Innovation and Change Management Case Studies

Innovation and Change Management Report

1.0 Executive Summary 

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This report is made on innovation and change management at Pfizer. The purpose of this report is to develop an understanding about the challenges faced by the Pharma industry in recent times and the importance of innovation in the field of study (Siebert et.al. 2015). The report includes a circle review of the innovation challenges faced by the company and what are the strategies to overcome these challenges. The report highlights what is the main area of innovation for Pfizer, it mainly includes Gene Therapy, Maternal Immunization, Precision Medicine, and medical science. The manufacturers of vaccines typically protect their expertise since it provides them with an advantage in competition; however, sharing their expertise with other companies can help increase production. There will likely be a lot of unanticipated challenges in ensuring that a vaccine is delivered to the people who require it. One possible model is the fair priority model, in which vaccines are first given to minimize the immediate health risks as well as reduce the social and economic deprivation and lastly, on the basis of returning to normal function. One possible model is the fair priority model, in which vaccines are first given to minimize the immediate health risks as well as reduce the social and economic deprivation and lastly, on the basis of returning to normal function. The company should focus on its supply chain in the future; it will help in the smooth flow of goods and services. The company needs to use mergers and acquisitions as a part of its strategy management; it will help in the expansion of business. Pfizer scientists transformed an old drug lead into a COVID-19 antiviral; it is the most recent innovation of the company. The PF-00835231 is structurally comparable to a peptide that is bound to the main protease in SARS. This binding site in SARS is the same as one found in SARS-CoV-2 (Hornstein, 2015). Pfizer researchers believed that this particle could be effective against the SARS-CoV-2; they developed a vaccine from that particle. Healthcare providers must convince people that they should get vaccines, which involves challenging false information by alerting people to fake news and providing clear, logical facts, and implementing education campaigns (Forman et.al. 2021). Just presenting facts is not enough to convince those who are anti-vaxxers. What seems to be effective in framing messages in ways that appeal to them such are liberty and purity and relying on trusted individuals such as family physicians to engage in conversations about vaccinations instead of imposing facts onto them.

2.0 Critical Review 

Pfizer Inc. is a private company; it started its business in 1849. This is an American company and its headquarters is in New York City, United Kingdom. Pfizer Inc. is one of the world's major pharmaceutical and biomedical corporations based on research. The company is dedicated to determining, developing, producing, selling, and marketing instructed prescriptions for everyone including humans and animals (Oliver et.al. 2020).

 

Figure 1: Case company logo

• The Challenges faced by the pharma/healthcare industry

1. Regulatory and Pricing Pressures
2. Late to Market
3. Hackers and Malware
4. Collaboration Security

• Latest Innovation challenges

The five challenges posed by Pfizer’s COVID vaccine breakthrough -

1. Manufacturing- Availability of raw materials, and retention of employees: Manufacturing requires rapidly increasing production to produce millions of doses of vaccines. The issue of preparing production capacity for manufacturing has already been solved by vaccine companies getting ready or even producing vaccines. However, the biggest issue will be learning to create a vaccine, and sharing the information, to ensure that many manufacturers can quickly scale up (United States, 2020). 
2. Logistical (Supply Chain)- Supply chains that allow for the vaccine to be stored at extremely low temperatures are essential for its effectiveness. One of the challenges in creating this supply chain is "last mile" challenges that require thoughtful thinking about how a vaccine is transported from storage to its administration.
3. Ethics – the ethics related to the distribution of vaccines was one of the main challenges faced by the company. This raises a difficult ethical issue of who should get the vaccine first and the way to decide whether to give it to those who need it the most or those who can afford the cost (Badiani et.al. 2020). Should government ministers and corporate CEOs, or famous people who are vaccinated early be accused of rushing through queues? 
4. Marketing - Persuading people to use vaccines: People need to be convinced that they must be vaccinated. The ever-growing influence of the increasing anti-vaccination mindset in wider populations poses a threat to the mass administration of vaccines. 
5. Technology Transfer- New mergers/tie-ups, time-consuming process: The learning challenge is retaining many of the lessons that Pfizerre learned during COVID crisis. After a crisis has ended it is easy for governments and organizations to return to their normal ways and forget a lot of the lessons they have acquired along the way (Hassan et.al. 2021). While it is likely that some of the innovations that Pfizer developed during the race to develop the development of a vaccine will remain, there is also a chance that many of the errors that Pfizer made are quickly forgotten and repeated over time.

