Course Detail

This course will teach students to effectively analyze strategic and organizational dilemmas facing biomedical companies in different stages of development. Students will analyze the commercialization of science into a number of different business model opportunities within the life sciences and learn how the commercialization environment facing start-ups impacts the feasibility of particular strategies. In addition, the course will focus on strategy and organization at each of the distinctive stages of the value chain of a typical biomedical business: technology transfer, building technical assets, clinical trials, manufacturing and marketing. For each stage, the course will focus on the key strategic issues and in particular on the nature of the alliances contracts and informal relationships that characterize "best practice". It also examines the unique aspects of the institutional context in which biomedical firms are founded, including both the academic and the pharmaceutical industry context. Finally, students will be introduced to entrepreneurial management. Typical problems associated with the building of a biomedical enterprise will be addressed, including financing, the role of the founders, building and motivating a team, designing an organizational model, and selecting an appropriate "exit" for the firm, including acquisitions and initial public offerings on the stock market.

By the end of the course, students will become familiar with the management of the following topics:

• Business models: Develop an in-depth understanding of commercialization strategies and industry dynamics within the life science industries.
• Technology strategy: Understand commercialization environments facing biotechnology companies in different industry segments and their impact on strategy.
• Value chain dynamics: Evaluate strategic options for best managing competencies embedded within typical value chains for biomedical firms.
• Entrepreneurial management: How does the management of a start-up venture differ from that of an established organization?
• Financing: What impact does venture capital financing have on the organization, growth, and strategy of entrepreneurial firms?
• Who are the stakeholders in a typical entrepreneurial company, and how are incentives commonly organized to motivate them?
• What role do leaders, and in particular founders, play in designing entrepreneurial firms?
• Why it is often difficult to create high-performance work environments within entrepreneurial settings? What are common organizational blueprints to manage entrepreneurial firms?
• Growth: What can be done to achieve long-term success within entrepreneurial firms?

Class Participation   25%
Short Memo Assignments  20%
Team Projects  15%
Team Business simulation  10%
Final Exam  30%