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  • September 2013 (Revised February 2016)
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GlaxoSmithKline: Sourcing Complex Professional Services

By: Heidi K. Gardner and Silvia Hodges Silverstein
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:16
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Abstract

Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) uses an innovative new approach to procuring outside legal counsel: it replaces relationship-based selection and law firms' traditional time-based billing with data-driven decision making and an online reverse auction. In the case, GSK is hit with a potentially devastating suit and must hire a firm in time to respond. The recently hired managing attorney, Sophia Keating, grapples with GSK's approach. The GSK veterans assure her that the approach drives down costs and improves the quality of work by systematically increasing the rigor in the procurement process. Still skeptical, Sophia runs the process of systematically analyzing and comparing the competing firms' bids. This case also describes the process by which these tools were created and adopted. Beyond the implications for law firms and other service providers, lessons from this case are applicable for teaching about institutional change, procurement processes relevant to many fields, and how to increase rigor in typically informal business processes.

Keywords

Legal Industry; Procurement; Professional Service Firms; Pricing; Competition; Change Management; Supply Chain Management; Legal Liability; Business Processes; Legal Services Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

Citation

Gardner, Heidi K., and Silvia Hodges Silverstein. "GlaxoSmithKline: Sourcing Complex Professional Services." Harvard Business School Case 414-003, September 2013. (Revised February 2016.)
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Related Work

    • September 2013 (Revised February 2016)
    • Faculty Research

    GlaxoSmithKline: Sourcing Complex Professional Services, Supplementary Materials

    By: Heidi K. Gardner and Silvia Hodges Silverstein
    • May 2014
    • Faculty Research

    GlaxoSmithKline: Sourcing Complex Professional Services

    By: Heidi K. Gardner and Silvia Hodges Silverstein
    • September 2013 (Revised February 2016)
    • Faculty Research

    GlaxoSmithKline: Sourcing Complex Professional Services

    By: Heidi K. Gardner and Silvia Hodges Silverstein
Related Work
  • GlaxoSmithKline: Sourcing Complex Professional Services, Supplementary Materials By: Heidi K. Gardner and Silvia Hodges Silverstein
  • GlaxoSmithKline: Sourcing Complex Professional Services By: Heidi K. Gardner and Silvia Hodges Silverstein
  • GlaxoSmithKline: Sourcing Complex Professional Services By: Heidi K. Gardner and Silvia Hodges Silverstein
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