Alliance Management At Eli Lilly Lesson Essay

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Pages: 36

Alliance Management at Eli Lilly: Lessons on How Alliance Capability Contributes to Sustainable Advantage

Luvison, Dave, Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship

Executive Summary
Alliances have long been an important strategy in the pharmaceutical industry even thoughmore than half fail. Eli Lilly set out to create a core competence in the area of strategic alliancemanagement that would not only improve its success rate, but also differentiate the firm fromits competitors in the industry. The manner in which Lilly approached that challenge providesan applied example of how theories of organizational values, the resource based view, the fiveforces and the extended value chain can promote sustainable advantage. More
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They are further subdividedinto four areas: principles of medical research; health, safety, and environment; direct- to-consumer advertising; and animal care and use ("Business practices," n.d.). Finally, they arearticulated in two formal statements of ethical behavior: the Red Book- Code of BusinessConduct and the "Code of Ethical Conduct for Lilly Financial Management."
Lilly's alliance collaborations are guided by a similar set of values that direct the firm to"discover, develop, and deliver the innovative pharmaceutical therapies that will help peoplelive longer, healthier, and more active lives" by following a collaborative vision, a globallynetworked strategy, and a straightforward approach ("Partnerships," n.d.). The companyholds three core principles toward its collaborations: (a) make alliances a true, writtencorporate policy, (b) establish an actual process for forming alliances and helping them workeffectively, and (c) ensure that certain foundational elements that feed alliance success areconsistent among all alliances (Stach, 2006).
However, goals and missions are ineffective if they are not communicated effectivelythroughout the organization (Neely & Wilson, 1992). To this end, Lilly appears to have gone tosignificant lengths to promote and reinforce its mission and values. In addition to theprominent placement of Lilly's core values on the corporate