Buckinghamshire New University: BM627 Managing Innovation Report

This report provides an executive summary and detailed analysis of innovation management within AstraZeneca, a leading pharmaceutical company. The report begins with an introduction to the importance of business innovation for success in a competitive market, highlighting AstraZeneca's role in the pharmaceutical industry. It delves into AstraZeneca's history, including its merger and subsequent innovations, such as the development of the COVID-19 vaccine. The report assesses AstraZeneca's innovation performance, capabilities, and key strategies like open innovation. It also provides an overview of the pharmaceutical industry in 2021, including its significance in the UK economy and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report covers the lifecycle of AstraZeneca, including its growth, maturity, and resilience in the market. The report discusses the Mckinsey 7s model and how it is used by the company for innovation. The report concludes by emphasizing the company's focus on research and development, patenting, and the launch of new drugs. This analysis aims to provide insights into the company's innovation journey and its impact on the industry. The report includes tables of contents, references and an introduction to the topic.

Managing innovation in
business

Executive summary
The report discusses about the business innovation that is an important factor for the
company to get success and survive in the competitive market. The company like AstraZeneca is
the leading and the largest company of the pharmaceutical for the innovation in their industry.
With the regular and continuous innovation company will lead the success in the industry.
Different drugs of medicine are produced by the company to cure the patients from diseases and
give them the value of life. This will help the company in their innovation and development. The
recent innovation of AstraZeneca is developing the vaccine to protect people’s health from the
infection of Coronavirus. This will help the company to grow immensely in the industry and be
recognized worldwide by producing the oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. Both the company Astra
and Zeneca before the merger are known for their effective innovation and after their merger
both the companies become one and used their effective innovation techniques with the use of
open innovation model, achievinga lot of success and growth in the industry. In 2021
Pharmaceutical industry leads the third position in the economy.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
The organisation and industry overview..........................................................................................1
The organisation and its innovation history.................................................................................1
Organisation existing innovation performance and capabilities..................................................2
The Industry in 2021....................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The business needs to be innovative for achieving growth and for effectiveness. Innovation
in the products or services of the company is always managed so that company effectiveness and
efficiency is to be maintained (Nieminen, 2020). Innovation can be termed as introducing the
new products or services. Innovation management is termed as managing activities for
introducing new product or service. The purpose of the report is to identify the innovation done
by the company in their operations and the structure of the report is discussed about organisation
and its innovation history, then the company existing innovation performance and the
capabilities and their industry in 2021.
The organisation and industry overview
The organisation and its innovation history
AstraZeneca is a multinational pharmaceutical company that is founded in 1999. Its
headquarters are in Cambridge, England in the UK. AstraZeneca is founded with the merger of
Swedish Astra AB and Zeneca group of British. After the merger company is world’s largest
pharmaceutical company and have significant growth in the industry with the innovation in the
field of pharmaceutical. After the merger company is involved in the operations having a lot of
innovation in its field. AstraZeneca has manufacturing facilities in over 19 different countries.
Company has over 9 different sites for the research and development and sales its products in
over 100 countries globally. With the merger company lots of innovations are placed in the field
of pharmaceutical and achieved growth continuously. In 2002 drug named Iressa is approved by
Japan for the disease called non- small cell lung cancer. This drug helps to get innovate in the
field and place the growth in the industry. Company focuses on the five main areas for the
innovation that involves cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, oncology, respiratory and anaesthesia.
Company also collaborateswith different companies for innovations in the vaccine maker
Medimmune.
