Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • May 2005 (Revised April 2010)
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

GlaxoSmithKline: Reorganizing Drug Discovery (A)

By: Robert S. Huckman and Eli Strick
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:21
ShareBar

Abstract

Describes the reorganization of drug discovery at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) following the formation of GSK from the merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. This reorganization placed nearly 2,000 research scientists into six centers of excellence in drug discovery (CEDD). Each CEDD focused on a small set of therapeutic areas and possessed decision rights over the progression of pharmaceutical compounds through the early stages of development. Describes the proposed structure for the CEDDs and their relationship to remaining centralized departments within GSK's R&D organization. Addresses issues about the benefits of focus vs. diversification in R&D, the role of decentralized vs. coordinated decision making, and the importance of alignment between the structural and infrastructural (e.g., performance incentives) aspects of an operating model. Using the empirical context of mergers in the pharmaceutical industry, the case allows students to build broader insights about the interaction between organizational form and operating performance.

Keywords

Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Operations; Organizational Structure; Performance Improvement; Research and Development; Pharmaceutical Industry

Citation

Huckman, Robert S., and Eli Strick. "GlaxoSmithKline: Reorganizing Drug Discovery (A)." Harvard Business School Case 605-074, May 2005. (Revised April 2010.)
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

Robert S. Huckman

Technology and Operations Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • February 2025
    • Health Services Research

    Variation in Batch Ordering of Imaging Tests in the Emergency Department and the Impact on Care Delivery

    By: Jacob C. Jameson, Soroush Saghafian, Robert S. Huckman and Nicole Hodgson
    • July 2024
    • Faculty Research

    Hospital for Special Surgery: Returning to a New Normal? (B)

    By: Robert S. Huckman, Michael Lingzhi Li and Camille Gregory
    • June 2024 (Revised August 2024)
    • Faculty Research

    Hospital for Special Surgery: Returning to a New Normal? (A)

    By: Robert S. Huckman, Michael Lingzhi Li and Camille Gregory
More from the Authors
  • Variation in Batch Ordering of Imaging Tests in the Emergency Department and the Impact on Care Delivery By: Jacob C. Jameson, Soroush Saghafian, Robert S. Huckman and Nicole Hodgson
  • Hospital for Special Surgery: Returning to a New Normal? (B) By: Robert S. Huckman, Michael Lingzhi Li and Camille Gregory
  • Hospital for Special Surgery: Returning to a New Normal? (A) By: Robert S. Huckman, Michael Lingzhi Li and Camille Gregory
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College.