Managers, learn from biotechnologists!
Business on science
Mark Akoev, "Expert Ural" No. 36-2011
Binder Gordon, Bashe Philip.
Business by Science: What managers should learn from biotechnologists.
Moscow: Mann, Ivanov and Ferber, 2008. p. 272.
The book from the Stockholm School of Economics series provides a rare opportunity to get acquainted with the success story of a real leader in the field of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals – Amgen (included in Fortune-500; $ 3 billion in revenue in 2007; nine unique pharmaceutical products). Agree, a company that has put research in the first place (and not production and sale), characterized by an extremely long development cycle (able to wait more than five years for the first results, and then another four years for the drug to be put on the market), has something to tell about the right business building.
The basis for the success of entrepreneurship in science is traditional: a strong scientist is a leader who managed to rally around himself a team of researchers who created a product, and an equally strong organizer who is able to launch this product into production. Using the example of Amgen, one can see that the scientific approach based on the experiment is applied not only to the development of drugs, but also to marketing: if there is a problem of choosing between alternative solutions, the company's management resorts to the experiment, and only on its basis makes a decision.
An important success factor is luck. At the heart of Amgen's business was a bare idea: at the beginning of the journey, the company's creators had neither a finished product nor the funds to create and release it. But they were able not only to attract many times more money from the IPO than similar firms, but also to find investors willing to wait.
One of the pillars of the business is reliable partners, and there were some problems. Johnson & Johnson turned out to be more interested in making a profit not from cooperation, but from appropriating Amgen's developments. And the best partner was the Japanese beer producer Kirin, aimed at developing a new direction of biotechnology for itself, but close in business philosophy – scientific principles and results are primary.
A distinctive feature of Amgen is special attention to personnel: the company has been in the top of the rating of the best employers for many years. Moreover, the conditions for productive work did not arise at the time of the company's creation, but were consistently formed throughout its history thanks to the openness of the management and the willingness to continuously try new things. A rare feature of the company is the practice of changing management before big events, for example, the launch of a new drug on sale, which forces the new manager to quickly take over things.
Among other things, the book tells about how patent protection works inside a high-tech firm in the United States. The heyday of biotech firms in the 1980s was largely ensured by the adoption of the Rare Drugs Act, which extended the exclusive rights to these drugs for seven years in addition to the 20 years of protection provided by the patent. The features of patent disputes in court are described in detail. Even if you have indisputable evidence of your rights, there will always be those who want to take away your patent. And they have a chance to get what they want.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru21.09.2011