The Development Factory

by Pisano, Gary P.

• ISBN13: 9780875846507
• ISBN10: 0875846505
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-11-01
• Publisher: Harvard Business School Pr

Summary

When the pharmaceuticals giant Merck reports promising results for a potential "blockbuster" drug, the story makes the evening news. Now, at a time when new product development has become critical to success in so many industries, The Development Factory proves that process innovation - not just product innovation - can be the key to competitive edge. In this multiyear study of pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, Gary Pisano explores the dynamics of superior product and process development in a highly competitive industry that lives and dies by its R&D and depends heavily on rapid time to market. His work reveals that behind the success of many new product introductions lies the development of novel process technologies that provide lower costs, higher quality, and increased flexibility. Pisano challenges the widely held product-process life cycle view of competition, which suggests that industries tend to emphasize either product innovation or process innovation. He also questions the notion that there is a conflict between pursuit of product innovation and pursuit of lower costs, arguing that product development and process development capabilities are complementary. Extending the lessons to a wide variety of manufacturing industries, The Development Factory will guide companies toward unlocking the potential of process development and understanding the patterns of organizational behavior and managerial actions that help create and implement new capabilities over time.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Introduction: Process Development as a Competitive Weapon	1	(24)
A Framework for Process Development	25	(26)
The Evolving Nature of Competition in Pharmaceuticals	51	(30)
The Strategic Leverage of Process Development Capabilities	81	(36)
The Anatomy of Process Development	117	(28)
The Determinants of Performance: Development Lead Time and Cost	145	(34)
Quality in the Development Process---Leveraging Knowledge in Chemical Synthesis	179	(24)
Learning across Projects in Biotechnology	203	(30)
The Concepts in Action---Case Studies	233	(40)
Conclusion and Implications---Beyond Pharmaceuticals	273	(24)
Research Methodology	297	(14)
Notes	311	(12)
References	323	(10)
Index	333	(10)
About the Author	343