March 2023
Case
HBS Case Collection

Azenta Life Sciences: The Road to Transformation

By: Gary P. Pisano and Catherine Piner

Format:Print
| Language:English
| Pages:17

Abstract

When the Board brought Steve Schwartz in as President of Brooks Automation in 2010, they gave him a clear mission: strengthen the company’s core semiconductor equipment business and find a new industry to enter. Over the course of the next decade, Schwartz and the Board did just that. By 2020, Brooks Automation housed two distinct businesses under one roof—a semiconductor equipment firm and a life sciences company. This case explores the challenges that Schwartz and the Board faced during this transformation: In determining what market to enter, they needed to assess the company’s core competencies and what gap it could fill. They had to decide how to balance investments in their core business with their new business. How could they retain investor support? Eventually, faced with the challenge of running two very different companies under one roof, they had to determine if they should sell a business segment or separate into two companies.