This morning when I was taking the internal shuttle bus to Merck (or MSD South), I saw the SP logo and name at the entrance of the Biotech Facility being taken down. The one on Tablet was still intact. On the way back, I noticed that the API Facility which I worked in already had the Merck logo up with its new address at the grand entrance.
SP had officially become part of Merck (in business terms) yesterday. Hence, the entrance logo changes and the address change.
I don't know why but I felt a bit sad when I saw the logos being taken down. SP may not be the best of the best pharmaceutical organizations out there, but it had a wonderful legacy, and it had made its distinct mark and contributions in the industry. On the internet, it had very good reviews from its employees too. Most people who worked there loved its culture. And they gave suggestions for improvement, but ended their comments saying that there's no point for suggestions since there was already new ownership of the organization.
So officially starting from this month, SP is no more. There is only Merck International GmBH. It would be hard to wipe out SP entirely from the buildings though. I looked at the door puller of the DPI entrance and saw that the handles were elegantly shaped 'S and P'. I wonder how they are taking that out. I saw our walls are still colored yellow and red. The corridors and office layout were very much different from that of MSD yet. The people are kind of in between - some using the new green MSD lanyards, while others still keeping their red ones. Everyone works extra hard due to staff shortage for the new combined company, but I still hear the terms 'we', and 'us', versus 'they' and 'them', on and off. There is still much cultural and artifact harmonizing to be done.
In a business module I did last semester, Prof. Kai did mention that people need time to grieve when there is change, and we must give them that time. I'm not sure whether people or they just take merger in their stride as this flux is getting common at this day and age; panicking only when it affects their interests. But having worked half a year in SP, I do feel a lot for its legacy, although I like the Merck legacy as well. Hopefully these two organizations would progress to greater heights after they wed, for the welfare of its stakeholders and the development of the local and international pharmaceutical industry.
