The Ivey Business School case study documenting my work — “Boehringer Ingelheim: Leading Innovation” (Ivey Publishing, January 2015) — has been taught in over 42 business schools across at least 23 countries, including Harvard Business School, INSEAD, the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, Wharton, and the London Business School. – The case study is also available at HBR.
My forthcoming book — The OrgChanger: Why Organizations Resist the Change They Ask For and How Insiders Build What Lasts, to be published by Publish Your Purpose — documents the full framework behind his speaking topics with case studies, data, and a tested ten-step playbook.
It is the full account behind that business case study: the decisions that were not obvious at the time, the relationships that took years to build, the failures the case study format cannot accommodate, and the human cost that sits behind every set of documented results.
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Case Overview
The newly appointed director of Innovation Management & Strategy at Boehringer Ingelheim, a German-based multinational pharmaceutical company, is finding his way forward in his firm’s new, first-of-its-kind role, which is central to the company’s growth rejuvenation strategy. His job has a threefold mandate: to build internal networks, to establish internal structures and to leverage internal ideas. His biggest challenge, however, may be transforming the organization’s DNA. The blockbuster business model that has characterized the company for decades is no longer appropriate. Instead, the firm needs to develop healthcare products available to end users over the counter. This shift in strategy requires innovative changes in distribution, delivery and customer focus. To accomplish this goal, he needs to institutionalize innovation so that it becomes sustainable. But in doing so, he must also identify the metrics for assessing progress. The case provides an opportunity for students to step into the shoes of an innovation leader, to develop an innovation roadmap for the organization in the face of uncertainty and to understand how to engage in innovation leadership at various levels of a global enterprise.
This case addresses a secondary case issue within the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion Collection.
Learning Objectives
This case has two key objectives. First, this case provides students an opportunity to grapple with the difficult decisions associated with innovation in an uncertain environment. Second, this case highlights that anyone has the ability to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset and to lead innovation. The case divides the attributes of an innovation leader into five components: observing, questioning, experimenting, networking and associating. It shows the real-life experiences of a manager doing seemingly routine activities, who evolved into a leader who transformed the DNA of a global enterprise. The case also provides a template of the tasks, responsibilities and value-added changes as an individual moves progressively within an enterprise from an operations manager to a senior manager to an innovation leader. This case can be used either toward the beginning or toward the end of any course that addresses innovation and creative thinking in a large organization. At the beginning of a course, it illustrates the challenges of acting in the face of uncertainty in a large organization. At the end of a course, the case provides an opportunity for students to apply what they have learned about innovation, entrepreneurial thinking and innovation leadership.
For Academia
Are you a professor or course designer using the Ivey case study?
The Orgchanger book is a direct companion to the case study.
For review copies, classroom licensing inquiries, or guest lecture requests, please email me at OrgChanger@Klaschka.Co, schedule a call with me, or use the Contact Form.