BC's Profile

Great topic and article.

It will be interesting to see how GSK’s strategy plays out in the coming years. The decision to move away from high priced drugs seems to have been well-timed, given many drug prices (e.g., Sovaldi, Daraprim) have come under increased pressure in the last year. However, given the shift from “high price – low volume” products in western markets to “low price – high volume” products in emerging markets, I’m curios to see what the R&D department (organization, IP agreements, etc.) will look like in five years. Given that GSK is playing in many disparate areas – consumer, HIV (ViiV), vaccines, dermatology, and other prescriptions – it would seem that the R&D needs are quite different. As such, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on how well this component of the operating model is aligned with GSK’s business model (and how it varies by area).

Glad someone covered DD! As a long-time resident of the northeast, Dunkin’ is my coffee spot.

I was surprised to see that Dunkin’ is actually slower than Starbucks! I would have expected Starbucks to be much slower given the higher percentage of labor intensive and/or customized drinks (e.g., skinny pumpkin spice lattes) that are ordered at Starbucks. I wonder if DD’s decision to introduce innovative products (operating mode) has actually come at the expense of its service time (business model). On the other hand, this might be necessary to stem the decline in same store sales.

Given the squeeze between service/experience (Starbucks) and cost/food options (McDonalds) that the company is experiencing, I’d be curious to hear where you think Dunkin’ is best positioned to play? Will great coffee be enough, or does the company need to spike on cost or speed as well?

Great article!

Really interesting to see how athenahealth’s early business model decisions – a focus on small provider groups that couldn’t afford major capital expenditures or high implementation costs – shaped its business model – adoption of cloud – and allowed it to leapfrog the technology of incumbent on premise EHR systems (e.g., Epic, Cerner). Given that almost every other industry has adopted cloud solutions with open arms, I wonder if/how/when this plays out in the acute care space. I’d be curious to get your thoughts on how quickly and successfully athenahealth will be move into larger health systems, given that many systems have “recently” invested in on premise EHRs and some administrators seem to harbor reservations (many unwarranted) about cloud solutions.

Athenahealth’s decision to pursue the MDP approach seem’s like a great way to quickly meet the needs of providers in the changing healthcare environment (e.g., the move from fee for service to value/risk). I wonder how the decision to relinquish control will play out in terms of product quality, impact on brand, etc.