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3 Ways to Confront Economic Adversity in 2011

Coaching Tip

Al Weatherhead is the author of The Power Of Adversity and chairman and CEO of Weatherchem, a private manufacturer of plastic closures for food, spice, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products. Please visit www.powerofadversity.net or www.weatherchem.com for more information.

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Performance Measurement

Strategy Driven

They might include sales productivity metrics such as market share, the company’s ability to charge premium prices relative to peers, or sales force productivity. Operating-cost productivity metrics might include the component costs for building an automobile or delivering a package, the rates of rework, and so forth.

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The State of Strategy Consulting, 2011

Harvard Business Review

Undertakings with $20 million price tags such as the post-merger integration of a giant pharmaceutical client and its equally humongous acquisition. For us, our strategy informs every big decision we make — what markets to enter or exit, what acquisitions to make, what products to introduce." (The Of course not," he replied.

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Make Your Knowledge Workers More Productive

Harvard Business Review

With scarcely any help from management, knowledge workers can increase their productivity by 20%. Knowledge workers own the means of production — their brains. So large-scale re-engineering programs, productivity drives, and changes to the incentive system are unlikely to work: they can easily be resisted, ignored or gamed.

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Lipitor and iPhone 4s: Setting the Stage for Industry Disruption

Harvard Business Review

The two biggest product stories of 2011 were arguably Lipitor and the iPhone 4S. The iPhone 4S's story seems to be about a new beginning: the highly anticipated launch of the latest version of a blockbuster consumer-technology product. 30) of a blockbuster prescription drug. Both Pfizer and. Lipitor's Long Good-bye.

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Why America Is Losing Its Entrepreneurial Edge

Harvard Business Review

The rate of business formation in 2011 was almost half of what it was in 1978, with the rate of dissolution somewhat higher than the past couple decades. In pharmaceuticals, the largest company, Pfizer, is the result of decades of mergers. Consolidation of the financial sector has led to similar dynamics in other industries.

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Big Pharma's Mixed Modes of Growth

Harvard Business Review

Their reliance on alliances and licenses has increased in both product development and marketing and they have become aggressive acquirers. Members of the PhRMA spent almost $50 billion on R&D in 2011, maintaining a peak that they reached in 2008.