Technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, raising the expectations of financial clientele for ever more efficient processing of investments and other financial transactions. Government is also demanding reform and higher compliance to Service Level Agreements (SLAs) than ever before. It might seem that the sheer volume of business processes connected with the financial industry would make meeting this challenge near impossible, but once again technology offers a solution that makes focusing on improved financial services attainable.

Source of Transaction Performance Problems

A combination of factors – increased global competition, regulatory changes, fast changing technology, need for faster growth and industry excess capacity – has fuelled mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in recent times. The M&A phenomenon have been noticeable not only in developed markets like the US, Europe and Japan but also in emerging markets like India. In 1998, worldwide mergers and acquisitions were valued at .4 trillion. In 1999, this figure increased  to .4 trillion. In 2000, the pace seemed to slow down, with only the Glaxo Wellcome – SmithKline Beecham merger valued at over billion. However, the total value of the deals worldwide crossed .5 trillion. Much of this activity took place in the first half of 2000. The recent merger proposal by HP and Compaq is a clear indication that merger mania is well and truly alive.

            Like capacity expansion, vertical integration and diversification, a large merger or an acquisition is a strategic move since it can make or break a company. However, mergers and acquisitions involve unique challenges such as the valuation of the company being acquired and integration of the pre merger entities. Valuation is a subjective matter, involving several assumptions. Integration of the pre-merger entities is a demanding task and has to be managed skillfully. So, it makes sense to devote a separate chapter to cover the risks associated with acquisitions and how to manage them.

Drug developers have long been under pressure to introduce new products in an environment of escalating R&D costs, blockbuster patent expiration and resulting generic competition. Current weak economic conditions have exacerbated these challenges with sweeping R&D staff and budget reductions. In order to remain competitive, drug makers must now do more with less. Technology transfer, particularly of new biotechnologies that offer novel means to address unmet medical needs, offer a way to cost effectively address these challenges. They also provide technology developers with a mechanism to monetize their inventions.
However, while some drug makers and technology developers have optimized their biotech tech transfer methodologies and have developed sophisticated processes to select, monitor and manage a wide range of relationships, many other biotech tech transfer projects fail. A large proportion of these failures could be averted as many of the most common reasons for failure are preventable problems relating to due diligence failures, shortcomings in deal structure, management changes, cultural challenges, and inappropriate project organization and expectations. This report provides details on how to avoid these common pitfalls with case studies that illustrate best practices.

• Discussion of the factors leading to current imperatives to increased biotech tech transfer.
• Detailed descriptions of both effective and ineffective biotech tech transfer approaches.
• In depth analysis of the types of different biotech tech transfer relationships, their advantages and disadvantages.
• More than 10 case studies that illustrate biotech tech transfer best practices.
• Comprehensive discussion of offshore biotech tech transfer, particularly focusing on India and China.