Corporate-Level

Walgreens Boots Alliance, which started as Walgreens Company in 1909 under its founder Charles Walgreen, has seen exponential growth in the last few decades by acquiring more healthcare systems and pharmaceutical distribution, retail and wholesale networks. In 2014, Walgreens Company saw a significant change through the birth of its new parent company, Walgreens Boot Alliance, by acquiring the European-based pharmaceutical company Boots UK Limited under the trade name Boots (United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2014). Therefore, Walgreens Boots Alliance can be described as an international health care and pharmaceutical distribution, retail and wholesale network, and stores chain headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois. The company, which uses WBA as the stock exchange symbol for the Nasdaq Stock Market, is led by a broad executive team that is in charge of the corporation's global operations through executive positions such as the global brand's president, global financial officer, global administrative officer, and more ("Walgreens Boots Alliance 10k sec report," 2021). In this case, Steffano Pessina, who owns one of the largest sole shares in the company, leads as its executive chairman, having oversight of more than 9,000 drug stores in the United States and more pharmaceutical and beauty drugstores and business networks globally (Stefano Pessina, 2022). Also, the company is run through three major segments. These include the United States Retail Pharmacy, the International Retail Pharmacy, and the Pharmaceutical Wholesale segment. The US Retail includes subsidiaries such as the Walgreens Company and the Duane Reade Company, while the International Retail includes companies such as Boots Company and the Mexican-based Farmacias Benavides (Wagner & Wilson, 2019).

Business-Level

As indicated, Walgreens Boots Alliance has various business units, which have been acquired over time, such as the Alliance Boots pharmaceutical, optical, and beauty store chains and distribution merged networks, which Walgreens Company bought in 2014 to establish the global corporation. The Alliance Boots company was established from a 2006 merger of Alliance UniChem and Boots Company, which maintained the Boots UK Limited company that boasts over 2200 drugstores in Britain and Ireland (“Annual Report - WBA Financials,” 2021). Like Boots, other business units oversee their functioning in different geographical areas around the globe, such as the Farmacias Benavides drugstore chain present in South America, Duane Reade, which mainly functions in New York, and Alliance Healthcare which is a major distributor, wholesale and retail company in over 11 countries in Europe (“Walgreens Boots Alliance,” 2022).

Operational/Functional-Level

With more focus on the Boots Company, an analysis of the company determines its major functional segments and units. The Boots Company, based in the United Kingdom and other countries globally, such as Thailand, has various functional segments depending on their products (“Boots,” 2022). In this case, the company sells various products and services, including pharmaceutical products, beauty products, and optical and hearing services. Some of these functional subsidiaries of Boots Company include Mothercare, which specializes in products and services targeting pregnant and nursing mothers, and Boots Optician, which specializes in optician stores. Other functional level segments include the Boots retail website, which globally sells the various products offered by other company departments. Finally, another major segment in the company includes the research and development department, which is in charge of researching and producing various drugs according to community and global needs. For example, the Boots Company has seen the development of different historic drugs, such as Ibuprofen, which was developed by one of the company’s chemists (Kindy, 2020).