In 2006 AstraZeneca acquires the Cambridge Antibody technology for the innovation in
global biologics. Future innovation achieves with drug named Nexium by producing its generic
version AstraZeneca reached to the agreement with the Indian company called Ranbaxy in 2008
(Shah, and et.al., 2018). To innovatein different areas of the medical industry and make different
drug to cure from the disease ,AstraZeneca did a lot of collaboration and agreement with
different pharmaceutical companies. In 2007company did innovation in the novel antiviral drug
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that includes different approaches for the disease called Hepatitis C and Respiratory Syncytial
Virus (RSV). Company innovates in the research areas on the disease with infectionand bacteria
with the one of its therapy areas. AstraZeneca after the merger both individual companies are
well known for their innovation and after this merger company place the highest growth in the
industry with their different innovations and findings in the industry by providing most suitable
and best drug for the patients to cure the hazardous diseases (Nicholls, and et.al., 2018).
Company focuses on continuous development on their research and development area for the
innovation in their drugs that is more effective to the patients.
Lifecycle of AstraZeneca
Introduction
Company introduction is starting in the year 1999 with the merger of the company Astra and
Zeneca.
Growth
Company growth stage stated in the year 2002 with the drug named iressa.
Maturity
Maturity stages comers with the collaboration with Pfizer.
Decline
Company declining stage is still not arrived as it is at the maturity level and sustain in the
market with the innovation.
In 2013 company announces to corporate and restructuring in its research and development
activities. It also announces that company mainly focuses on the three therapeutic areas for the
research and innovation in the areas of respiratory inflammation, autoimmunity, disease of
cardiovascular and the metabolic and the oncology. In 2014 company joins with the Eli Lilly in
developing BACE inhibitor for treatment of Alzheimer disease. In 2015 company did various
collaboration with different companies for innovate the drugs of different disease like
Nafoxadolfor treatment of Opioid induced constipation, gyrase inhibitor, non – Hodgkin’s
lymphoma, myelodysplastic and myeloma. In 2020 company innovate the vaccine against the
virus called Coronavirus.
Organisation existing innovation performance and capabilities.
Multinational company like AstraZeneca has placed the growth with the different and
efficient innovation in the field of pharmaceutical industry. With innovations in their existing
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performance company is leading in thepharmaceutical industry. Company’s aim is to push up
their boundaries in a way towards the science, to deliver the best medicines to cure from the
disease. The company is regularly doing the innovation and updating in the new products of
medicines to cure the patients and changes their life with the medicines. Recently the company
launched the vaccine for the covid, and it is approved by the oxford. The WHO recently in 2021
updates regarding the use of the vaccine of the AstraZeneca that it is most helpful for patients
(Palmer, 2021). The new drugs of the AstraZeneca performed strongly and influenced in London
by decreasing the numberof patients suffering from cholesterol. Company spends six billion U.S.
dollar in research and development in 2020. Company profits in 2020 were $ 26,617 million.
Patent is given the right to the company to produce the drug and the AstraZeneca, also they have
various patents for their drugs.
Company recently also develops cancer drug in India. A capsulenamed Acalabrutinib 100 is
launched by the company for different types of blood cancer and helps patients to cure from
disease of blood cancer. The existing performance of AstraZeneca is on growth where different
and effective innovations are done by the company for growth in industry. The company is
focussing on the oncology to provide cure for patients withcancer (Iacobucci, 2021). With the
use of the science all the measures for cancer are understood by the company and
all possible complexities, innovating the medicine for life changing treatment for patients.
The performance of the company is increasing and has innovated in different areas finding
effective medicines thanks to the efficient team of research and development department. With
the use of effective and recent technology company is producing and innovating their new and
existing products.
The entire world is suffering from the most hazardous disease known as coronavirus and
every pharmaceutical companyis engaged to improve the vaccine to be protected from the virus,
and AstraZeneca get success in producing the vaccine against the virus and establishes their
name globally. This vaccine is approved by WHO and there is various testing before launching
and approving it. For producing the vaccine AstraZeneca did more than 60 tests for safety and
quality control for every batch of vaccine. AstraZeneca is regularly innovating their products in
the different fields especially in oncology to cure diseases like cancer. Company’s capabilities
for revolutionizing are high with the development of new products with the use of recent and
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efficient technologies. AstraZeneca produces their products with the use of latest innovative
technologies which increases the productivity and completes their work in minimum time.
