Publications

Web

General Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Strategic Management Society for her paper with Ian Cockburn, "Measuring Competence? Exploring Firm Effects in Pharmaceutical Research" ( Strategic Management Journal , 1994). The award is for a paper published five or more years prior so... View Details

June 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Supplement

Roche: ESG and Access to Healthcare

By: George Serafeim

In May 2022, Roche Group, one of the largest healthcare companies in the world, hosted its first investor event focused exclusively on its efforts to impact access to healthcare. While Roche had recently set an ambitious goal to double the number of patients that had... View Details

June 2004 (Revised June 2006)
Supplement

Vertex Pharmaceuticals: R&D Portfolio Management (A)

By: Gary P. Pisano, Lee Fleming and Eli Strick

Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a drug discovery company that recently decided to pursue a vertically integrated business model, chose to build up its clinical development and commercial capabilities and infrastructure. For the first time in its history, Vertex will... View Details

Keywords: Research and Development; Investment Portfolio; Pharmaceutical Industry

November 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Genentech - Capacity Planning

By: Daniel C. Snow, Steven C. Wheelwright and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

While facilitating a complex clinical approval process over the next two to three years for a family of new cancer drugs, Genentech must develop a long-term capacity plan for a major class of new cancer products. Adding to the complexity and uncertainty is the fact... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Style; Management Teams; Time Management; Product; Product Development; Business Processes; Performance Capacity; Planning; Risk and Uncertainty; Complexity; Pharmaceutical Industry

January 2017
Case

Danaher Corporation, 2007–2017

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

On July 2, 2016, Danaher Corporation completed the spinoff of Fortive Corporation. The previous day, Danaher’s stock price had reached an all-time high. In 2015, Danaher had decided to split off its test and measurement, fuel and fleet management, and automation... View Details

01 Oct 2001
News

Guy de Chazal: Changing Focus

Fountain House board member since 1986, he speaks with deep conviction about the challenges faced by the emotionally handicapped. "With advances in pharmaceutical treatments for emotional illnesses, hospitalization is no longer the right... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg

20 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Getting the Marketing Mix Right

they studied the three primary ways these drugs were marketed by Pfizer, Merk, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and AstraZeneca: "detailing," in which drug firm representatives personally visit physicians to sell the drug; at professional meetings and events (M&E)... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

15 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

The New Global Business Manager

The other is free. Through Project Hope, they seek out people who are suffering from this disease, in Africa or China, for example, and provide the therapy. This approach is in stark contrast to some of the big pharmaceutical companies... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

Web

Strategy Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

for “Apple Inc. in 2010” with Renee Kim (HBS Case 710-467). 2010 Rebecca M. Henderson : Won the 2010 Dan and Mary Lou Schendel Best Paper Award from the Strategic Management Society for her paper with Ian Cockburn, "Measuring Competence? Exploring Firm Effects in View Details

22 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

The Hard Work of Failure Analysis

the hospital quickly followed their example, finding the idea compelling and practical. In the pharmaceutical industry, about 90 percent of newly developed drugs fail in the experimental stage, and thus drug companies have plenty of... View Details

Keywords: by Amy Edmondson & Mark D. Cannon

April 2011 (Revised April 2015)
Case

Cipla 2011

By: Rohit Deshpande, Sandra J. Sucher and Laura Winig

Dr. Yusuf Hamied, head of the Indian pharma and generics manufacturing company Cipla, is weighing options for how to continue to support the global fight against HIV/AIDS while positioning his company for growth in a changing regulatory landscape. View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Leading Change; Leadership Style; Management Teams; Governance Compliance; Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry

10 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

New Medical Devices Get To Patients Too Slowly

While the US Food and Drug Administration has chiseled away pharmaceutical review times over the years to speed innovative drugs to market, the opposite seems to have occurred in the agency's approval of medical devices. Instead of... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health; Technology

January 2014 (Revised June 2015)
Case

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

By: Ian W. Mackenzie

Set in 2009, the (A) case explores whether Amgen, a leading innovator of biotech-based drugs, should enter the emerging business of biosimilars (BS), which are essentially 'me-too' products. There appear to be sound reasons to explore this related diversification:... View Details

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

Research Summary

Career Histories and the Biotechnology Industry

Professor Higgins' other major project focuses on the consequences of individuals' career experiences for firms and industries. This second research stream centers on the careers of executives in the biotechnology industry.

Professor Higgins has written... View Details

13 Oct 2009
Research & Ideas

7 Lessons for Navigating the Storm

focused strategy that builds off your unique strengths. Step 4: Make vital investments during the downturn. Intel and Exxon offer evidence that you cannot wait to make vital investments you need to win in the emerging market. When it appeared growth was slowing in the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Web

Harvard Business School

for the United States Supreme Court. After HBS, he worked as an investment banker with White Weld & Co., and served as assistant treasurer for Celanese Corporation. He went on to other manufacturing companies, including Valeant View Details

April 2009
Case

Merck: Managing Vioxx (A)

By: Robert L. Simons, Kathryn Rosenberg and Natalie Kindred

This two-class case series allows students to stand in the shoes of CEO Ray Gilmartin during the unfolding stages of a reputational crisis. Merck's mission statement claims to "put patients first," but the company is widely criticized for putting profit before patient... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Crisis Management; Reputation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Customers; Business or Company Management; Cost vs Benefits; Corporate Accountability; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Customer Focus and Relationships; Pharmaceutical Industry