The Rhythm of Business today announced the opening of a global research study, The Practice of Alliance Management in Biopharma Industries. The study is sponsored by Ipsen www.ipsen.com and Astellas www.us.astellas.com.
The strategies of biopharma companies large and small around the globe are increasingly dependent on strategic alliances and other collaborative relationships. In addition, a wave of consolidation and reorganization is sweeping through the industry. With these trends, has come the need for an organizational collaborative capability, sometimes referred to as an alliance management capability. Across the industry, executives are making decisions about how their most important collaborations are managed, if at all, who should take the role, what the scope of their responsibilities should be, and where they fit in the organization. These questions are being considered both by companies that currently have an alliance management function and those that do not.
“Our clients and fellow members of ASAP (Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals http://www.strategic-alliances.org are telling us that alliance management is at a crossroads,” says Jeff Shuman, PhD, CSAP, principal at The Rhythm of Business and professor of management at Bentley University. In some organizations, the view is that it should focus on the tactical management of alliances, primarily between a company and specific partners. Others are getting involved in a number of new endeavors – supporting managers who have responsibility for outsourced providers, or taking a lead role in integrating acquisitions, for example, often with the full support of the CEO and other senior executives.”
“The study being launched today is an effort to document the range of responsibilities for alliance managers across the biopharma industries and define the trends shaping the practice of the profession,” according to Jan Twombly, CSAP, president at The Rhythm of Business and a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of ASAP. “The Rhythm of Business was founded more than a decade ago on the belief that collaboration would become a key organizing mechanism for business. Alliances and alliance management have always been at the vanguard of this structural shift. It is important for the future of the profession and, when we consider the biopharma industries, for all of us as consumers, that we understand how industry is managing its successful collaborations.”
The study is open to all biopharmaceutical companies. Results will be published in the first quarter of 2010. Anyone wishing to participate should contact Jan Twombly at jan@rhythmofbusiness.com.
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About The Rhythm of Business
The Rhythm of Business specializes in collaborative business—the organizations, business models, management and ways of working to innovate and succeed through collaboration. Its comprehensive management methodology is used to design, implement, measure, and assess the effectiveness of collaborative networks, such as strategic alliances, preferred provider relationships, and cross-functional or cross-business unit research teams.
Principals Jeffrey Shuman, PhD and Jan Twombly have co-authored numerous books and whitepapers on collaboration, alliances, and the practice of alliance management. Recent studies include Innovation and Growth through Collaborative Networks, commissioned by Scottish Enterprise, Collaborative Networks are the Organization: An Innovation in Organization Design and Management prepared for the First Global Peter F. Drucker Forum, and Modeling and Replicating Effective Collaboration, A Case Study of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, first presented at 15th International Conference on Multi-Organizational Partnerships, Alliances, and Networks. Through its Collaborating to Win™ assessment, The Rhythm of Business has gathered data on more than 7,000 life sciences professionals, demonstrating that better collaborators produce better results.
Shuman is also professor of management at Bentley University where his courses, Managing Collaborative Relationships and Entrepreneurial Thinking are part of the MBA curriculum. In addition, he serves on the faculty of the Institute for Global Work at Boston University.
Shuman and Twombly are among the first to receive the designation of Certified Strategic Alliance Professional (CSAP) awarded by the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals (ASAP). Shuman currently serves as co-chair of ASAP’s Collaborative Innovation Council and Academic Council. He is also actively involved on the teams that have developed the Certificate of Achievement – Alliance Management (CA-AM) certification and the CSAP certification. Twombly serves on the Executive Committee of the Association’s Board of Directors and is Chairperson of the Marketing Committee. She serves on the Global Summit Planning Committee and is a member of the 2009 Biopharm Council Summit Planning Committee.