Corporate intelligence in biotechnology.
'Know thy neighbor' is a critical component of today's biotechnology practice. The industry is extremely rich in science and business information, and the pace of change is dramatic. Successful participation in biotechnology will always depend on good technology, management and money. In addition, an ingredient that needs more attention is competitive information- gathering and analysis. Competitive intelligence can be defined as actionable information that requires the ability to filter and synthesize relevant knowledge for the benefit of the company. Why is this necessary? How can it be done well? What examples are there? These are good questions that are inevitably faced by all biotechnology practitioners, and some answers are provided herein.
The contribution of CI to the strategic decision making process: Empirical study of the European pharmaceutical industry.
The practice of Competitive Intelligence (CI) is common in the US pharmaceutical industry but there is little evidence to suggest that the European industry has adopted CI to the same extent. This study reports on a specific sub-set of the overall CI activity, namely the contribution which CI makes to the strategic decision making (SDM) process. CI managers in the European pharmaceutical industry were selected and the results from 79 questionnaires and 14 in-depth interviews are provided. Results indicate that the CI activities in respondent firms are reasonably well established and also that the pharmaceutical industry appears to appreciate both the benefits, and requirements of a modern day CI function. However, the industry is not taking full advantage of the CI effort at every stage of the SDM process. Conclusions are drawn which highlight areas for potential improvement. The article also identifies the managerial implications from the findings with suggestions for further research topics associated with this area.
THE PERFORMANCE OF STEADY DETONATION ENGINES
Propulsion systems driven by steady normal detonations are studied. The practical di‐culties associated with stabilizing a detonation wave are highlighted. The requirement on the freestream total enthalpy is considered in parallel with efiects such as condensation or auto-ignition of the fuel-air mixture and limitations associated with fuel sensitivity to detonation. A criterion for detonation stabilization is formulated and applied to an analytical treatment of a detonation ramjet and a detonation turbojet, which are the respective analogs of the ramjet and the turbojet using detonative combustion. The performance of these engines is evaluated and compared to the ideal ramjet and turbojet models for hydrogen and JP10. A limitation is placed on the maximum total temperature allowed in the combustor, based on material considerations. The results show that steady detonation engines have a small thrust-producing range, due to the requirements for detonation stabilization. Their performance is always lower than that of the conventional ramjet and turbojet because of the total pressure loss across the detonation.