Pig Fattening
John Howard, Australia’s prime minister from 1996 to 2007 is quoted as saying “You can’t fatten the pig on market day.”
It’s an observation which he seemed to forget in the years leading up to his un-ceremonious dismissal from office.
His increasingly desperate attempts to “fatten the pig” in the run-up to his last election were pathetic and strangely sad.
He lost the election, his own seat in parliament, and what little respect he had left in the eyes of most of the Australian public.
It pays to look quite far ahead when planning a successful future.
Which is presumably why the pipeline industries like Pharma are so vitally interested in looking into the future. And trying to predict when the next big earner will come on stream.
Predicting the future of the pipeline involves looking closely at every stage, and ensuring the health of the system from one end to the other.
The diagnosis of pipeline health should reveal anomalies where they occur. Can you spot any difficulty with the pipeline in this diagram?
Diagnosis.
Understanding the process helps predict what might happen down the pipeline, but what remedies are available when there are too few, or too many drug prospects in the pipe?
The traditional solution has been to acquire or divest prospects in order to ensure a smooth transition along the pipe.
It has involved an orgware that balances the level of certainty against acquisition margin. Risk versus return.
But it’s an orgware that is under threat.
The business environment that created and operated the pipeline industries is changing.
Oh sure, you’ve heard it all before.
You’ll be telling me that the old economy was “Dog eat dog, and the new economy is quite the reverse.”
Ha Ha…..very funny.
Funny Business.
The new business environment will feature,
1. Collaboration.
2. Open Innovation.
3. Partnering.
How would you see those three principles fitting into traditional pipeline thinking?
Already doing it, are you?
If you think your thoughtware encompasses the ramifications of those features, you are the only person on the planet who does.
It’s good to be ahead of the game isn’t it?
Or are you getting ahead of yourself?
The dimensions of Social Media thinking are yet to be understood, even by those who are steeped in it day after day, like the forum leaders working with the Thoughtware Group.
The only thing we can be certain of at this stage is that the business models that have served us in the past are speeding towards their use-by date.
That date looks a lot like Market Day.
How fat is your pig?
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