Gary P. Pisano - Böcker

Gary Pisano argues that the development of distinctive and superior process technologies is a key source of competitive advantage. In a multi-year study of international pharmaceutical firms (with references to a variety of other industries), he 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 offers a set of recommendations for the practices and approaches that can be used to unlock the potential of process development. In doing so, he provides a window into the more general phenomenon of how organizations create, select, and implement new capabilities.

Manufacturing's central role in global innovation Companies compete on the decisions they make. For years--even decades--in response to intensifying global competition, companies decided to outsource their manufacturing operations in order to reduce costs. But we are now seeing the alarming long-term effect of those choices: in many cases, once manufacturing capabilities go away, so does much of the ability to innovate and compete. Manufacturing, it turns out, really matters in an innovation-driven economy. In Producing Prosperity, Harvard Business School professors Gary Pisano and Willy Shih show the disastrous consequences of years of poor sourcing decisions and underinvestment in manufacturing capabilities. They reveal how today's undervalued manufacturing operations often hold the seeds of tomorrow's innovative new products, arguing that companies must reinvest in new product and process development in the US industrial sector. Only by reviving this "industrial commons" can the world's largest economy build the expertise and manufacturing muscle to regain competitive advantage.America needs a manufacturing renaissance--for restoring itself, and for the global economy as a whole. This will require major changes. Pisano and Shih show how company-level choices are key to the sustained success of industries and economies, and they provide business leaders with a framework for understanding the links between manufacturing and innovation that will enable them to make better outsourcing decisions. They also detail how government must change its support of basic and applied scientific research, and promote collaboration between business and academia. For executives, policymakers, academics, and innovators alike, Producing Prosperity provides the clearest and most compelling account yet of how the American economy lost its competitive edge--and how to get it back.

Why has the biotechnology industry failed to perform up to expectations--despite all its promise? In Science Business, Gary P. Pisano answers this question by providing an incisive critique of the industry. Pisano not only reveals the underlying causes of biotech's problems; he offers the most sophisticated analysis yet on how the industry works. And he provides clear prescriptions for companies, investors, and policy makers seeking ways to improve the industry's performance. According to Pisano, the biotech industry's problems stem from its special character as a science-based business. This character poses three unique business challenges: how to finance highly risky investments under profound uncertainty and long time horizons for R&D, how to learn rapidly enough to keep pace with advances in drug science knowledge, and how to integrate capabilities across a broad spectrum of scientific and technological knowledge bases.The key to fixing the industry? Business models, organisational structures, and financing arrangements that place greater emphasis on integration and long-term learning over shorter--term 'monetisation' of intellectual property.Pisano maintains that all industry players--biotech firms, investors, universities, pharmaceutical companies, government regulators--can play a role in righting the industry. The payoff? Valuable improvements in health care, and a shinier future for human well-being.