Innovation Without Walls: Alliance Management At Eli Lilly And Co. Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

Case Overview

The company Eli Lilly was started by a union officer colonel in Indiana who also had experience in the field of pharmacy and this experience contributed a lot in initiating the company.  The company was then transferred to his sons and grandsons after his death. The company was built with an aim to develop and produce high-quality drugs and medicines and exploring the pharmaceutical industry. With the shifts in the hierarchy and the new breed taking over the company, many rapid and influential changes, were brought into the firm. Initiatives like equipping the company with modern facilities and equipment and exploring the field of biomedical research which played a vital role in the success of the company.

Huge investments were made in research and development by the company, and this investment paid fruitful results and the company become one of the most influential players in the industry and can be regarded as a market leader. The company did not restrict its focus on one field and diversified its offers and developed pharmaceutical drugs in all the areas of therapeutic. The company has attributed as the largest manufacturer and distributor in the pharmaceutical industry and is now planning to do strategic alliance. Although the industry stats don’t favor strategic alliances as majority of them resulted in failures, but the company is aiming on building core competency through this strategic alliance. Furthermore, the company is aiming to develop a differentiated image for itself in the industry and getting an edge over its competitors. Besides that the company also wants to increase its success rate by using the alliance strategy and embark as the most successful player in the industry. But the company has to address some issues that are occurring currently and some strategic issues that may occur in the future.

Lilly is a company that has proven to be successful and has given successful drugs such as Prozac, but now their overall strategy needs to be reviewed and revised to ensure its continued success and long term profitability. The overall problem faced by the company was its corporate strategy which needed to be looked upon by the company. The director of the company and the office of alliance management at Lilly were facing these problems and thus the president was concerned about it and wants the overall OAM strategy to be reviewed along with the corporate strategy. This should be done with the combine efforts of corporate strategy and business development (CSBD) and the executive director.

The senior vice president who had resumed the new title for just a week had to make some tough decisions at this point in his career. He has been asked by the senior vice president to conduct a thorough analysis of the OAM strategy and give recommendations accordingly. The alternative that the senior vice president gave was that the strategy could remain as it is, or it can be changed and revamped completely to benefit the company. The options are clearly laid on the table yet the right call has to be made by the previous executive director in order to maintain his supremacy as a capable leader with the company.

Analysis

3-Dimensional Fit Analysis

As the company was aiming to develop an alliance as a core competency. Therefore, the managers analyzed three areas or dimensions where the alliance could result in success. These three areas included operational, cultural and strategic fits, and each areas were analyzed carefully to ensure the success of alliance management. These fits were analyzed separately in order to select the best possible fit and to gain help in selecting a partner for the alliance.

The results obtained from this analysis helped the managers to forecast the success and failure ratio of the alliance and to resolve conflicts between the employees and address the issues they are facing which would have presented drastic results but were handled properly. This analysis was helpful in decision making as the managers can select the right fit for alliance and can choose a direction for the alliance.

Strategic Issues Analysis

Expanding Alliance Approach in Geography and Function

Cultural differences are increasing due to firms going global therefore companies are emphasizing on selecting employees that possess intercultural skills. The issues are occurring from cultural differences.........................

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