Publications

January 2014
Supplement

Amgen Inc.: Pursuing Innovation and Imitation? (B)

By: Ian Mackenzie

The (B) case reveals that Sharer decided that Amgen should enter the emerging biosimilars business. However, he took the better part of a year to syndicate the decision across the senior team while in parallel investing in some time-critical process development. The... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry; United States

June 2012
Case

GlaxoSmithKline in Brazil: Public-Private Vaccine Partnerships

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich and Ian McKown Cornell

Three years into a major public-private partnership between GlaxoSmithKline and Fiocuz, Brazil's principal health institute, the company assesses technology transfer and joint research under the agreement. GSK was selling its Synflorix vaccine (against pediatric... View Details

Keywords: Public-Private Partnerships; Business and Government Relations; Foreign Direct Investment; Health Care and Treatment; Globalized Firms and Management; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Brazil

April 2011
Supplement

Roche's Acquisition of Genentech (CW)

By: Bo Becker

Spreadsheet for case 210040. View Details

Keywords: Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

March 2011 (Revised June 2012)
Case

Office of Technology Transfer - Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences

By: Willy Shih, Sen Chai, Kamen Bliznashki and Courtney Hyland

Gordon Zong is trying to teach Chinese universities and research institutes how to do effective technology transfer and IP licensing, but he is trying to do it in an environment with weak property rights and an underdeveloped support infrastructure. As the managing... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Patents; Knowledge Management; Law Enforcement; Business and Government Relations; Research and Development; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry; China

24 Jun 2008
Conference Presentation

The effect of heterogeneous institutional actors on entrepreneurial activity and resource attainment in the U.S. biodiesel industry

By: Shon R. Hiatt

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry; United States

2010
Working Paper

Boundary Spanning in a For-profit Research Lab: An Exploration of the Interface Between Commerce and Academe

By: Christopher C. Liu and Toby E. Stuart

In innovative industries, private-sector companies increasingly are participants in open communities of science and technology. To participate in the system of exchange in such communities, firms often publicly disclose what would otherwise remain private discoveries.... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Higher Education; Information Publishing; Innovation and Invention; Science-Based Business; Social and Collaborative Networks; Boundaries; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

Read Now

November 2007
Class Lecture

The Baby Business (FSS)

By: Debora L. Spar

In vitro fertilization and genetic screening are possible with the advent of biotechnology. International adoptions, surrogacy, and other approaches to family planning are on the rise. But few rules govern these measures, medical costs can be prohibitive, and... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Demand and Consumers; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Genetics; Societal Protocols; Commercialization; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

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November 2007
Case

Antegren: A Beacon of Hope

By: Joshua D. Margolis, Thomas J. DeLong and Terence Heymann

The CEO of Biogen Idec faces a set of difficult decisions regarding a promising drug for Multiple Sclerosis that is headed for early approval by the FDA. The first in a series focuses on operational decisions triggered by the drive for early approval. Sparks discussion... View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Leadership; Ethics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Decision Choices and Conditions; Crisis Management; Health Testing and Trials; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

June 2004 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Judah Folkman and the War on Cancer

Judah Folkman, professor in the Division of Vascular Biology at Children's Hospital in Boston, is considering how best to advance the research in his lab in an era where biomedical research has gotten more interdisciplinary and collaborative. Specifically, Folkman has... View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Leadership; Research; Personal Development and Career; Health Care and Treatment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Boston

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September 1995
Case

Ares-Serono

By: Michael Y. Yoshino, Jean-Pierre Jeannet and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Ares Serono, a medium-size Swiss pharmaceutical company, is the global leader in the field of fertility drugs. The company has successfully transformed into one of the very few biotech firms in Europe. The case treats a set of major strategic and organizational... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Globalized Firms and Management; Asset Management; Balance and Stability; Expansion; Digital Platforms; Leadership Development; Health Care and Treatment; Transformation; Family Business; Problems and Challenges; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Switzerland; Europe

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17 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 17, 2009

markets for upstream inputs such as scientific knowledge, proximity also may matter for licensing, which they conceptualize as downstream end markets for small biotechnology firms. They examine whether co-location affects the likelihood... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

11 Jun 2020
In Practice

Are Digital Organizations Better at Overcoming COVID?

chains and people analytics to artificial intelligence-based models and automated biotechnology research, organizations further along the digital curve are responding differently than those still wondering how to evolve. The digital... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

26 Jul 2016
Working Paper Summaries

The Impact of the Entry of Biosimilars: Evidence from Europe

Keywords: by Fiona Scott Morton, Ariel Dora Stern, and Scott Stern; Biotechnology; Biotechnology; Biotechnology

21 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

Bio-Piracy: When Western Firms Usurp Eastern Medicine

In May 1995, two scientists at the University of Mississippi were granted an American patent for the use of turmeric to treat flesh wounds. Soon thereafter, an Indian research organization won a lawsuit challenging the novelty of the patent. As it turned out, Indians... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Biotechnology; Biotechnology

31 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 31

a national sample of 6,000 life scientists whose careers span more than 20 years. We find sharp gender differences in participation in for-profit ventures, which we measure as the likelihood of joining the scientific advisory board (SAB) of a View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

The Business of Babies

"The law says yes and no." Until there is more clarity, the market cannot thrive. "The best technology in the world won't help you if it's illegal," Spar said. "If advances in biotechnology are to reach their full... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Health

02 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

Health Care Research and Prospects

is a lot other work at the school going on around these issues by many other faculty. For instance, Dave Scharfstein is doing great work on how capital market forces influence the development strategies of biotechnology companies. David... View Details

Keywords: by Wendy Guild Swearingen; Health

March 2023
Case

Moderna

By: Marco Iansiti, Karim R. Lakhani, Hannah Mayer, Kerry Herman, Allison J. Wigen and Dave Habeeb

This multimedia case follows the story of Moderna and its entry into vaccine development in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In summer 2020, Stephane Bancel, CEO of biotech firm Moderna, faces several challenges as his company races to develop a vaccine for COVID-19.... View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Research and Development; Digital Transformation; Health Testing and Trials; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry

February 1986 (Revised November 1992)
Case

Novo Industri A/S--1981

By: W. Carl Kester and Glynn Ferguson

This small but rapidly growing Danish biochemical company must choose among several financing opportunities that include a convertible Eurobond, a rights offering in Denmark and an issue of new common shares in the United States. The case involves a broad range of... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Cost of Capital; Bonds; Stock Shares; Financing and Loans; Globalization; Biotechnology Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Denmark; United States