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B.
Dance With Many Potential Partners |
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As we all have done at some time in our lives at a dance, we immediately seek out potential partners to whom we are attracted by first impressions. Ask them to dance, but do not stop there. Seek out other potential partners who may not be your first choice. By expanding your potential partner universe, a better choice may become apparent. During the dance, you can talk with the partner, get a feel as to who they are and what they are looking for, or if they are looking for anything at all. It may be that a potential partner who looks attractive, at first, may not want to talk with you or pursue an alliance. |
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Once you have danced with many potential partners, take a step back and go through some defined criteria (i.e., items that are specifically important to you) to determine which, with a very preliminary determination, seem like a good match. Some suggested criteria are |
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market presence (industry standing, geographic diversity, etc.) |
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product portfolio (branded products, generics, innovative products, me-too's, old products, therapeutic value, cost effectiveness, competitive advantages, etc.) |
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R&D portfolio (technical innovation, breadth and scope, depth, development stages, etc.) |
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R&D technology base (cutting edge or classical, technological partners, scientific credibility, academic associations, etc.) |
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therapeutic areas of focus (synergistic with yours, overlapping, expanding, level of expertise, etc.) |
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financial stability and profitability |
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public or private company |
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Now that you have identified a series of criteria with appropriate gradations and/or definitions of good versus bad, create a prioritized list of the companies, separate them by tiers, where tier one looks like the best match, followed by tier two, and maybe tier three. With a prioritized list, the indepth search can begin. One of the most common pitfalls in pursuing an alliance is that many companies create a short-list of the most likely potential partners very early without appropriate due diligence. The result may be that the best partner is one that is not even considered. On the other hand, there is a danger of overanalysis, which leads to the common problem |
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