AstraZeneca uses the innovation model in their operations so that they can be efficient and
effective and help expansion of the company in the industry, with effective use of the model.
With the use of Mckinsey 7s model AstraZeneca did the innovation in company products. This
model is set to achieve the goals with the interaction with the 7s of the model for the
effectiveness in the organisation. The internal key elements are used by the company for the
effectiveness and innovation (Cox, Pinfield, and Rutter, 2019). The key elements are-
Strategy. The effective strategy is used by the company to achieve the competitive advantage and
get success in the market. The overall business strategy of AstraZeneca is clearly defined to the
employees and the stakeholder so that the work is to be done effectively.
Structure -AstraZeneca has the flattered organisation hierarchy that helps the company by
supporting the learning and progress in the organisation.
System. Company has well democratic system and with the innovation of the new product the
testing of the product is to be done several times to clearly understand the effectiveness.
Shared values. The core values for the company are to provide the best medicine for the patients
that create the values for them and change their lives.
Style. Company uses the leadership style to engage and involve its employee in decision making.
Staff. Staff of AstraZeneca is well trained and have deep knowledge in the pharmaceutical and
have different roles and positions.
Skill. The workforce of AstraZeneca is highly skilled and capability to work in the ever growing
and trending pharmaceutical company.In The specific industry employees are experts and highly
valued from their employers.
The industry in 2021.
Today pharmaceutical companiesare playing a significant role and have largest sector in
the industry is cover up by them. In the UK pharmaceutical is the third largest industry. This
industry gets huge attention due to the pandemic and also central position in the economy for the
recovery of the consequences after all the lockdowns and business closures. This industry is in
the growth process and can afford more investments in research and development for producing
medicines for the current virus and the fungus from which patients are affected. To achieve
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constant progress and to do the research and development the pharmaceutical most UK budget
announces various important publications. For research and development government release
from tax in this sector by aiming to keep the UK research sector in the competitive location
(Lawrence, and Kopcha, 2017). Deduction is given to the companies for investing in the new
plants and also investing in the machinery for assets. A scheme is introduced for the highly
innovative companies that are effectively working in the innovation by working with the life
sciences; aim to raise the fund to at least $20 million.
The Pharma and the life science sector of the UK is growing towards the success in the UK
economy and specially from the last year it is showing the strength for UK economy. UK is
being long in the innovation and development of the new drugs is expertise globally. The
pharmaceutical industry is the strength of UK economy. With the success of Oxford AstraZeneca
vaccine for Covid-19, country effectively researched and discover on the drug that helps to
benefits to benefit human health across the globe (Kalungia, and et.al., 2019). With the recent
development and research in the pharmaceutical sector the company is developing and building
the economy in the UK.
In 2021 the pharma sector entered with the highest presence and funding from ever. For the
success of Covid -19 treatments the industry has wider investors and public support with the
funding in the research and development of vaccine to safe people from covid virus. For the
discovery of the drug and the development sector government introduced $22 billion for the
study to test different vaccines combination effectiveness (Rahman. 2021). Also announced for
the pharmaceutical industry in UK of $5 million investments in the clinical scale of mRNA
manufacturing in UK to create the library of different vaccines that will help to work against the
disease called Covid -19 variants with the rapid response.
With the budget announcement in the UK for pharmaceutical industry to building and
encourages in the investment into the pharmaceutical sector with the immense intellectual
property. With this in addition the extra $1.65 billion injections are ensured for the vaccination in
England, this industry also welcomed the UK wide ‘future fund’ of worth $ 375 million. All
these will fund, and the budget helps the pharmaceutical for their immense growth in the world
with the effective budget and research and development (Am Ende., 2019). The pharma
companies in the UK immensely growing and innovating in their areas for the growth globally
and experiment the different vaccine to protect from the covid to the people.
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Porter’s five force of AstraZeneca
Threats of new entrants
New entrant can enter in healthcare with innovation and lowering in price strategy and
providing new value, AstraZeneca tackle them by innovating new products to attract new
customers and also for existing customers. Threats of entrants in AstraZeneca are low.
