Leveraging the Organizational Network: Series on Technology Trends for the Life Sciences Industry

To remain competitive, pharmaceutical and life sciences organizations should seek talent, resources, business solutions, and knowledge outside the boundaries of the typical organizational structure. Technology and the internet offer a unique opportunity for some of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies to look beyond their walls or internal networks for solutions to their business challenges.

This is a more imperative than ever because pharmaceutical companies are cannot focus solely on product development and marketing. Rather, they must also focus on information. Being an information and knowledge company requires giving collaboration and communication a more central strategic position. An essential element of this is establishing knowledge feedback that extends beyond firm boundaries and connects with partners along all stages of the value chain.

Organizations that devise ways to leverage talent and resources outside of firms’ brick-and-mortar walls are known as network-based organizations. These firms strive to become networks, harnessing volunteer labor to reduce costs and solve business dilemmas. Social-Networking can be a component of these network-centric organizations. For instance, by creating its own social-networking platform, a firm can tap into a vast network of knowledge that may exist outside the organization.

Volunteers may be able to login to some sort of virtual workspace, where they can offer insights or complete simple tasks. A healthcare organization based in London may be able to utilize knowledge from a pharmaceutical professional in Mumbai. Social-Networking and an increasingly interconnected world are allowing firms to “look outside the box” when it comes to doing business in the 21st Century.