Keeping a Pharma Giant‒Startup Alliance in Balance
Product development alliances between global pharmaceutical giants and startup companies can be a win-win. They offer startups resources and reach, while larger entities gain access…
Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies form alliances to accelerate new drug development and commercialization. These collaborations let companies share financial and operational risks while they leverage each other’s strengths, resources, expertise, and experience. The ideal result: increasing successful innovations, accelerating drug development, and getting new therapeutics to market faster for patients.
But bringing two or more entities together means aligning different corporate cultures, governance structures, decision-making processes, goals and priorities, risk tolerances, and more. Those differences should be hammered out in the planning and contracting stages, but often they are left to the working teams to figure out. And even when details are clear up front, keeping everyone moving in the same direction takes proactive management and engagement of the teams and stakeholders.
Alliance managers are responsible for “herding the cats.” Depending on the deal, the individual roles and scope of responsibilities may vary. They may lead the entire alliance, one party’s side, or programs and/or projects within the collaboration. This requires flexibility and adaptability to right-size one’s leadership capabilities and change management techniques to meet the needs of the organization(s). Whatever the scale of the role, alliance managers must drive cross-functional teamwork to enable success.
This article highlights the activities and cross-functional team leadership skills that alliance managers need to bring to the table. Based on experiences from Integrated Project Management Company, Inc. (IPM) consultants, it includes real-world case studies for examples of what to do—and sometimes what not to do—to drive alliance success.
Get on the Same Page
To accomplish the goals of the alliance, you first have to make sure these are clearly defined, understood, and agreed upon. What is the vision and strategy behind the alliance? Understand and articulate the objectives, benefits, and long-term goals of the alliance collectively and of each individual party.
The strategy and objectives inform the alliance contract, and they should drive the alliance team’s tactical activities. Make sure you understand what the contract states before developing project charters and outlining the work ahead. Spend time helping each of the working teams to translate the strategy, objectives, and tactical needs to detailed plans. Clearly define roles and responsibilities. Start broadly with the roles of each company in the alliance. And, importantly, ensure the project teams detail their responsibilities and level of decision-making authority as well. This will not only help in resource planning, but it will also set appropriate expectations and help avoid future conflicts and misunderstandings.
IPM has seen alliances where the contract clearly detailed who would do what on each workstream. On the flip side, in some contracts, the roles and responsibilities were vague at best. Dealing with a detailed contract, the manager for one alliance simply followed the plan. However, the preset formal meeting agendas left no room to address unexpected roadblocks. In a case where roles weren’t clearly predefined in the contract, the companies ended up forming a lot of committees to deal with things as they arose. The alliance managers of both companies found themselves juggling multiple ad hoc meetings, which delayed progress. Ideally, the contract defines roles and responsibilities but alliance managers have flexibility to adapt as necessary.
Many alliances suffer (and sometimes fail) due to cultural differences. So, identify potential cultural obstacles and determine how these may impact alliance success. It is important to address critical differences and achieve some level of alignment. Cultural differences that may impact alliance performance should never be ignored or downplayed.
If conflicts arise, address them promptly and without bias. Whether you’re leading the alliance or a member of one of the parties involved, it’s important to be objective yet empathetic. Demonstrate and demand open, honest communication and fairness.
CASE STUDY: Aligning Cultures and Expectations
An IPM consultant was brought on as an alliance manager for an international collaboration between an American and a Japanese company. While the American teams worked diligently, the Japanese teams displayed a much higher level of dedication to their work. The Japanese company’s leadership had promised the country’s people that they wouldn’t stop until they found a cure to this particular disease. Their commitment meant dedicating all of their time and resources to this program. While IPM’s consultant represented the American company, he remained objective as he tried to balance the effort by both parties. He built personal relationships across both companies. On one hand, he worked to elevate the commitment and passion of the American teams.
To continue reading, download the complete article, where you’ll find:
- More guidance about the activities and techniques of successful alliance managers
- Practical, real-world examples of challenges that alliance managers have faced and overcome
- A glossary of capabilities to build as cross-functional team leaders
Author:
Susan Carino, FRAPS, MBA, MS, PMP, RAC, Principal Consultant
Integrated Project Management Company, Inc.
Services: Product Development, Program and Project Management
Industries: Life Sciences