This paper examined the effectiveness of business strategies chosen by firms in the pharmaceutical industry and found that the debt ratio and an appropriate level of focus strategy are positively related to a firm's operating performance. The regression analysis results also suggest that high capital intensity and an excessive focus strategy have a negative effect on operating performance. Factor analysis and cluster analysis results indicate that there are three strategic groups in the pharmaceutical industry: low-cost, focus, and capital-intensive strategies. The results of these two analyses also imply that firms that did not choose any one of the three strategies showed no difference in operating performance compared to firms that pursued a consistent strategy. Synthesizing the results of regression analysis, factor analysis, and cluster analysis, it can be seen that to succeed in the pharmaceutical industry, the management of debt ratio, an appropriate level of focus strategy, and capital intensity are important.