Drug shortages can’t be solved by using ‘the system’; only by hacking that system. A hack, as defined by Sean Parker, the creator of Napster and Facebook pioneer “is ‘a clever work-around or a clever way of leveraging an existing system to do something you didn’t think it was going to be able to do’ ” […]
In a number of articles that I read recently, particularly a brilliant study by the MIT Sloan School of Management and Delloitt, I observed consistent evidence that the most ubiquitous use of Social Media in the enterprise is in customer-facing activities – Marketing, Sales and Customer Service. As my friend Mark Schaefer wrote, there is […]
A year ago, I was interviewed by Professor Peter Carr from the University of Waterloo, on the subject of social media and its impact on Supply Chains. Prof. Carr was kind enough to ask me wonderful questions and to give me the time and space to speak on some of my favorite subjects. Given the interest […]
Our world has been going through an ever accelerating storm of change to the fundamental underpinnings of society and the economy for the better part of 2 decades and in my humble opinion, it has gone past the tipping point from yesterday to tomorrow. In other words, it is no longer maybe changing into a […]
I wrote elsewhere that the hierarchical structures of the industrial-age command and control organizations is outdated and we should replace it with networks of multi-disciplinary cells of individuals functioning as dynamic ‘swarms’, spontaneously combining their skills to respond to the challenges of work life. I also wrote that organizations should be process driven, i.e., have […]
Many of us come across this challenge: take a traditional command and control, vertically integrated organization and make it nimble and fast. It may be that you manage an operation; or that you’re involved in an ERP project; or maybe you’re just part of some continuous improvement initiative. If you’ve faced that kind of challenge, […]
Today I picked up yet another article about the crisis of drug shortages in the U.S., this one by The New Your Times on MSNBC.com. Many of the usual causes alleged by other articles are mentioned here: industry consolidation, quality challenges, price issues, etc. Ok, we know all this and it’s getting old… What are […]
At a recent Webinar hosted by the Enterprise 2.0 conference, I talked about my experience applying social tools in a pharmaceutical, manufacturing environment (that of Teva Canada). A number of questions were asked about the challenges these tools face with the ‘incumbent’ culture. The pharmaceutical industry is known for its conservative environment and bringing to […]