3.0 Analysis 

Areas of innovation at Pfizer

Innovation is the subject that is currently dividing Big Pharma, with an intense debate going on about whether the capability for "do it" is waning as businesses grow and explore new opportunities through an avenue for diversification of portfolios. To find out the answer, Pharm Exec Editor-in-Chief William Looney addressed this issue with the largest of the Big Pharma industry, Pfizer. The Chief conducted a conversation with Executive Vice President Kristin Peck. Peck has an executive portfolio that focuses on being Pfizer's chief innovation officer and strategic business developer. Peck discusses the steps Pfizer does to turn its "art of invention" into practical innovations, through the development of innovative products and solutions to meet the changing needs of its client base. The biggest challenge is Convincing colleagues as well as people outside of the organization that innovation is not random and unplanned, rather a planned process that is carefully managed and forward-looking, complicated and partner-driven, as well as dangerous. True innovation is a threat to the business however, it should be accepted without hesitation in the event that traditional boundaries between commercial and business become blurred and boundaries are eroded, there is no other option. Some of the innovative steps taken by the company are discussed below:

• Gene Therapy

Pfizer is committed to being the leader in this area by bringing together the most advanced experience in the field of vector design and design and in-house knowledge of the biology of diseases as well as manufacturing capability. Pfizer has three industry-leading clinical phase 3 gene therapy programs. Pfizer has invested more than $800M to increase its manufacturing capacity for AAV (Dunbar et.al. 2018). Pfizer has signed several gene therapy partnerships, each one of which is essential to our ongoing efforts to expand gene therapy capabilities and programs. Pfizer views gene therapy as one of the key components within the Rare Disease strategy. Pfizer is also fascinated by the use of gene therapy to identify the central nervous system (CNS) and heart disease. Pfizer is looking for promoter technologies along with leading immune surveillance and vector analytics methods, as well as in-vivo gene editing techniques.

Figure 2 Increase HCP knowledge of Gene Therapy management – Pfizer

• Medicinal Sciences

Pfizer is a leader in innovation and it aims to improve lives for the next generation. No matter what illness the patient suffers, its staff in Ireland is working on a vast variety of research, technology, and processes to transform the latest technology into therapies that matter the most. Their efforts are among the most significant human endeavors. They are all affecting millions of people across the globe.

Through extensive research efforts in many modalities, Pfizer’s researchers are working on medical solutions that are most important to the patients Pfizer serves. At present, Pfizer is prioritizing its research and development efforts in areas that can make the most difference to social and health medical problems which are mentioned below:

1. Metabolic, cardiovascular and rare diseases
2. The immune system and inflammation
3. The neuroscience of pain and the brain
4. Oncology
5. Vaccines

• Precision Medicine

Precision medicine studies the biological causes of disease by utilizing the latest technology to aid in the development of new therapies that are tailored to patients that will most benefit. The company’s portfolio is determined to investigate genetic, phenotypic, as well as functional biomarkers that will help in the development of clinical research strategies (French, 2019). It aims to create treatments and vaccines that have the potential to create transformative outcomes for patients by making sure that the patients are treated with the appropriate medications is a method that is integrated into the creation of each product that Pfizer offers.

• Maternal Immunization

Pfizer is working hard to develop research and distribute vaccines to protect babies from diseases through immunization for mothers. Pfizer's leveraging our decades of expertise in the field of vaccine discovery and development to create vaccines that improve the maternal immune system and the ability of pregnant women to shield their babies' growing up by the transfer of antibodies that are present in the womb.

Balance scorecard of Pfizer

The Balanced Scorecard is an incorporated framework to assess the performance of trade strategy as well as how transformation can be completed in different areas like financial aims and objectives (Beiko et.al. 2018). It also helps transform Purchaser pReferences, choice construction, operations administration, and supply chain blockage decisions. 

Pfizer's managers can use this strategic tool to construct sustainable competitive benefits and by improved understanding of the relationship between financial resources and internal processes. Balance scorecard also helps in understanding Pfizer's overall business strategy including operational management and buyer’s preference.

The main advantage of the Balanced Scorecard method for Pfizer is that it provides top administrators and leaders a structure to employ when creating a complete plan as opposed to only focusing on enhancing one region of the business. Executives can view the firm from four varieties of angles using the balanced scorecard.

