Publications

November 2009 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Managing Drugs on the Forefront of Personalized Medicine: The Erbitux and Vectibix Story

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Raju Kucherlapati and Rachel Gordon

In May 2007, Amgen Inc. (Amgen) received disappointing news from the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) that its drug Vectibix, developed to fight metastatic colorectal cancer, had been rejected. This was especially surprising news given that a similar rival drug had... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Testing and Trials; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Genetics; Biotechnology Industry; Europe; United States

July 2009
Teaching Note

Targanta Therapeutics: Hitting a Moving Target (TN)

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich

Teaching Note for [709002]. View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Product Development; Business Strategy; Initial Public Offering; Mergers and Acquisitions; Policy; Selection and Staffing; Health Testing and Trials; Resource Allocation; Biotechnology Industry

May 2004
Teaching Note

Monsanto: Technology Cooperation and Small Holder Farmer Projects (TN)

By: James E. Austin and Diana Barrett

Teaching Note to (9-302-068). View Details

Keywords: Biotechnology Industry

November 2001 (Revised December 2002)
Case

Tracking Stocks at Genzyme (A)

By: Malcolm S. Salter

Genzyme, a tracking stock pioneer, has used its innovative capital structure as a way to frame and grow its R&D-intensive business. Facing the question of how best to integrate a new acquisition into its tracking stock structure, Genzyme's top management is forced to... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Value Creation; Motivation and Incentives; Conflict of Interests; Stocks; Capital Structure; Research and Development; Corporate Governance; Biotechnology Industry

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October 2001 (Revised June 2002)
Case

Centagenetix (A): Building a Business Model for Genetic Longevity

Describes a start-up company seeking to exploit population genetic data from long-lived, healthy people. The company must address legal, financial, ethical, and personal issues among its team to launch the company. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Genetics; Business Startups; Biotechnology Industry

April 2001 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Robert Shapiro and Monsanto

Traces Monsanto's efforts to become a global biotech powerhouse under Shapiro's leadership. Examines how his crusade to save the world through genetic modification foundered. View Details

Keywords: Genetics; Supply Chain Management; Alliances; Global Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Biotechnology Industry

November 1999
Case

Seminis Inc.

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Jonathan West, Carin-Isabel Knoop and David Benedict Pearcy

Seminis became the world leader in vegetable seeds through a series of acquisitions. This case describes the Seminis strategy toward capturing value, biotechnology, and international operations. View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Acquisition; Profit; Global Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Valuation; Value Creation; Biotechnology Industry

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August 1996 (Revised May 1997)
Case

Delta & Pine Land: Measuring the Value of Transgenic Cotton

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Charlotte A. Tasker

Discusses the joint venture between two companies with different capabilities: 1) technology provider and 2) transportation agent. Discusses how to capture value from joint venture and biotechnology: 1) who are winners and who are losers; 2) how much value can/should... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Joint Ventures; Marketing Strategy; Supply Chain Management; Performance Consistency; Information Technology; Transportation; Valuation; Biotechnology Industry

November 1995 (Revised February 1996)
Case

Monsanto Company: The Coming of Age of Bio-Technology

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Thomas N. Urban Jr

Monsanto has one product, Roundup, accounting for 30% of company net income and is going off patent. How should the company position itself and its products in the future? View Details

Keywords: Patents; Product Positioning; Strategic Planning; System Shocks; Biotechnology Industry

November 1978 (Revised October 1989)
Case

Amicon Corp. (B)

Details the negotiation between Amicon and three potential licensees, Jackson, Maynard-Smith and Behrstein. View Details

Keywords: Technology; Patents; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Participants; Health Care and Treatment; Biotechnology Industry

November 2010 (Revised July 2012)
Teaching Note

Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change (TN)

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich and Forest L. Reinhardt

Teaching Note for 709019. View Details

Keywords: Biotechnology Industry

01 Dec 1996
News

Entrepreneurship at HBS

direct marketing, consumer products, and consulting. Following Professor Georges F. Doriot's lead, our graduates have had a major impact on the venture capital industry, which in turn financed a revolution in semiconductors, personal computers, communications, and... View Details

17 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance

Erosion Of The Industrial Commons From, Producing Prosperity: Why America Needs a Manufacturing Renaissance By Gary P. Pisano and Willy C. Shih In times past, farmers and local townspeople would bring their livestock to the commons—a... View Details

Keywords: by Gary P. Pisano & Willy C. Shih; Manufacturing

20 Sep 2021
Blog Post

Student Spotlight: Summer Internships in Business and Environment

durations, and dispatch it as electricity on demand. Cal's role prior to HBS was an Aerospace Industry Application Engineer at Mathworks. Aditya Desai (MBA 2022, Section J), Summer Internship: MBA Summer Intern at Natron Energy Natron... View Details

01 Jun 2005
News

Marked Managers

biotech firms public between 1979 and 1996. Her new book, Career Imprints: Creating Leaders Across an Industry (Jossey-Bass), analyzes and draws lessons from the factors that made one company — Baxter International — a standout in... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; Career Imprints; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

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

24 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

The FDA: What Will the Next 100 Years Bring?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which was created by the passage of the 1906 Federal Food and Drugs Act, regulates companies and industries accounting for one-quarter of all consumer spending, roughly $1.5 trillion worth of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Biotechnology; Biotechnology; Biotechnology; Biotechnology

May 1999
Teaching Note

Genset Initial Public Offering (A) & (B) TN

By: Paul A. Gompers

Teaching Note for (9-297-096) and (9-297-097). View Details

Keywords: Biotechnology Industry; United States; France

December 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Manufacturing Moderna's Future

By: Satish Tadikonda and William Marks

In 2019, Moderna faced long odds of survival having failed to develop a successful clinical program out of the vast platform technology they had built around mRNA. Nearly overnight, the company skyrocketed to success with a vaccine for COVID-19, leading to an extremely... View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Health Testing and Trials; Technological Innovation; Product Development; Production; Science-Based Business; Biotechnology Industry