost 50% of the Company’s total revenues.

Among Becton Dickinson’s customers are Coherus Biosciences, Innovus Pharmaceuticals, Avalanche Biotechnologies, Greenestone Healthcare, and Cardinal Health.

Value Propositions

Becton Dickinson provides value to its customers through the quality and reliability of its products and services, the accessibility of its products, its commitment to innovation and development, and its established brand name.

Channels

Becton Dickinson operates a website a www.carefusion.com. The Company, however, does not operate an online sales channel.

Becton Dickinson employs a hybrid sales distribution model. Its products are marketed and sold in the United States and internationally through independent distribution channels, as well as directly to end-users by Becton Dickinson sales representatives.

Becton Dickinson’s domestic sales team sells primarily to distributors. The Company also uses third-party distributors, resellers and independent sales agents internationally to enhance its proprietary sales channels.

Becton Dickinson operates a number of sales offices and distribution centres worldwide, covering its principal geographic areas of operation: the US, Europe, Greater Asia and Other.

Customer Relationships

Although Becton Dickinson operates a website that allows customers to find information on the Company’s products, purchases cannot be made online. While the Company offers some ecommerce solutions to its distributors and resellers, Becton Dickinson products are not typically available on a self-service basis.

Becton Dickinson deals with both distributors and end-users, providing a tailored service to each customer that fulfils their individual requirements. The Company often enters into multi-year contracts, sales-type leases and operating leases with customers. It also provides its customers with extended warranty contracts and software maintenance contracts.

Becton Dickinson continues to provide personal care to its customers after-sale. Customers are able to contact the Company directly, with specific contact details provided for different business units and products ranges, over the phone or via email, in order to receive personalized technical support. This is supplemented by a range of online learning resources included in the Company’s Customer Learning Portal.

Additionally, Becton Dickinson updates its customers with company developments through its Alerts and Notices section, as well as through its Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn profiles.

Key Activities

Becton Dickinson is a globally-focused medical technology company. It is engaged in the development, manufacture, marketing and sale of medical devices, instrument systems and reagents. Its products, solutions and services are utilised almost exclusively within the healthcare and medical industry, including healthcare institutions, research facilities, and pharmaceutical laboratories.

The Company operates through two business segments: BD Medical, which comprises the development and sale of products and solutions covering diabetes care, medication management, pharmaceutical systems, and respiratory Solutions business; and BD Life Sciences, which refers to the Company’s development of consists of preanalytical and diagnostic systems.

Among Becton Dickinson’s products are hypodermic needles and syringes; insulin syringes and pen needles; prefillable syringe systems; infusion therapy products; blood collection products; and flow cytometry instruments.

Key Partners

Becton Dickinson partners with a number of companies worldwide in order to provide its customers with an efficient and reliable service. The Company’s partners can be divided broadly into three categories:

  • Distribution and channel partners, which assist the Company in marketing products and solutions to end-users within the healthcare sector;
  • Suppliers, which provide tools and resources for the production of Becton Dickinson products; and
  • Strategic and joint-venture partners, which comprise medical technology companies, healthcare companies and private equity firms, with which the Company collaborates both on specific projects and ongoing research and development activities.

In recent years, Becton Dickinson has partnered with Breakout Labs to fund and support biomedical start-ups, Central Admixture Pharmacy Services to provide greater end-user access to one another’s products, and Apax Partners to develop respiratory solutions.

Key Resources

Becton Dickinson’s key resources are its technology and intellectual properties, its manufacturing and logistics facilities, its supply chain and distribution partners, and its personnel.

According to its 2015 annual report, Becton Dickinson owns significant intellectual property, including patents, patent applications, technology, copyrights and trademarks, both in the US and internationally. The Company is also licensed under domestic and foreign patents. Searches of records held by the US Patent and Trademark Office identified a number of patent application filed in Becton Dickinson’s name, including applications entitled ‘Automated set-up for cell sorting’, ‘System and method for automated sample preparation’ and ‘Safety drug delivery connectors’.

While Becton Dickinson believes that its patents and trademarks are of material importance to its business, no single patent, intellectual property asset or license is material in relation to the Company’s business as a whole.

Cost Structure

Becton Dickinson incurs costs in relation to the research and development of its products, manufacture and production of its products, the storage and distribution of its products, the maintenance of its partnerships and the retention of its personnel.

The Company’s largest costs relate to selling and administrative expenses – comprising rent and utilities for its numerous sales offices and distribution centres, and the payment of employee salaries and benefits – which accounted for 24.9% of revenue in 2015. Research and development costs represented around 6.1% of total revenue.

Revenue Streams

Becton Dickinson generates revenue through the development and sale of medical devices, instrument systems and reagents. The Company also generates some revenue through the lease of medical equipment, recorded either as operating leases or sales-type leases.

In 2015 Becton Dickinson recorded annual worldwide revenues of $10.28 billion, up 21.7% on the $8.45 billion generated the previous year. The Company attributed this increase in part to revenue generated by CareFusion, which was acquired by the Company in March 2015.

The Majority of Becton Dickinson’s revenue is generated by its Medical segment, which accounted for $6.46 billion in revenue in 2015. Within the Medical segment, the Medication and Procedural Solutions unit was the most lucrative, generating $2.9 billion alone.

Our team

Vincent Forlenza,
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President

info: Vincent was appointed Becton Dickinson’s Chief Executive Officer in 2011, having served as the Company’s President since 2009. He assumed the role of Chairman a year later in 2012. In addition, Forlenza is an active member of various professional associations, serving as Chairman of the Advanced Medical Technology Association Board of Directors, and sitting on the Board of Trustees at The Valley Hospital. He is also a Member of the Advisory Board for the PC Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Lehigh University. Forlenza has been an employee of Becton Dickinson since 1980, serving in a range of leadership positions. He served for a spell as the Company’s Senior Vice President of Technology, Strategy and Development and was previously President of BD Biosciences and Executive Vice President and President of BD Diagnostics. Prior to his appointment as Chief Executive Officer, Forlenza served as Becton Dickinson’s Chief Operating Officer from 2010. Forlenza holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University and a master’s in Business Administration from Wharton Graduate School, University of Pennsylvania.

Gary Cohen,
Executive Vice President and President of Global Health

info: Gary has served as Executive Vice President and President of Global Health at Becton Dickinson since 2006. He has served in executive roles at the Company since 1996, including spells as President for BD Medical Systems from 1999 to June 2006. Outside of his corporate career, Cohen has held a range of high-profile positions within the US healthcare and medical industry, including Chairperson of the CDC Corporate Roundtable, Advisor to the Clinton Global Initiative and the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Global Health, and Chairman of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation. Cohen holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Business Administration from Rutgers University.

Christopher Reidy,
Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer

info: Christopher has served as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Administrative Officer and Executive Vice President at Becton Dickinson since 2013. Reidy has held a number of senior financial roles prior to joining Becton Dickinson. He worked for nine years at AT&T, where he held a range of positions including Controller and Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer, and Chief Financial Officer for the Consumer and Business Services Divisions. Reidy has also served as Chief Financial Officer and Information Technology Head at the National Basketball Association, was an Audit Partner at Deloitte, and was Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Vice President of Automatic Data Processing. Reidy is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from St. Francis College and a master’s degree in Business Administration Degree from the Harvard Business School.