ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the question of control in relation to new product development and strategic direction. In early 1989, I was working in production management at one of SmithKline Beckman’s (SKB) factories in the UK. My perspective on product development and strategic direction, therefore, was from a position well down the hierarchy, where the sense I was able to make of what was happening in the corporation as a whole depended upon the public communications issued by top executives and the reports and comments of analysts and journalists, as well as the usual informal stories and rumors. From this perspective, I want to explore the notion that the CEO and his leadership team are in control of the business, taking account of the following factors:
● The emergent nature of research and the implications of this emergence for R&D based pharmaceutical businesses.
