Post Graduate Program CAPSTONE: Strategic Management of Innovation and Technological Change Individual Assignment

 Post Graduate Program CAPSTONE: Strategic Management of Innovation and Technological Change Individual Assignment 1: Guidelines Description: This is the first assignment and is to be completed independently (i.e., NO collaboration or communication about it) by each student. It is worth 20% of the overall course grade. Instructions: Read the Genzyme case study and answer all of the questions at the end. Deadline: Monday, March 13, at 6:30 p.m. UAE Time. Penalty for late submission General Guidelines for Written Assignments, Presentations, & Exams (if any)  All assignments should include a cover page with a title and the student’s name on it, the answers to the questions, up to two additional pages of exhibits, and a separate page of references at the end.  They must be free from formatting/grammar/spelling/punctuation/typo errors and should use the Harvard System of Referencing. All sources of information must be cited and a list of references included when they are used for sources such as the textbook, any articles read, websites used, personal communications with other people, and so on.  Assignments should use appropriate formatting with headings and must be double-spaced, single-column documents with 1" margins using 12-point type in Times New Roman or 10-point type Arial font unless indicated otherwise.  Any exhibits (e.g., pictures, figures, graphs, tables, charts, calculations, and spreadsheets) must be created using a computer (no credit will be given for written or hand drawn exhibits).  Please raise any concerns regarding a specific assignment or exam grade within one week of receiving it – the instructor will be happy to review the grade but keep in mind that it is also possible that a grade could potentially be lowered. Assignments and exams typically cannot be “redone” for more points.  Students may have other people look over their work in order to check for English related errors but no one else can have any input regarding the actual content of the assignment. Assignments will be evaluated for plagiarism using Turnitin. Questions [4+4+4+4+4=20 marks] Answer the following questions related to the case study in no more than two double-spaced pages of text. Include the aforementioned cover page at the beginning and a page of references at the end which would make the total number of pages four. Up to two additional pages of optional exhibits, which would be placed before the reference page and bring the total possible number of pages to six, may be included if desired (not simply more explanatory text though), but an explanation would need to be included in the body of the paper to indicate to the reader what each exhibit means and why it is relevant. Include at least two references in addition to the textbook and the case study itself (NO Wikipedia references may be used in university level assignments). Academic Honesty Policy: Learners should include the following statement on the cover page of their assignment to insure that the assignment that was submitted was the result of their own best efforts: “I agree per the University’s Academic Integrity Policies that the answers to the questions in this assignment reflect only my own work and that I did not have any additional assistance from anyone else with the assignment.” Response Components Rubric Descriptive Category Elements to Consider Insufficient Substandard Good/ Average Superior Excellent/ Outstanding Score 1 2 3 4 5 Overall Quality Reflects a significantly low level of performance Reflects a beginning level of performance Reflects development and movement toward mastery of performance Reflects a mastery of performance capstone milestone assignment help Reflects the highest level of performance 0-4 pts./ Question Application of Concepts/ Development and Support Meaningful attempt to explain or support ideas does not exist Explanations and support of ideas is inadequate or ineffective Inconsistency in developing and supporting ideas Developed and supported key points Thorough and insightful exploration, explanations that support each idea Creative Thought/ Critical Thinking Shows no original thought; all secondhand ideas Demonstrate s very little creative thought or insight; consists mostly of secondhand ideas Shows minimally acceptable originality, insight, and/or problemsolving skill Shows some originality, insight, and/or problemsolving skill Demonstrates a high degree of originality, insight, and/or problemsolving skill Adjustment Factor: Communication Quality & Plagiarism: (e.g., Wording, Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation, Formatting, Citations, References, and Turnitin Evaluation) Largely incomprehensible writing/ Poorly written in terms of mechanics and structure; or many areas to improve Unclear and difficult to understand; or quite a few areas to improve Wording; some points require rereading to understand fully; or a number of areas to improve Most ideas are presented clearly, but sometimes too simplistically; or some areas could be improved Writing is clear and easy to follow. Grammar and spelling are all correct. Formatting gives a professional look and adds to readability (0-4 pts.)/ Question Final Score 20 pts. Outcome of Final Score: Exemplary: 19 – 20 pts. Proficient: 17 – 18.5 pts. Competent: 15 – 16.5 pts. Inadequate: 13 – 14.5 pts. Unsatisfactory: Below 13 pts.

Capstone Assignment 1

1.  

The focus of Genzyme on the orphan drugs did not affect the level of competition it faces in the market.  It is because the government had provided tax breaks and exclusive rights to the company that would invest I the production of orphan diseases drugs.  Genzyme was able to enjoy the tax breaks on their research and development costs.  They also enjoyed seven years of non-competition. It shows that the approach to investing in orphan drugs did not affect their performance in the market. The access to government incentives was a significant boost in helping Genzyme to retain its market share in the biotech industry (Kumar & Dahiya, 2014). The aspect leads to a reduction in the bargaining power of the customers. It is because Genzyme was the only company producing the orphan disease drugs for some years. Thus, they had the monopoly and market power to charge any prices that offers returns on their investment and costs of research and development.

2.  

The focusing on the orphan drugs affects the nature of resources and capabilities a biotech firm requires to be successful in various ways. For example, the company would have a lower strategic capability to expand onto the different dimensions of drug production.  The company needs to focus on diverse areas of drugs to gain success in the competitive biotech industry (Shimasaki, 2014). In addition, focusing on the orphan drugs alone could limit their human resources to research on drugs and diseases in the company.

3.  

Genzyme’s focus on the orphan drugs does not make sense from a business perspective.  The company should be able to focus on diverse drugs and research to remain significant in the biotech industry.  The production of the orphan drugs was determined to be non-strategic and could not be profitable to the organization.  The company must be able to develop new drugs for serious diseases facing people in the society. I think Genzyme has a long-term strategic intention to develop new medicines rare diseases in the world. The management of Genzyme had determined that the focus on orphan drugs was narrow and they needed to invest more in research of new medicines and marketing of new drugs.

4.  

Genzyme has diversified its investments into other areas of medicine to be able to remain competitive in the market. Compared its peers in the biotech industry, Genzyme needed to diversify their investments in other areas to become more competitive.  One of the main advantages of diversifying into other aspects of medicine was to enhance market positioning. The diversification into other medicine areas helped the company to survive in the market for many years (Osborne, 2013). Diversification is also important in producing numerous drug products that can transform the lives of the patients through the expansion of the company’s research. However, diversifying into other areas could weaken their specialization in the production of orphan drugs. For years, the company has been recognized for their ability to produce quality orphan drugs. With diversifying their production in other areas of medicine, Genzyme would dilute their specialization and capability to produce better orphan drugs.

5.  

In the future, it is recommendable for Genzyme to focus on producing medicines for other areas of medicine.  The diversification of their medical research would be critical in becoming more relevant in the industry. In spite of all, they should retain their production of orphan drugs. It because the orphan drugs are useful in maintaining their brand in the market. It would also be recommendable to invest in technological innovations as they are critical in promoting evolution (Shimasaki, 2014). Such recommendable would help the biotech company to become profitable and viable in the long-term period in the industry.

References List

Kumar Kakkar, A., and Dahiya, N., 2014. The evolving drug development landscape: from blockbusters to niche busters in the orphan drug space. Drug Development Research, 75(4), pp.231-234.

Osborne, R., 2013. Fresh from the biotech pipeline--2012. Nature Biotechnology, 31(2), p.100.

Shimasaki, C. ed., 2014. Biotechnology entrepreneurship: starting, managing, and leading biotech companies. New York., NY: Academic Press.