MBA501: Dynamic Strategy and Disruptive Innovation - FutureMed Case

This case study examines FutureMed, an Australian radiopharmaceutical company, focusing on its dynamic strategy and disruptive innovation capabilities. It analyzes internal structures, such as senior management's project evaluation approach, and recommends improvements like embracing risk-tak...Read More

Running Head: DYNAMIC STRATEGY AND DISRUPTIVE INNNOVATION
Dynamic Strategy and Disruptive Innovation
Name of the Student
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Author Note

1DYNAMIC STRATEGY AND DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
1. Key Internal Structures Impacting the Innovative Capacity of the Organization...............2
2. Understanding the Key External Factors impacting the Innovative Capacity of the
Organization...............................................................................................................................4
3. Understanding the Key External Factors that Impact the Innovative Capacity of the
Organization from a Marketing Perspective..............................................................................6
4. Understanding the Key Factors that Influence the Innovative Capacity of the
Organization from a Technological Perspective........................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Future Med is one of the largest listed companies in Australia that engages in the
marketing as well as in the development of radioactive pharmaceuticals. The radioactive
pharmaceuticals are essentially pharmaceutical drugs which are radioactive in nature. These
are unique medical formulations that comprise of radio isotopes and are made use of in a
number of clinical areas for the purpose of therapy and diagnosis. The radiopharmaceuticals
are mostly made use of in the nuclear physics field, primarily as radioactive tracers. These are
used in activities like medical imaging as well as in the domain of therapy for treating
different types of diseases. This report analyzes the key internal structures and external
structures that impact the innovative capacity of the Future Med Company and recommends
ways to improve innovative processes. The report also discuses how the external factors
influence the company’s capacity to innovative from a marketing and technological
perspective and suggests ways in which innovative can be encouraged in this respect.
1. Key Internal Structures Impacting the Innovative Capacity of the Organization
The senior management of the Future Med Company makes it a point to meet with
each other on a regular basis in order to discuss in detail the demerits and merits of new
projects. Any new project or undertaking of the company is pondered over and contemplated
as much as it is possible to do so by senior members of the Future Med management,
comprising those who hold leading positions in departments such as finance, operations,
marketing and research and last but not least, development (Taha et al. 2016). The Future
Med Company is involved in the production of pharmaceuticals that are radioactive in nature
and which need to be innovated with on a regular basis if these are to attract customers over
the long term. A lot of scientific research and investigation must go into the production of the
radioactive pharmaceuticals. It is a fact well known that thorough and detailed scientific

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investigation can only take place with the help of proper financing and organization and this
approach taken up on the part of the senior management at Future Med to discuss the pros
and cons of each and every project in detail before finally approving to its implementation
has worked well as far impressing stakeholders is concerned. The company has managed to
increase the dividends that it pays its shareholders as a result of this approach which in turn
has increased the expectations of the shareholders too. The shareholders at the Future Med
Company expect a higher rate of returns from the investment that they make in the business
owing to the initiative taken on the part of the senior management to critically evaluate every
scientific project in detail prior to its execution.
While the innovative approach is definitely one that reaps good results for the Future
Med Company, the fact that there are no suitable technologies in place to detect or identify
disruptive innovations, is a problem. There are a number of ways by which the approach to
innovation that is taken by the senior management at the Future Med Company, can be
improved upon. Instead of merely discussing the benefits and the demerits that implementing
a certain scientific project can have on the growth and development of the company, the
senior management at Future Med should demonstrate the willingness to take a few risks
when undertaking scientific research. It is a fact well known that innovation can only be
encouraged in an environment where experimentation is approved of, and only by taking a
certain number of risks when doing research and executing scientific projects can innovation
come through (Amabile and Pratt 2016). Opting for the tried and tested methods in carrying
out research will not encourage or promote innovation in the least (Anderson et al. 2014).
The members of the senior management at the Future Med company need to be more
proactive as far as innovation is concerned and should draw up and support research
proposals for undertaking projects that till date may have appeared to be a bit too risky.
Ground breaking and novel research needs to be undertaken in the domain of radioactive

