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Gordon Binder and Philip Bashe
Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA, 2008, hardback, 288pp., £13.99, $29.95,
ISBN: 978-1591398615
Amgen is one of today's 'gold standard' biotech companies, a well-recognised and successful business with the largest revenue of any biotech company. Its 2007 revenues exceeded $14bn, profits were approximately $3bn, and the market cap places it into the realm of the 'big pharma' companies. The biotech industry as a whole in 2007 generated $68.4bn in revenue; Amgen accounted for 20.5 per cent of that. In marketing terms, that is significant market share. So, perhaps we can learn a few lessons from Gordon Binder, a proven CEO/leader, about how to build a successful, sustainable, and innovative organisation.
'Science Lessons' illustrates some lessons which Binder learned regarding
Management and leadership.
Corporate culture.
Management transitions.
Building a manufacturing, marketing, and sales organisation in a science-based company.
How scientific principles were used to build a company.
Some chapters also cover specific challenges regarding financing, partnerships, intellectual property management, and dealing with the clinical/regulatory environment.
Binder's objectives for writing the book do not include providing a company history or his life story. He has stated that he wanted to take the reader 'behind the scenes to highlight the guiding principles that contributed greatly to Amgen's success' and made it a very unique place. That will be my goal in this review as well: identify the ingredients and leadership needed to build a great company.
Binder was recruited in 1982 to become CFO of Amgen by Dr George Rathmann (the company's founding CEO). Binder had earned a Harvard MBA and pursued a financial career in larger industrial organisations before coming to Amgen. He was in his mid-40s, but he had already demonstrated considerable success at Ford and Litton Industries. Binder was referred to Rathmann based upon his proven financial leadership skills.
The biotech industry was just starting at the time, so Binder had no knowledge of biotechnology and why he should join such a high-risk venture in a non-existent industry. Dr Rathmann, experienced in the R&D side of the pharmaceutical field, clearly understood the importance of sustained and significant financial resources in building a biotech company. Hence, he sought an experienced financial executive to be part of his diverse, well-balanced leadership...