Merck KGaA CEO: Israel has so much talent and ability

• Published date: 31 May 2023

But when asked what she sees as the company's biggest challenge, she points in a different direction. "The challenge is that my employees, like all of us, are tired of uncertainty and change, but change today is a constant thing. My job is to give people a sense of security and make sure that we are resilient against storms, while at the same time maintaining agility."

This answer should, perhaps, come as no surprise. Garijo, who was chosen in 2022 as one of Fortune magazine's 30 most influential women in the world, often speaks in interviews and also writes about employee management and corporate responsibility. One of her mantras is, "There is no business plan without a human plan." In the past, when she wanted to implement a digital revolution at Merck, she said: "It's not about bringing in digital people, it's about making everyone digitally literate, including me!". The same is also relevant, she says, to artificial intelligence.

"Getting used to a new market reality"

The Merck Group, also known as Merck KGaA (as opposed to the US Merck that was nationalized in World War II and is today known outside the US as MSD), was founded in 1668 in Germany by the Merck family, and is considered the oldest major chemical company in the world. At the beginning of the 19th century, it entered the pharmaceutical industry as a pioneer in the isolation and production of morphine (as well as cocaine, before it became illegal.) Later on, Merck found success as a manufacturer and marketer of vitamin D.

Since the 1990s, Merck has traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, but the Merck family still controls 70% of its shares. It is currently traded at a market cap of about €20 billion, and its stock has stood up well to the market upheavals of recent years. Unlike other pharmaceutical companies that crashed in 2021, Merck lost only 27% from its market high, and over the last five years, has posted a 94% return rate.

Garijo, who has led the company since 2021, says Merck's revenue grew by 6% in 2022, similar to 2021, and this despite the fact that in 2022, revenue recorded during the Covid-19 period was deducted. "We are optimistic that we will be able to emerge strengthened from this slight recession, but this is the new reality that we have to live with, be creative and move forward even in volatile markets. Our electronics segment is particularly volatile because it operates in a competitive market where buyers are very centralized."

The company recently stated that it...