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The spread of bird flu outside of Asia, particularly in Africa and Europe, topped headlines in 2006. The migration of wild birds brought the virus to Europe, where for the first time it spread to productive livestock, bringing it closer to the Western world. Due to today's globalized and highly interconnected world, the consequences of a potential bird flu pandemic are expected to be much more severe than those of the Spanish flu, which killed 50-100 million people between 1918 and 1921. A vaccine for the bird virus is currently not available. As of July 2006, 232 cases of human infection had been documented, mostly through direct contact with poultry. Of those, 134 people died. The best medication available to treat bird flu was Roche's antiviral drug Tamiflu. However, Tamiflu was not widely available; current orders of government bodies would not be fulfilled until the end of 2008. Well aware that today's avian flu might become a global pandemic comparable to the Spanish flu, Roche CEO Franz Humer had to decide how Roche should respond. While the pharmaceutical industry continued its research efforts on vaccines and medications, Tamiflu could play an important role by protecting healthcare workers and helping to contain the virus---or at least slow down its spread. Due to patent protection and a complicated production process with scarce raw ingredients, Roche had been the only producer of the drug. Partly in response to U.S. political pressure, in November 2005 Roche allowed Gilead to produce Tamiflu as well. Even so, it would take at least until late 2007 for Roche and Gilead to meet the orders of governments worldwide. The issue was a difficult one for Roche: What were the risks; what were the opportunities? If a pandemic occurred before sufficient stockpiles of Tamiflu had been built up, would Roche be held responsible? What steps, if any, should Roche take with respect to patent protection and production licensing in the shadow of a potential pandemic?

Students will weigh the benefits of short-term profit maximization against the risks that a highly uncertain event could pose to a business and consider nonstandard approaches to mitigate these risks. Students will discuss the challenges of addressing low-probability, high-impact events; potential conflicts with the short-term view of the stock market and analyst community; and challenges of the patent protection model for drugs for life-threatening diseases.

National Innovation Foundation (NIF) was a partner organization of the Honey Bee Network (HBN) which was a networked organization of individuals, innovators, farmers, scholars, academicians, policy makers, entrepreneurs and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The HBN worked to create a network of grassroot innovators and acknowledged them by protecting their IPR. NIF was an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, which provided institutional support to grassroot innovators, and facilitated the diffusion of traditional knowledge through various channels. NIF also handled filing patents and licensing of grassroot technology.

Strategic management (competitive strategy and supply chain management) and management accounting (product pricing and costing techniques).

Final year of business undergraduate programme and MBA programme.

This case illustrates how emergence of generic products had threatened the survival of DCPM and forced its management to urgently review the company's existing approach to pricing of its main herbicide product. The case presents opportunities for readers to discuss the deficiencies of DCPM's existing product costing approach and recommend modifications to meet the price and gross profit margin targets specified. It also highlights issues relating to supply chain management and human resource practices that might have to be improved to enhance DCPM's long-term competitiveness.

To understand the effects of globalisation and emergence of generic products on intensity of market competition for branded products. To identify deficiencies of the current product costing system of DCPM for pricing decision. To apply alternative contemporary approach to product costing and pricing of Metrix and the other value-added services. To identify measures to enhance supply chain management and inventory management in DCPM. To assess DCPM's human resources practices. To evaluate the effectiveness of DCPM's existing competitive strategy and formulate new competitive strategy to sustain DCPM's long-term competitiveness.

Teaching notes.

Dr. Narendran, Director, Indian Medicine (Siddha) College, has been requested by the Head of the College's Pharmacology Department to ensure intellectual protection for, and commercialisation of, a formulation that he had developed for coronary atherosclerosis. Such a request has been made for the first time in the College, and the Director has to decide how it fits into the educational and research mandate of the College. He also has with him a brief market study of the formulation's potential.

The case tells the story of Synthroid from its development in 1958 as the first synthetic thyroxine molecule to its competition against generic equivalents in 2004. The case introduces students to the pharmaceutical industry, its practices, and some of the complexities of pricing and drug choice, with drug manufacturers, insurance companies, physicians, pharmacists, and patients all playing a role. It also provides a primer on hypothyroidism, its symptoms, and its treatment.

Because Synthroid was developed and introduced before FDA regulations and drug standards of identity were fully established, it was difficult for competitors to get their drugs certified as identical to Synthroid. Through a series of efforts with physicians, especially endocrinologists, Synthroid's owners were able to maintain the perception for forty-six years that Synthroid was uniquely effective. In 2004, however, the FDA declared several competitive products to be bioequivalent to Synthroid, which posed a significant challenge to its owner, Abbott Laboratories. Students are challenged to consider options to maintain the drug's unit volume, revenue, and/or profit in these difficult circumstances.

The case is written in two parts. The (A) case provides background on the history of the drug, the pharmaceutical industry and its marketing practices, and hypothyroidism and its treatment, and it concludes in 2004 as Abbott's marketers face the impending challenge of defending the Synthroid business against generic competition. The (B) case describes what Abbott actually did to maintain its share in the United States and outlines its strategy in India, a market without patent protection for pharmaceuticals.