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pharmacy by the employees of the Future Med Company if the company wishes to launch
innovative products in the market and make its share holders even happier than they are at
present. The senior management of the company should portray a willingness to undertake
research in areas of radioactive pharmacy that are still not known to experts in the field and
only then can they come up with innovative findings that can help the company to attract the
attention of customers and investors when it launches its products in the market.
2. Understanding the Key External Factors impacting the Innovative Capacity of
the Organization
The work culture at the Future Med company is quite conservative in nature with
many of the senior members of the management being well past fifty years of age. Several of
the senior management members have old fashioned ideas and concepts about how scientific
research and project implementation should be carried out in the field of radioactive
pharmacy and are entirely resistant to new ways and means of thinking about things or doing
things. This resistance to change that is so characteristic of the working environment at the
Future Med Company is one that has hampered innovative thinking and activity in the
company quite considerably. The members of the senior management at the Future Med
Company need to create an ambience where different ideas and views about radioactive
pharmacy research can be freely expressed. The suggestions made on the part of employees
should be accepted and acknowledged, and if some of the ideas or concepts suggested make
sense, then plans should be drawn up for their proper implementation. The researchers
working at the Future Med Company need to be given plenty of freedom and flexibility in
order to come up with unique findings and discoveries that will help in creating innovative
products. Only by being given enough time and space to think about things can the
researchers actually gain the confidence and the interest that is needed in order to carry out

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detailed scientific research in radioactive pharmacy. This is quite a novel branch of science
and if innovative products are to be launched by the Future Med Company it needs to stop
imposing restrictions on its researchers by creating a conservative corporate culture that
dismisses free thinking (Sung and Choi 2014).
A good way to disband the conservative culture that is so prevalent at the Future Med
Company is to perhaps recruit members into the senior management who are well qualified
and experienced, but who are younger in age and not as orthodox or old fashioned as the
current members of the company’s senior management. Young business leaders are usually
innovative in their thinking and in their approach to business, and it is possible that by
incorporating younger members into the senior management at the Future Med Company that
a breakthrough can be achieved as far as innovating thinking and action is concerned. The
younger members of the senior management will surely be open to drafting new ideas and
concepts for undertaken research on radioactive pharmacy and will also be willing to take on
the risks that are necessary in order to do business in a highly innovative way. Young
business leaders are also well versed with how risks in business can be mitigated and how
innovation can be undertaken without compromising the growth and development of the
business. They can suggest ways and means by which innovative projects maybe
implemented without triggering any substantive monetary loss for the company.
The conservative corporate culture that is prevalent at the Future Med Company and
which is resistant to new ideas and innovation as a whole is one that should be replaced with
a culture where workers are not isolated from one another and where they are not subjected to
an autocratic conservative senior management. The work environment in the Future Med
Company should be one where employees are encouraged to work in teams and share their
ideas and views with one another, and only then can innovative thinking, research and
business activity be allowed to flourish within the walls of the company.

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Innovation at the Future Med Company is also something that is greatly restricted by
external factors such as limited funding. Since radioactive pharmacy is still regarded as a
developing science, there are not too many investors who are willing to come forth and spend
the money that is needed to carry out research and development activities for producing
innovative products (Cano-Kollman et al. 2018). It is important to note as well that getting
radioactive pharmaceuticals adequately registered on the Australian Register of Therapeutic
goods is a difficult thing to do. Neighboring destinations like New Zealand and Indonesia for
example impose fewer restrictions and rules and regulations when it comes to developing the
radioactive pharmaceuticals. Australian manufacturers on the other hand face serious
restrictions and cannot be as innovative as they want to be. Efforts should therefore be made
by the Future Med Company, to engage more with the Australian Department of Health and
make them know about the value of radioactive pharmaceuticals in order to register and
encourage their use further and
3. Understanding the Key External Factors that Impact the Innovative Capacity of
the Organization from a Marketing Perspective
Market research at the Future Med Company is one that is carried out by the Research
and Development department. The marketing activities of the Future Med Company are
composed mostly of focused group activities. These are directed towards the target market of
the company, which is made up only of physicians and doctors. In spite of the Research and
Development department of the Future Med Company being made up of highly qualified
individuals, the department has little or no understanding of what physicians and doctors
actually want, or what they actually require. This lack of understanding has led the company
to create and market products that do not have too many takers in the target market and as a
result, the company is not being able to profit as much as it could had the research department