Bargaining power of suppliers
AstraZeneca build the relations with many suppliers especially with those suppliers
whose business is totally depends on AstraZeneca (Gomera, Chinyamurindi, and Mishi, 2018).
The bargaining power of suppliers is low.
Bargaining power of buyers
Buyers of the firm are always demanding. AstraZeneca build large customers base this
gives an opportunity to company to streamline their production and sales. The bargaining power
of buyers is high.
Threats of substitute
AstraZeneca focuses more by providing best services products and understand the core
needs of customers. The threats of substitute are high.
Rivalry among existing competitors
The rivalries among existing competitors are high with the increase in health conscious
and after the pandemic. AstraZeneca build the sustainable difference, collaborate with
competitors to increase market share.
CONCLUSION
From this report it inferred that innovation is important for every business for their growth
and survival in the industry. The innovation is to be managed by the business for the effective
and efficient use of the innovation techniques. Company like AstraZeneca leading in the
pharmaceutical industry have significant growth in the industry with its innovation in their
products on the regular basis. This innovation leads the company to be the largest pharmaceutical
company in the world. With the innovation company produce the different medicines to cure the
patients from the diseases and give them the value to the life. In the UK Company
Pharmaceutical is the third largest industry by success and growth.
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REFERENCES
Journals and books
Am Ende, M.T. ed., 2019. Chemical Engineering in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Drug Product
Design, Development, and Modeling. John Wiley & Sons.
Cox, A.M., Pinfield, S. and Rutter, S., 2019. Extending McKinsey’s 7S model to understand
strategic alignment in academic libraries. Library Management.
Gomera, S., Chinyamurindi, W.T. and Mishi, S., 2018. Relationship between strategic planning
and financial performance: The case of small, micro-and medium-scale businesses in
the Buffalo City Metropolitan. South African Journal of Economic and Management
Sciences. 21(1). pp.1-9.
Iacobucci, G., 2021. Covid-19: Most UK adults had antibodies after one dose of AstraZeneca or
Pfizer vaccine, data suggest.
Kalungia, A., and et.al., 2019. UK and Zambian Pharmacists Working Together: Improving
Antimicrobial Stewardship and Pharmaceutical Education.
Lawrence, X.Y. and Kopcha, M., 2017. The future of pharmaceutical quality and the path to get
there. International journal of pharmaceutics. 528(1-2). pp.354-359.
Nicholls, S.J., and et.al., 2018. Assessment of omega‐3 carboxylic acids in statin‐treated patients
with high levels of triglycerides and low levels of high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol:
rationale and design of the STRENGTH trial. Clinical cardiology. 41(10). pp.1281-
1288.
Palmer, S.J., 2021. A review of evidence for thromboembolic events associated with Oxford-
AstraZeneca vaccination: risks, limitations and implications.
Rana, E.A., and et.al., 2021. Severity assessment of single dose Oxford–AstraZeneca vaccinated
individuals infected with SARS CoV-2 in the Southeast Bangladesh. medRxiv.
Shah, M.H., and et.al., 2018. NCCN guidelines insights: neuroendocrine and adrenal tumors,
version 2.2018. Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. 16(6).
pp.693-702.
Online references
Nieminen, J., 2020. What Is Innovation in Business and Why Is It So Important?. [Online].
Available through <https://www.viima.com/the-innovation-archive/innovation-in-
business>. [Accessed on 11 June, 2021].
Rahman. L., 2021. What the UK Budget means for the pharma sector: industry reaction.
[Online]. Available through < https://www.ddw-online.com/what-the-uk-budget-means-
for-the-pharma-sector-industry-reaction-10068-202103/>. [Accessed on 11 June, 2021].
Websites
Astrazeneca.com. 2021. AstraZeneca - Research-Based BioPharmaceutical Company.
[online] Available at: <https://www.astrazeneca.com
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