After analyzing the case students should be able to:

• Describe strategies that branded competitors can use to defend their business from lower-priced competition

• Understand the basics of pharmaceutical marketing and pricing, including the global challenge of defending branded drugs against generic equivalents

• Discuss ethical issues in the marketing of high-margin branded products that have lower-priced alternatives, especially in the healthcare industry

Describe strategies that branded competitors can use to defend their business from lower-priced competition

Understand the basics of pharmaceutical marketing and pricing, including the global challenge of defending branded drugs against generic equivalents

Discuss ethical issues in the marketing of high-margin branded products that have lower-priced alternatives, especially in the healthcare industry

Tom McKillop, CEO of AstraZeneca, faced the classic quandary of large pharmaceutical firms. The firm's patent for Prilosec (active ingredient omeprazole) was expiring. Severe cost-based competition from generic drug manufacturers was inevitable. Patent expirations were nothing new for the US$15.8 billion in revenues drug firm, but Prilosec was the firm's most successful drug franchise, with global sales of US$6.2 billion. How could the company innovate its way around the generic cost-based competition and avoid the drop in revenues associated with generic drug market entry? AstraZeneca had other follow-on drugs in the pipeline—namely Nexium, an improvement on the original Prilosec molecule. Additionally, the company had the opportunity to introduce its own version of generic omeprazole, hence becoming the first mover in the generic segment, and/or introduce an OTC version of omeprazole that might tap into other markets. Ideally, AstraZeneca would like to move brand-loyal Prilosec customers to Nexium. In this market, direct-to-consumer advertising has remarkable efficacy. Classical marketing challenges of pricing and promotion need to be resolved for the Nexium launch as well as possible product and place challenges for the generic or OTC opportunity. Which combination of marketing options will allow the firm to best sustain the value of the original omeprazole innovation?

The central objective of the case is to teach students how marketing variables can be used by first movers with diverse product portfolios to fend off severe price competition. These variables include pricing, promotion, product, and place (distribution) options as considered in the context of branded, generic, and OTC pharmaceutical market segments.

The case would help students to learn the concept of high involvement innovation activity and how to apply it in large service organizations to increase innovation involvement. The case will help the students to reflect on the significance of organizing structure and culture of an organization for enabling innovation and innovation process models. The case would further help the students to develop the skill to plan and implement simple, innovative innovation process models which will increase the ideation capabilities of the organization. The students will also be able to understand the role of informal learning in innovation and how to facilitate it.

Cyient – a global services firm – had always focused on innovation as a key strategic capability winning various annual client awards for over a decade. However, in 2012, Cyient missed the innovation awards which led to the introduction of Idea Tree initiative in Aerospace & Defense (AED) business unit of Cyient. Cyient was able to co-create patents and offer cost savings to its clients through the Idea Tree initiative. This cost-effective and unique initiative resulted in re-organizing the structure (from formal to a quasi-formal), culture (open to new ideas, mistakes and failures) and process (stage-gate) inside Cyient AED business unit. However, Idea Tree also suffers from challenges such as lack of a digital format, lack of corporate presence across Cyient and its highly informal nature. In this context, the CEO wants to review the Idea Tree initiative to decide on its future in Cyient.

The case is suitable for teaching multiple facets of innovation for MBA and Executive MBA classes in core Strategy, Managing Organizations and Entrepreneurship and for elective courses such as Innovation Management, Organizing for Innovation or HRM for Innovation. The case is suitable for both fresher and experienced participants.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

Competitive strategy.

Post-Graduate (MBA/Doctoral) level courses.

This paper aims to examine the evolution of Himalaya Drug Company (hereinafter referred to as Himalaya), an Ayurveda-based pharmaceutical-wellness company. Over the eight decades of its history, Himalaya has built a reputation for Ayurveda-based formulations that conform to allopathic standards and are accepted globally. In the recent years, Himalaya dramatically strengthened its competitive position of “scientific Ayurvedic products” through its entry into fast-moving consumer goods (or consumer-packaged goods), categories of wellness products as well as over-the-counter (non-prescription) drugs. This case describes the focused differentiation strategy of Himalaya and sets out the challenges it faced/would face in sustaining its focused differentiation strategy, as it enters into highly penetrated categories such as toothpastes and soaps (that were traditionally dominated by broad differentiators and broad cost leaders).

The outcomes are as follows: to exemplify the logic of focused differentiation, where a competitor commands a higher willingness to pay than its average competitors, by narrowing its target segments; to illustrate how the firm’s entire set of activities are tailored to meet the specific needs of a set of carefully chosen products, narrow customer segments, of defined geographic markets; to highlight how a combination of tradeoffs and fit helps protect the firm’s competitive position from its potential imitators; and to demonstrate the limits of a focused strategy, specifically relating to growth, and how a company such as Himalaya can overcome such limits.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 11: Strategy.

Describes Myriad Genetics and its struggle to develop a genetic testing service while facing challenges from competitors and activist organizations. After Myriad's discovery of the BRCA gene, capable of genetic testing for breast cancer in women, Myriad needed to choose a strategy to provide this service to the public. With several major competitors offering similar services, intense media scrutiny, and a charged activist and political climate, a poor Myriad decision could have major repercussions.

This case asks the student to take a stance on whether an portfolio manager should take a long or short position in the equity of Universal Display Corporation (PANL). The stock is polarizing, in that reasonable arguments could be made for both long and short positions. The case suggests a number of steps that an analyst might follow when valuing a company

Discounted cash flow valuation, comparables valuation, short selling. After students have analyzed the case they will be able to value the equity of a publicly traded company and take a position on whether a portfolio manager should buy or sell the stock.