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had a better understanding of the type of products that doctors require from them. The
researchers at the Future Med Company need to communicate with doctors and physicians
more, and perhaps observe them very closely in the hospital set up in order to gain a better
understanding of exactly the type of products that the company needs to come up with in
order to generate profit in the long run as well as in the short term (Vogel and Fischler
Strasak 2014).
The Research and Development department at the Future Med Company should also
think about launching the products that are made available by the company, in all the right
places so as to market these better. Clinics and hospitals where radioactive therapy and
surgeries are carried out are places where the products of the Future Med Company need to
be marketed and distributed (Glor 2014). The company also needs to take recourse to social
media channels and marketing platforms online in order to make its products known to a
wider audience. Medical products are bought online quite frequently these days and by using
marketing platforms for the promotion of the Future Med products, including social media
use, the company can successfully make the diverse range of its products known to a wider
audience. The company marketing representatives, namely the Research and Development
department, will be able to reach out to a greater number of customers through social media
marketing and online marketing of its products and consequently bring in much revenue for
the company. Efforts should also be made to launch the Future Med products in all the top
Australian cities to attract a wider customer base for Future Med products (Ettlie et al. 2014).
Some of the prominent Australian cities where these products can be successfully launched
are Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart and Brisbane.
Finally, efforts must be undertaken on the part of the marketing representatives of the
Future Med Company to make its innovative products and services available at competitive
prices. By doing so, the marketing representatives can do a thorough job of enhancing the

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appeal of the Future Med products. While customers looking to buy radioactive
pharmaceuticals, that is, mostly the doctors and physicians in Australia, may at first be
hesitant to buy and experiment with innovative products (Baporikar 2015). However, if the
products are made available for competitive prices, then the hospital administration as well as
individual doctors will gain an interest in buying these innovative products and trying them
out in the lab before actually deciding whether or not to use these in scientific and medical
undertakings. The affordability of the innovative products will lead to a greater number of
doctors and physicians purchasing these, than usual (Palacious-Marques et al. 2015).
4. Understanding the Key Factors that Influence the Innovative Capacity of the
Organization from a Technological Perspective
Since the corporate culture at the Future Med Company is quite conservative in nature
and also since the funding for developing radioactive pharmaceuticals in Australia is so
limited, the research and development department of the company does not get access to all
the technological tools that it needs in order to create innovative products (Tortoriello 2017).
It lacks the technological infrastructure that is needed for developing radioactive
pharmaceuticals that are innovative in nature and this in turn has a direct role to play in
preventing the Future Med Company from growing and developing as well as it should be.
An increase in funding is definitely needed from shareholders if the best technology is to be
used when manufacturing radioactive pharmaceuticals (Kuratko 2014). Only when the
researchers working at the Future Med Company are given the scope of using well advanced
technological tools to do their work can they actually hit upon the type of products which are
innovative in nature and which will be sure to stand out in the market when launched. It is
also imperative on the part of the senior management at the Future Med Company to do away
with all the conservative culture and be willing to put funds to use in order to encourage

9DYNAMIC STRATEGY AND DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION
innovation within the organization. The senior managers need to stop resisting change and
innovation and should be willing to allocate funds as made available by investors to help its
researchers carry out experiments and come up with products that are novel in form, shape
and utility and which will have a new kind of appeal among consumers when launched in the
market. Finally, the Research and Development department at the Future Med Company
needs to be in line with the needs and the requirements of physicians and doctors to
understand the type of technology that needs to be used to produce products which are
innovative and which is likely to help the target customer base when using them (Mendes et
al. 2016).
Conclusion
Thus, by bringing about a change in the senior management, by encouraging free
thinking within the company, by demonstrating a willingness to take risks and by seeking out
the funding that is needed to avail the type of technological tools that facilitate the creation of
innovative products, can the Future Med Company embark on the process of being more
innovative in its manufacture of radioactive pharmaceuticals than what it is at present. The
company needs to overcome the challenges that are posed by the Australian bureaucracy on
the registration and the development of radioactive pharmaceuticals in the country by
negotiating with them more and must adopt the right marketing strategies to enhance the
commercial appeal of radioactive pharmaceuticals in the market, especially among its target
customer base that comprises of doctors and physicians.

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