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AstraZeneca is preparing for the launch of Crestor, the company's first entrant in the enormous and fast-growing statin category. The team responsible for the product launch is considering how best to bring Crestor to market. Should AstraZeneca simply follow the example set by Pfizer with the exceptionally successful launch of Lipitor? Or should the company instead launch Crestor as a niche product?

To teach new product strategy for both emerging and established categories, and competitive strategy.

This paper aims to look at how Oakridge Training and Consulting helped AstraZeneca develop a behaviors training program for its information services (IS) project managers. The program was an inspiration for team building within IS and is set to be taken forward in other areas of the business.

The paper discusses a three‐day workshop that focused on developing individual behavioral learning skills and moved on to a program focused on bringing the group closer together to help develop a team spirit. Professional development days began with a morning of business activities followed by a training session (developed along already highlighted themes) and finished with a business round. Key outcomes – project managers encouraged to think practically about responding as an individual as well as part of a team, to question and practise what they had learned and how they could use it in real life.

Attendance to training has increased to a regular 98 percent from around 55 percent. They are seen as beneficial and opportunities to take time out, share problems, learn with colleagues and support other team members.

Training has developed a sense of belonging. Team began to trust the group to help solve problems. Team development is now linked to core values and organizational behaviors.

Looks at how Oakridge Training and Consulting helped AstraZeneca develop a behaviors training program for its information services (IS) project managers.

Reveals how pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is attempting to boost the number of women in its workforce in Japan and China and help more of them to rise to senior positions.

Describes the Asia for Global talent program, a winner in the Opportunity Now awards, which are part of Business in the Community’s gender-equality campaign.

Examines the reasons for the program and the successes it has achieved.

Shows that AstraZeneca is employing more women in its senior positions than equivalent companies in Asia and that they are among the most engaged employees in its global workforce.

Considers briefly how the economy and society as a whole in Japan and China can benefit from greater female representation in the higher echelons of private sector companies.

Describes an effective talent-management program operated in Asia by an international pharmaceuticals company.

Describes how pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca moved from site and functionally based human resources (HR) teams that offered a full range of generalist support, to a “one team” approach. A 15 percent cost reduction in service delivery over 3.5 years and a fall in the number of HR staff by 15 percent is intended to payback by 2006 the £5 million investment necessary to implement the new HR platform. Cost savings are firmly linked to improvements in service quality.

Highlights the inefficiencies of the old system and the ways in which the change to the new system was brought about.

Contends that the use of HR metrics helped to demonstrate to the AstraZeneca businesses the value of what HR does, and other business‐support services within AstraZeneca are now considering adopting similar models to the HR delivery model. The fundamental rationale behind the programme – to create a more efficient and customer‐oriented delivery of HR services by getting the right customer‐oriented mindset across to HR, combined with the specific skills to manage customer interactions both at strategic and transformational levels – has become a reality. The “one team” approach has brought together everyone involved in HR delivery and there is a great sense of team working, improved communication, a much more consultative approach and a customer‐focused culture. HR is now in line with organizational strategy and is a value‐adding part of the business, contributing to the bottom line.

Highlights the importance of training and good internal communications in helping to overcome reservations about the new system and bring about its smooth implementation.

Contains plenty to interest top management in major corporations who are thinking about restructuring their HR function to achieve greater efficiency.

Several types of vaccines were manufactured by different companies to control and stop the spread of COVID-19. This study aimed to identify the postvaccination side effects of the three different vaccines (Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinopharm) among the Iraqi population in Baghdad, Iraq.

A prospective cross-sectional study was conducted in Baghdad, Iraq from May 2021 to March 2022. An online-based questionnaire was used to collect the data through social media, i.e. WhatsApp, Messenger and Google Classroom. A total of 737 vaccinated participants using a snowball sampling methodology were used in this study.

Among the study population, 328 (44.50%) were males and 409 (55.50%) were females. The highest age group that participated was 18–30 years (79.10%) followed by 31–40 years (12.10%), 41–50 years (4.20%), 51–60 years (2.40%) and 60 = years (2.20%). However, 58.8% of the participants received Pfizer-BioNTech, 23.7% received the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine and 17.5% received Sinopharm. Out of the total participants, 56.60% showed postvaccination side-effects such as fever, headache, fatigue and dizziness, while 33% showed no side-effects and 10.40% were not sure. Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines were the most vaccines prevalent of side-effects.

The majority of the side reactions associated with the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines were manageable and self-limiting, including fever, fatigue, headache, joint pain and dizziness, compared to the Sinopharm vaccines, which reported lower postside effects.

As part of the AstraZeneca R&D transformation the Lund research site with 900 employees has been closed and the research activities moved to a different geographical location in Mölndal, Sweden. The change period lasted for 22 months starting in March 2010 with the end result that 200 employees moved to Mölndal, 100 retired, 600 had to find new opportunities, and the Lund research facility was sold and transferred to a non‐profit life science foundation. This case report will present and discuss the learning from moving a research area to a different geographical location and closing a research site.

This case study will describe challenges associated with an extensive change journey, the measures that were undertaken by the leadership team, and the results of a staff survey evaluating the success of delivered objectives.

A major learning from this change process was the importance of an empowered local cross‐functional leadership team that can drive and execute major global changes at the local level. Key success factors were transparent face‐to‐face communication and engagement and motivation of employees to deliver challenging objectives. A staff exit survey showed that >90 percent of the employees felt they had been treated with respect. They left the Lund research site feeling proud of having worked for AstraZeneca and for leaving the site in a responsible way.

This case study describes how a difficult change management assignment can become a success story.

Corporations' emphasis on startup collaboration for corporate innovation has reached a new level in the context of digital transformation. The purpose of this paper is to examine three different models of corporate-startup collaboration and the models' effects on the case companies' capabilities for, and actual outcome in regards to their business transformations.

The theory and case studies on corporate-startup collaboration models are based on several years' empirical study on 30+ multi-national corporations in the Western world. Further, iterative literature reviews on digital and business transformation have been conducted, leading to the identification of two different, but complementing frameworks used to analyze each case's capabilities and outcome in regards to business transformation.

Collaboration with startups was found to positively affect the firms' business transformation. Further, the three-step analytical process is a valuable path to better understand, and improve, the cases' capability for, and outcome in regards to their business transformations.

The paper includes three case studies and a new process for analyzing their effects on capabilities for, and actual outcome in regards to business transformation. More research is needed, both on cases and on how to refine the analytical process.

The practical contributions from this paper are the in-depth description of the three operational cases, as well as insights on how each model's set up (approach) can affect both capabilities for, but also level of business transformation. As a result, a company might need a portfolio of different startup collaboration initiatives in order to manage a more holistic transformation of their business.

The paper's main theoretical and practical contributions are further knowledge on organizations and organizational practices for corporate-startup collaboration, as well as a three-step process for analyzing each case's effect on the respective firm's capabilities for, and actual outcome in regards to business transformation.