The partnership between DKSH and Kyowa Kirin is built on strong engagement and consistent communication. Over time, it has become a high-impact partnership with broad regional coverage, driving strong sales performance, and sustaining momentum through strong team alignment.
In 2024, DKSH Business Unit Healthcare partnered with Kyowa Kirin Co., Ltd., a Japan-based global specialty pharmaceutical company, to support its transformation across Asia Pacific, covering promotion and distribution of its established medicines across Hong Kong & Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.
Challenge
Kyowa Kirin was looking to strengthen its strategic partnerships to accelerate innovation and enhance engagement with key stakeholders. Earlier collaborations lacked alignment on shared priorities, creating a need to clearly articulate value while addressing evolving market dynamics and expectations. The key challenge was to establish strong relevance and deliver tangible impact within a limited engagement window.
Approach
To manage extensive coverage, we established a dedicated regional alliance team and led regular regional medical marketing engagements to support local teams in developing effective strategies, driving revenue growth, and identifying new opportunities with Kyowa Kirin.
A key initiative is the regional B.I.G. Meeting, which brings together teams from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, alongside Kyowa Kirin. It revolves around a theme that reflects our way of working: "Go B.I.G!" (Believe in our products, Inspire our teams, Grow the Aspiration).
The meeting focuses on sharing market insights, celebrating successes, and capturing key learnings to sharpen our competitive edge. To maximize the impact, we take a highly structured and insight-led approach by aligning internally beforehand, fostering open dialogue and mapping our capabilities to Kyowa Kirin’s priorities through targeted discussions, actionable ideas, and consistent follow-ups.
Result
The meeting strengthened our role as a strategic partner. We achieved strong alignment on priority areas, identified concrete next steps for collaboration, and opened doors for deeper engagement across multiple teams.
Since the start of our partnership with Kyowa Kirin in October 2024, we have consistently delivered above our contractual commitments. This has been driven by sustained, high-quality engagements, including B.I.G meetings, which reinforced trust, ensured continued relevance, and demonstrated measurable value beyond initial expectations. As a result, Kyowa Kirin recognizes the differentiated impact we bring, creating a clear pathway for continued partnership and expanded collaboration.