The balanced scorecard framework offers a superior structure to not only include their endeavors in the overarching strategy but also to interact with them on how their hard work are contributing to the overarching plan and goals of Pfizer (Oake and Houle 2018). 

Balanced Scorecards assist Pfizer “Pfizer's vaccine” to interpret, converse, and gauge its strategies. Some of the questions responded to by Balance Scorecard Analysis of Pfizer are -

Which corporate procedures can be state procurement? What are Pfizer Pfizer's main strengths and also how may they bring value touching forward? To generate or maintain a permanent competitive border, does the company have to make minor adjustments or important improvements to its interior procedures?

How is Pfizer “Pfizer's vaccine” perceived by its customers? What is needed in terms of advertising, sales, distribution, and price policy to increase a strong brand name or marketplace performance?

– Is Pfizer progressive and innovative? Pfizer “Pfizer's vaccine” 

Capacity for modernism and maintaining one step ahead of its competitor is vital to a firm's ability to uphold a competitive benefit in the current economy.  

Red/Blue Ocean strategy of Pfizer

EMBA Pro Explainer As a strategic idea Blue Ocean strategy was first presented through W.Chan Kim as Pfizerll as Renee Mauborgne, INSEAD Business School professors in their book "Blue Ocean Strategy - How to Create Uncontested Market Space & Make Competition Irrelevant". It is referred to as the Blue Ocean Strategy (BOS) as it offers managers a toolbox that allows them to an unconcealed market rather than competing with a market that is characterized by fierce competition and shrinking margins. BOS removes competitors from the market and generates new value propositions for consumers.

The foundation of the Blue Ocean Strategy can be described as "Value Innovation". its help to bring innovation with value in the organization. Pharmaceutical Pfizer needs to not just alter the value proposition it offers but it also comes up with a new value proposition for the specific potential customer segments. Value innovation may open new market opportunities that are uncontested that could be lucrative opportunities for Pharmaceutical Pfizer.

Four Critical aspects that managers at Pharmaceutical Pfizer can use for value Innovation are -

1. Consumer Utility - It emphasizes the foundation values, features, or usefulness of Pfizer's Pharmaceutical goods and services distributed to the purchaser. The profit can be jointly apparent as well as actual.
2. Price - In conventional situations, opponents struggle in the policy and its implementation using the conventional method of pricing. These methods are based on the principles to Offer purchasers more for fewer amounts. This can give a serious confrontation to Pfizer’s bottom line which is profitability.
3. Cost- The cost manager at Pharmaceutical Pfizer can make use of value modernism to overcome restrictions suggested by Michael Porter in his worth cost transaction as part of a rivalry base strategy.  By applying the Blue Ocean strategy Pharmaceutical Pfizer's supervisor can follow both separation and low price at the same time (Pan et.al. 2019).
4. Adoption - When modernism is followed in the separation of the worth then it can guide to an extremely small height of acceptance no matter how important a technical penetration is.

PESTLE analysis 

Political factors: Pfizer is a multinational company and its operation is spread all over the world. The company has to face every country's government policies and political system. Regulatory bodies form an important part of political factors, but the lack of it became a hurdle for companies like Pfizer. For instance, the company agreed with the Biovan institute of South Africa to produce Covid-19 vaccine but the manufacturing process cannot be done there and the reason is a lack of regulatory bodies in the country.

Economic factors: economic factors comprise recession, swap rate, as well as labor cost, etc. A variable exchange rate can affect Pfizer’s asset plans since the money value would not be constant.  Pfizer along with some other zenith pharmaceutical corporations experienced sluggish growth throughout the recession (Mease et.al. 2017). In addition to this, high employment costs also affect companies’ processes because an enhancement in labor salary puts force on the value of goods. As a consequence, prices enhance.

Social factors: Understanding the societal causes of an explicit culture or civilization is very important to be successful in the competitive market. Before creating an investment in a nation, a corporation like Pfizer has to examine the demography of that nation. As per WHO, the hazard of falling ill raises with increasing age. Taking this research into consideration, Pfizer should spend more in nations with a superior ratio of elder people, for example: Japan. By doing so, Pfizer can offer healing to the public in necessity and boost its profits.

Technological factors: The development of technology has altered the healthcare business. Pfizer has to become accustomed to innovative technologies and complete utilization of social media and the internet to settle in the market.  In 2020, Pfizer spend an additional 22% of its profits on investigating and R&D departments (Wang et.al. 2015). Pfizer was among the top pharmaceutical corporations that spend significant funds on research and development.

