The Bellwether Group, Inc.

Situation

The product integrity function at a major pharmaceutical company was experiencing difficulties in coordinating its anti-counterfeiting activities around the world and bringing its local investigative capabilities to bear in an optimal manner. The global nature of counterfeiting challenged our client in identifying global supply chains from source through retail fulfillment as locally generated intelligence was not being effectively integrated. Bellwether’s help was requested to evaluate its organization and management. 

 
Approach

All formal and informal internal engagement mechanisms were identified and mapped.  These consisted of leadership teams, steering committees and tactical guidance councils. Bellwether team members conducted structured interviews with all core team members and regional management representing all facets of the business.  These interviews provided a 360-degree view of the global investigative capability and enabled it to identify communication gaps, critical path constraints and obstacles within the organization.  Additional interviews with other internal groups and senior leaders provided further insight as to how the investigative function could be more effective in achieving its overall goals and mission.

Analysis & Results

This third-party approach to improving policy development, decision-making, implementation tactics and communication proved invaluable in soliciting broad support for the investigations group. By mapping these capabilities to the relevant constituent groups and corporate goals, we were able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the existing structure. A wealth of information was identified as being generated, but it was not being effectively analyzed or shared at both local and centralized levels and consequently was not readily available for decision-making. Overall, the intelligence function was considered appropriately structured but had a number of procedural weaknesses and was missing an essential supporting data integration and analytic infrastructure.

Benefits to Client

Our recommendations to invest in a centralized intelligence repository with central command linked to distributed local analytic capabilities were immediately implemented. This created a coordinated analytic infrastructure that enabled the integration of all worldwide intelligence data generated. As a result, the company was much better able to generate useful and timely information for making decisions. In addition, overall goals and objectives were re-defined and shared equally by all investigative groups involved. Significant time was saved while, at the same time, communication and decision-making improved. The company received a higher level of support from the investigative group and benefited substantially from the higher leverage and commitment to continual improvement.