PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Hay Group Global Life Sciences Practice has just released a proprietary white paper which asserts that a redoubled focus on “human capital”—how people are organized, managed and selected—can pay bigger dividends than usual for life sciences companies in today’s changing environment. Why? Partly because many of the usual avenues to success in the industry have been clogged or even cut off by circumstances ranging from the impact of the patent cliff to the new composition of the “market” and what it expects from the life sciences industry. But mainly because the “sea change” in the industry has destroyed the efficacy of the traditional business model. Companies that formerly operated in a very well known space have now been forced to enter uncharted waters.

In a series of releases to follow this white paper, Hay Group will introduce data from its various life sciences databases which expose issues that support the tremendous upside potential of a human capital focus—from a pattern of potentially innovation-stifling management “de-motivation” that is high to the “engagement gap” in R&D.

“With the industry needing a radical mindset change to cope with the new value-based, customer-focused environment, it can’t just resort to modest structural change and move the same bodies into the new boxes,” according to the Hay Group paper’s primary author, Ian Wilcox, Vice president and managing director, global life sciences.

“There are fewer and fewer skill sets and required competencies from “old pharma” that match the ones needed in “new pharma,“ Wilcox contends. What we are seeing now is that many companies have made progress in blowing up the old business model and even reorganizing their structures in service of a new strategy—but the people side has received less emphasis—and that’s what makes even routine, let alone radical change, succeed. Since in many areas of the business this will almost mean starting from scratch, those companies that get ahead of the human capital curve will have a distinct advantage over their competition.

View white paper and companion blog here—white paper includes commentary from William Looney, Editor of Pharmaceutical Executive; Dr. Tehseen Salimi, former vice president of global evidence and value development at Sanofi; and Thomas P. Ference, clinical professor of health policy and management at the Mailman School at Columbia University.

About Hay Group

Hay Group is a global management consulting firm that works with leaders to transform strategy into reality. We develop talent, organize people to be more effective and motivate them to perform at their best. Our focus is on making change happen and helping people and organizations realize their potential. Visit www.haygroup.com

Ian Wilcox, Hay Group (Photo: Business Wire)