Institutional Memory
Institutional Memory Make three correct guesses consecutively and you will establish a reputation as an expert. –Laurence J. Peter Education is what survives when what has been learned has been…
Pharmacopolitics
Pharmacopolitics Interferon is a substance you rub on stockbrokers. A scientist quoted in Forbes (September 1980). Advice that is most needed is seldom heeded. Chinese fortune cookie. Over the centuries,…
Mergers, Joint Ventures, and Alliances
Mergers, Joint Ventures, and Alliances It is industries, not nations, that compete globally. –Gail D. Fosler, Chief Economist, The Conference Board. Alliances demand alignment, but breed misalignment. –R. Spekman, Darden…
Crisis Management
Crisis Management The Arms industry’s image improved greatly when they switched their name to the defense industry—perhaps the drug industry would do well to rename itself as the health defense…
Conflicts of Interest and Bias
Conflicts of Interest and Bias Conflicts of interest are ubiquitous and inevitable in academic life, indeed in all professional life. The challenge for academic medicine is not to eradicate them,…
Competitive Intelligence
Competitive Intelligence It is pardonable to be defeated, but never to be surprised. –Frederick the Great True competitive intelligence affects nothing less than the sheer survival and prosperity of the…
Personnel and Staffing Issues
Personnel and Staffing Issues I am wondering what would have happened to me if some fluent talker had converted me to the theory of the eight-hour day and convinced me…
Enhancing Communication
Enhancing Communication Having served on various committees, I have drawn up a list of rules: Never arrive on time; this stamps you as a beginner. Don’t say anything until the…
Reducing Pharmaceutical Risk
Reducing Pharmaceutical Risk The major non-technical reasons for discontinuations (of drugs in development) are marketing re-assessments or management discontent. Most occur before sufficient data are available to make informed judgments….
Corporate Management
Corporate Management The key element in developing a shared purpose is mutual trust. Without trust, people will engage in all kinds of self-centered behavior to assert their own identities and…
