Wyeth Pharmaceuticals: Spurring Scientific Creativity with Metrics

Robert S. Huckman; Gary P. Pisano; Mark  Rennella

Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2007 (Revised April 2010)

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals: Spurring Scientific Creativity with Metrics

by Robert S. Huckman, Gary P. Pisano and Mark Rennella

Abstract

Describes the reorganization of the drug discovery organization at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and focuses on the decisions to: (1) centralize decision-making within drug discovery and (2) institute numerical metrics--jointly affecting all R&D scientists--for the progression of compounds through the Wyeth pipeline. Highlights issues concerning the degree to which scientific activity can be evaluated via numerical metrics, the extent to which R&D can be structured as a process, and the degree to which decision-making should be centralized in commercial R&D activities.

Keywords: Decision Making; Measurement and Metrics; Business Processes; Organizational Structure; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Creativity; Pharmaceutical Industry;

Format: Print

25 pages

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Citation:

Huckman, Robert S., Gary P. Pisano, and Mark Rennella. "Wyeth Pharmaceuticals: Spurring Scientific Creativity with Metrics." Harvard Business School Case 607-008, February 2007. (Revised April 2010.)

In 2015, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) ran the largest healthcare system in the United States, with over 1,700 sites of care that served nearly 9 million veterans. One year earlier, a scandal had erupted over a cover-up of the excessive wait times veterans faced to get medical appointments in some VA facilities. The fallout led to the resignation of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, a criminal investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the eventual replacement of 14 of VA’s top 17 leaders. This case documents the efforts of the new leadership team to improve access, regain trust, and transform the organization to address the broadening medical needs of the nation's growing veteran population. Teaching Note for HBS No. 617-012.

Article | Milbank Quarterly

Toward a Corporate Culture of Health: Results of a National Survey

Michael Anne Kyle, Lumumba Seegars, John M. Benson, Robert J. Blendon, Robert S. Huckman and Sara J. Singer

Context: The private sector has a large potential role in advancing health and well-being, but attention to corporate practices around health tends to focus on a narrow range of issues and on large businesses. Systematically describing private sector engagement in health and well-being is a necessary step toward understanding the current state of the field and developing an agenda for businesses going forward.
Methods: We conducted a national survey of 1,017 private sector organizations to assess current levels of engagement in what we term a culture of health (CoH). We measured corporate CoH along four dimensions, which assess the extent to which businesses promote employee, environmental, consumer, and community health and well-being.We also explored potential explanations for the number of health-related actions taken in each dimension.
Findings: On average, businesses took 38% of health-related actions included in our survey. For each dimension, we found variation among businesses in the number of actions taken (on average, there were almost fourfold differences between the bottom and top quartiles of businesses in terms of actions taken). Mentioning health and well-being in the corporate mission, having a strategic plan for CoH, and perceiving a positive return on CoH investments were all associated with businesses’ actions taken. Fewer than half of businesses, however, perceived a positive return on their CoH investments.
Conclusions: Overall, the private sector is taking steps to foster health and well-being. However, there remains substantial variation among businesses and opportunity for growth, even among those currently taking the most action. Strengthening the business case for a corporate CoH may increase private sector investments in health and well-being. Actions taken by individual businesses, business groups, industries, and regulators have the potential to improve corporate engagement and impact.

Keywords: Corporate Health; social determinants of health; Health Policy; public health; Organizations; Health; Policy; Surveys;

Citation:

Kyle, Michael Anne, Lumumba Seegars, John M. Benson, Robert J. Blendon, Robert S. Huckman, and Sara J. Singer. "Toward a Corporate Culture of Health: Results of a National Survey." Milbank Quarterly 97, no. 4 (December 2019): 954–977. View Details

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For more than two decades, scientific advances have been driving profound changes in drug discovery and the drug industry itself. This case provides an overview and description of these technical and scientific advances. Written for the nonscientific reader, it may be used as companion reading for other case materials that require basic knowledge of the tools, techniques, and approaches used in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

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Wyeth Pharmaceuticals: Spurring Scientific Creativity with Metrics

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