as promoted again in the 1990s, and the company was successful in obtaining Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for several new pharmaceutical products. During the 1990s also, the company pursued an aggressive acquisition strategy. The company's marketing activities continued to cause problems, however, and millions of dollars were paid to settle price-fixing suits. Additionally, the FDA came down hard on the company for false and misleading advertising ("Abbott Laboratories History", 2004).
In the earl years of the twenty-first century, Abbott continued to run afoul of the regulators. Some new products on which the company was counting were delayed when the FDA close the company's Chicago plant for substandard quality control ("Abbott Laboratories History", 2004).
Abbott Laboratories has its home office in Abbott Park, Illinois. In spite of its troubles over the years, Abbott Laboratories is a highly profitable company with a diverse product line and a global business presence. The distribution of the company's 2003 revenues by global region is summarized in Exhibit 1, which may be found below on this page, while revenue distribution by product group is presented in Exhibit 2 on the following page.
Exhibit 1 ù Abbott Laboratories 2003 Revenues: Distribution by Global Region
Source: "Abbott Laboratories Operations", 2004
As the data presented in Exhibit 1 indicate, foreign sales are an important contributor to the company's total revenues. Nevertheless, Abbott Laboratories depends heavily on the United States market for its revenue generation. Of the $12.6 billion in revenue generated in the United States and Canada, 95.2 percent is generated in the United States ("Abbott Laboratories Operations", 2004).
Exhibit 2 ù Abbott Laboratories 2003 Revenues: Distribution by Product Group
Source: "Abbott Laboratories Operations", 2004b
AS the data presented in Exhibit 2 indicate, Abbott Laboratories has ...