Let’s All Do The Crowdsource And Clap Our Hands Together!

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Cristina Falcão
09/20/2011

"I do believe Marsellus Wallace, my husband, your boss, told you to take ME out and do WHATEVER I WANTED. Now I wanna dance, I wanna win. I want that trophy, so dance good". Mia Wallace, Pulp Fiction (1994)

Big Pharma never ceases to take prodigies out of the hat!

Would you believe that many drugs were "helped" if not "invented" by the anonymous person in the crowd?

There is this challenge with a nice award to crack sugar-insulin mismatches and they are asking for the wisdom of the crowd. Now, I am one in the crowd and I walk the talk so I GIAT!

Some “Secrets” about Outsourcing…..

Crowdsourcing

Jeff Howe (June 2006) first proposed the idea of Crowd sourcing.” Whether you believe crowd sourcing is a gimmick, or the next big thing, it’s important to note that the idea is still in its early, some would say idealistic, years. How it was proposed, and what it may become, will be largely based on how it is interpreted. “

Eight years before, 1998, Eli Lilly created a crowdsourcing platform called” InnoCentive” to solve problems!” InnoCentive” connects applicant organisations (seekers) with innovators (solvers). As soon as a seeker chooses a solution to his problem, the winning solver receives a premium, which is usually higher than $10 000.

Any average Joe can find the answer to a major dug research at crossroads and at practically zero costs!

Asia as competitive advantage

An increasingly important source of competitive advantage is buying components, finished goods, and services from low cost countries in Asia. Sourcing directly from foreign suppliers requires great purchasing “know-how” and is riskier than other alternatives that use locally based wholesalers and representatives. Fear of the unknown due to lack of knowledge about foreign cultures and business practices can furthermore hold back an otherwise rational decision to initiate international sourcing.

Slowdown of annual growth rates

The growth of pharma industries will slow down through 2014.

The Chinese market growth annual rate is expected to be of 20 % through 2034.

People cannot be outsourced

Pharmaceutical sales representatives cannot be outsourced or replaced by technology.

The number of sales reps in pharmaceuticals has increased by 500% since 1970.

Outsourcing common myths

It is important to prioritise outsourcing objectives and communicate them widely within the organisation, because different expectations about the outsourcing project can cause misunderstandings that can lead to project failure.
Some people, including managers, think, for instance, that outsourcing back-office operations is like “procuring stationery.”

Realising that outsourcing has transaction costs is fundamental.

We Need an Ironclad Contract

Sometimes contracts are so inflexible that customers need to sign new ones to handle any unexpected changes, such as new industry regulations or a change in business strategy

Contracts Don't Matter

On the other hand, there are companies’ that see no need for contracts, assuming there is a partnership with the service provider, when there are no grounds to such assumption.

Service Providers as Insurance Companies

This complicated issue leads to bad negotiation. The client believes the service provider should bear greater liability for failure than regular, in-house employees should.

While that stands to reason, the belief that the client can outsource all the risk with unlimited indemnities to the service provider, in case of failure, is not reasonable.

We Got Rid of the Problem

There are companies that never think twice about the outsourced work as if they got rid of a headache. That is not possible; the client must retain the knowledge underlying the process and control the whole operation together with the service provider.

We Tried, It Failed, and We Want No More
Many companies do not see their first outsourcing experience in a constructive way. However, that is not a reason to give up on outsourcing; there is much to learn between client and service provider and a relationship to build.

Outsourcing sleeping drugs to India

There are pharmaceutical companies outsourcing and advertising sleeping drugs to local markets; the negative comments of renowned Psychiatrists about the effects of such drugs do not help the company’s corporate image .(1)

Life — and investing — is all about probabilities. We don’t know what is going to happen in the future — certainly not with any degree of confidence. What we can surely asses are a range of possibilities as to what might happen; we can also assign a range of probabilities to various outcomes. (2)

(1) “Pushing Western medicine with fear in India,” Frederik Joelving, Reuters Health, 7/7/11, http://www.reuters.com/search?blob=Pushing+Western+medicine+with+fear+in+India%E2%80%9D+Frederik+Joelving

(2) Barry Ritholtz - August 2, 2011