Our Research
Research: Business Education in an Age of Science and Technology by Fred D. Ledley and Eric A. Oches
Excerpt: In a 1994 interview, Carl Sagan described the relationship between science and society thus. ‘We live in a society absolutely dependent on science and technology and yet have cleverly arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. That's a clear prescription for disaster.’ (Kalosh, 1994). This view of a world dependent on, yet largely ignorant of, science and technology is an apt description of the situation facing business today. The global economy is increasingly dependent on science and technology. Joseph McCann, Dean of the Sykes College of Business at the University of Tampa in Florida, has written in BizEd that the ‘Next Economy’ is a ‘science and knowledge economy’ in which ‘industries revolve around the convergence of technologies such as computing, communications, and engineering, and the growing importance of life sciences such as physics, biology, and chemistry.’ (McCann, 2006).
Assessing the history and value of Human Genome Sciences by Laura M. McNamee and Fred D. Ledley
Human Genome Science (HGS) aspired to dominate the emergent field of genomics by discovering expressed gene sequences and developing therapeutic and diagnostic products based on proprietary genes. While HGS' accomplishments fell short of their own lofty expectations, by the time HGS was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline, the company had extensive intellectual property and had launched a product with $1 billion market potential. Nevertheless, HGS' acquisition price was less than the total capital investments in the company. This work examines HGS' history and accomplishments in the context of the business plan described by the company at their IPO. We focus specifically on the company's valuation over time, which was highly correlated with general market indices, but negatively correlated with metrics of technical or clinical progress. The history of HGS points to the challenge of accounting for the value created by a science-based business plan. Earnings-based metrics, present value calculations, and "fair value" assessments did not account for HGS' progress in executing their stated business plan. This work highlights the critical need for accounting practices that credit value to the progress of translational science and enable investors to profit from such investments.
Translational Science by Public Biotechnology Companies in the IPO “Class of 2000, by Laura McNamee and Fred Ledley
The biotechnology industry plays a central role in the translation of nascent biomedical science into both products that offer material health benefits and creating capital growth. This study examines the relationship between the maturity of technologies in a characteristic life cycle and value creation by biotechnology companies. We examined the core technology, product development pipelines, and capitalization for a cohort of biotechnology companies that completed an IPO in 2000. Each of these companies was well financed and had core technologies on the leading edge of biological science. We found that companies with the least mature technologies had significantly higher valuations at IPO, but failed to develop products based on these technologies over the ensuing decade, and created less capital growth than companies with more mature technologies at IPO. The observation that this cohort of recently public biotechnology companies was not effective in creating value from nascent science suggests the need for new, evidence-based business strategies for translational science.
Making the biotech IPO work by Laura McNamee and Fred Ledley
The past decade has been a difficult time for biotech companies trying to access public markets. As capital markets became more restricted, investors became less willing to invest in companies that were focused on preclinical science, as opposed to products in late stage clinical development. In fact, of the 28 biotech companies focused on therapeutic products that completed IPOs between 2011 and the Q1/2013, 25 had at least one product in phase 2 or beyond, and 16 had at least one product as far as phase 3, including 3 with products on the market. In doing so, investors eschewed investments in translational science that have traditionally been the mainstay of the biotechnology enterprise. What does this mean for investors and for the biotech industry?
Patterns of technological innovation in biotech, by Laura M. McNamee and Fred D. Ledley
Theories of innovation posit that effective product development and value creation require business models and strategies matched to the stage of technology evolution. Such theories are predicated on patterns of technology evolution observed in other fields, where periods of exponential advancement are followed by limits and obsolescence as new technologies emerge. In this paper, we describe analogous patterns of technological evolution for three classes of therapeutic biotechnologies—somatic gene therapy, nucleotide therapeutics, and monoclonal antibodies—and discuss the potential relevance of business innovation theories to the biotechnology industry.
Why commercialization of gene therapy stalled; examining the life cycles of gene therapy technologies, by Ledley, F. D., L. M. McNamee, V. Uzdil, and I. W. Morgan
This report examines the commercialization of gene therapy in the context of innovation theories that posit a relationship between the maturation of a technology through its life cycle and prospects for successful product development. We show that the field of gene therapy has matured steadily since the 1980s, with the congruent accumulation of >35 000 papers, >16 000 US patents, >1800 clinical trials and >$4.3 billion in capital investment in gene therapy companies. Gene therapy technologies comprise a series of dissimilar approaches for gene delivery, each of which has introduced a distinct product architecture. Using bibliometric methods, we quantify the maturation of each technology through a characteristic life cycle S-curve, from a Nascent stage, through a Growing stage of exponential advance, toward an Established stage and projected limit. Capital investment in gene therapy is shown to have occurred predominantly in Nascent stage technologies and to be negatively correlated with maturity. Gene therapy technologies are now achieving the level of maturity that innovation research and biotechnology experience suggest may be requisite for efficient product development. Asynchrony between the maturation of gene therapy technologies and capital investment in development-focused business models may have stalled the commercialization of gene therapy.
Learning Objectives and Content of Science Curricula for Undergraduate Management Education, Journal of Management Education, by Fred D. Ledley & Stephen S. Holt
Business is progressively integrating technologies and R&D with corporate and business strategy. This trend is creating increasing demand for executives and managers who have sufficient technology-centered knowledge to work effectively in interdisciplinary environments. This study addresses how management education could address the growing need for such pluralistic training by embracing development of undergraduate science curriculum attuned to the needs of business students. We found that science courses are part of the required curriculum at 80% of BusinessWeek’s “top business schools.” To assess what content and learning objectives might best meet the needs of business students, we conducted a survey of educators from business, science, and arts and sciences in general and examined curriculum developed explicitly for business students at two freestanding business institutions. These results suggest that science courses could better serve business education by providing a broad picture of scientific principles and their presence in everyday life, promoting critical thinking and inductive reasoning, and enabling understanding of scientific research, technical innovation, and product development as well as their ethical and social implications. Development of such courses would require collaboration between management and science educators to ensure that the scientific content of the courses meet the highest standards of evidence-based science education and the business context is grounded in rigorous management principles and practices.
Patterns of technological innoviation in biotech, Nature Biotechnology, by Laura M. McNamee & Fred D. Ledley
Theories of innovation posit that effective product development and value creation require business models and strategies matched to the stage of technology evolution. Such theories are predicated on patterns of technology evolution observed in other fields, where periods of exponential advancement are followed by limits and obsolescence as new technologies emerge. In this paper, we describe analogous patterns of technological evolution for three classes of therapeutic biotechnologies—somatic gene therapy, nucleotide therapeutics, and monoclonal antibodies—and discuss the potential relevance of business innovation theories to the biotechnology industry.
Bridging the Boundary between Science and Business, The International Journal of Science in Society, by Fred Ledley
Theories of innovation posit that effective product development and value creation require business models and strategies matched to the stage of technology evolution. Such theories are predicated on patterns of technology evolution observed in other fields, where periods of exponential advancement are followed by limits and obsolescence as new technologies emerge. In this paper, we describe analogous patterns of technological evolution for three classes of therapeutic biotechnologies—somatic gene therapy, nucleotide therapeutics, and monoclonal antibodies—and discuss the potential relevance of business innovation theories to the biotechnology industry.