Legal factors: execution and appliance of laws differ from nation to nation so Pfizer should reflect on the legal issues that would affect the company earlier than getting into the new marketplace. In recent times, Alnylam pharmaceuticals sued Pfizer for patent violation. This has formed a large controversy all over the media, and it’s damaged the reputation of the company.

Environmental factors: Sustainability is very important for businesses in recent times; environmental factors have a great impact on companies (Song et.al. 2017). To handle environmental factors Pfizer should use the eco friendly technique in its operation as well as in packaging and manufacturing. This will help the company to maintain its reputation. 

4.0 Personal Critical Reflection 

The report made me learn about innovation and change management. A company needs to be updated with technologies in the market to survive the competition. Constant innovation is the biggest characteristic of the pharmaceutical industry. A new medication can be vital for sustaining the value of human life, as well as may even influence its length. Pfizer being in the pharma industry, the company has faced many challenges related to innovation but it is working on overcoming these challenges (Dumay, 2016). This report made me learn about innovation in the field of pharmaceuticals. I have learned about Gene Therapy, Maternal Immunization, Precision Medicine, and medical science. While making this report I have learned about the challenges faced by the pharma industry in the time of the COVID 19 pandemic. How they overcome these challenges using innovation and change management.

The reflection on understanding and lessons learned from research and writing the report 

By preparing this research report my writing skills have improved, and I learned about how an academic report is made. The research part is very important for writing and by preparing this report I have learned how to do that.  A report has three main sections: the first is an introduction, which introduces the topic of the report and the second one is a body which is the main analysis of the topic. The body of this report includes a critical analysis of innovation and change management at Pfizer (Fook, 2015). I have also learned about different strategies and tools used to understand innovation in an organization. The last section is the conclusion, which summarizes what is done in the main body of the report.

Personal Development Planning (PDP) 

Personal development planning is used to know the skills I already have, this is also used to identify the skills needed for self-development and to develop the same. This report helped me to develop my research skills and also helped in gaining knowledge about innovation. The reports are an important part of my development planning, and the learning from this report will help me in my educational as well as career development.

 

Recommendations and Conclusions 

The report recommends that Pfizer should focus on its new areas of innovation. The company also needs to focus on the challenges faced by it some of the recommendations related to innovation and change management is given below:

The report recommends that Pfizer should create corporate synergy by distributing its best work with its subsidiary companies. The company also needs to focus on patent acquisition to protect its differentiation and innovation. If Pfizer is capable of delegating activities, particularly the best practices of the company, a reduction in permanent costs is probable to take place. The company must use mergers and acquisitions as elements of its strategy management and will aid in expanding the business. Pfizer scientists have transformed an older drug lead into an anti-COVID-19 drug that is the latest innovation from Pfizer. The PF-00835231 has a structural similarity to a peptide attached to the primary protease enzyme in SARS. The binding site found in SARS is similar to the one in SARS-CoV-2. Pfizer scientists believed the particle could be effective against SARS-CoV-2 virus, so they created a vaccine based on that particle. Healthcare providers need to convince people that they need to receive vaccines. This includes dispelling fake news by educating people about fake news , and offering precise, logical information, and implementing educational campaigns. The company should exploit the advantage of augmented separation as well as innovation that comes with the attainment of pharmaceutical patents is vast, particularly for the pharmaceutical business. The company should carry on to horizontal integration and it should continue to take over its rivals with their intellectual property rights. The Company can deal with malware and hackers by using this suggestion. 

The company should focus on building a smooth supply chain for the distribution of its products and services. Pfizer should focus on the distribution process of vaccines and medicine; it also needs to improve operations by using innovation. The manufacturing teams at Pfizer Global Supply collaborate with healthcare organizations to implement strategies that will speed up the supply recovery of critical medications (Oliver et.al. 2020). The provision of scientific evidence to regulatory authorities in support of extended-use dates for products in the supply chain has been a crucial component of Pfizer's supply recovery efforts.

Pfizer, is a multinational corporation, is under force to cut expenses while still helping local market. Pfizer must be mindful of the 125 nations where it sells its goods and the native customs, laws, and demands to which it must adapt. The demand to slash expenses is yet another competing pressure Pfizer should contract with. Pfizer reacts to stress to cut costs by developing its general medicines in big amounts, in lesser value. Even though in cooperation international forces are notable, the command for limited adaptation is stronger than the insistence for saving.

Reference list 

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