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Fixing Pharma’s Incentives Problem in the Wake of the U.S. Opioid Crisis

Harvard Business

Since 1999, three years after OxyContin was unveiled by Purdue Pharmaceuticals, the rate of drug overdoses in the U.S. Meanwhile, the amount of prescription opioids sold by pharmaceutical companies has quadrupled, despite no proliferation in the amount of reported pain.

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Research: Innovation Suffers When Drug Companies Merge

Harvard Business

Regulators try to model how prices, sales, and even the combining parties’ research and development efforts will change after a merger. This is especially true in pharmaceutical markets where new and affordable drugs can improve and even save the lives of many people. If not, it gets the nod. What’s the reason for this?

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4 Autopsies of Big Change Management Failures

LSA Global

Borders began as a standard bricks-and-mortar bookstore in Michigan in 1971 and grew to employ almost 20,000 workers before it ceased operations in 2011. Yes, the “old fashioned” bookstores all struggle to compete with online book sales but Borders had additional challenges they failed to meet. The company failed on multiple fronts.

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Startups Are Turning Customers into Lobbyists

Harvard Business

These have forced AirBnB, Tesla, and Uber to make costly concessions to their operating practices or to exit certain markets altogether. The petition was seen as instrumental in getting the city council to adopt new regulations which permitted Uber to operate legally. How can new firms overcome the regulations that protect incumbents?

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Even Life-Saving Innovations Don’t Sell Themselves

Harvard Business

When pharmaceutical companies launch a life-saving drug, they regularly spend twice as much on marketing as on the drug development. Develop and fund a sales and marketing capability from the outset. Build sales and marketing capabilities is the third principle. Great need doesn’t necessarily equal great demand.

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7 Ways to Improve Operations Without Sacrificing Worker Safety

Harvard Business

These kinds of statements speak to a leader’s choice of values, and a failure to understand the relationships between a safe work environment and operational performance. The reality is that virtually all workplace injuries are preventable, and safety management and operational excellence are intimately linked. At Cummins, Inc.,

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The 3 Essential Jobs That Most Retention Programs Ignore

Harvard Business

In sales-driven companies (think pharmaceuticals and industrial equipment), they are often field sales managers who direct dozens of salespeople in the highest-volume regions. The jobs are in sales, customer contact centers, and field service positions. Or they may be people who interact with customers after the sale.

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