Roussel-Uclaf

Fall 2005


Organizational set model analysis

Input set: Roussel-Uclaf (RU) has established cooperative R&D agreements with leading French universities and research organizations who provide RU with technology development and knowledge to create new products. This is RU’s advantage to be a leader among other pharmaceutical companies. RU also has a strong partnership with Dr. Baulieu who is a star on French medical research a prominent researcher in the world’s medical research community to acquire new knowledge for R&D.

Output set: RU’s customers of RU486 are women who prefer buying it because it provides greater privacy, les invasive and avoids anesthesia. RU cares about distributors in eastern Europe where it will not control black market if selling RU486. RU also concerns about poor medical conditions of customers in developing countries where RU can not estimate how big the market should be.
Regulatory set: The French government authorized RU to commercialize RU486. UK and Sweden’s governments also approved RU. But the US government under Reagan and Bush administrations did not favor RU486 so RU could not sell them in such huge market. Until the Clinton administration can RU receive encouragement to produce RU486 in the US.

Set of competitors: RU has almost no competitor who can produce the same product.

Stakeholder model analysis

Interests of stakeholders: RU faces strong conflicts of what its stakeholders want. Inside RU, executives and employees are themselves divided about the ethnics of marketing RU486. Outside RU, the same controversy arises among RU’s subsidiaries. RU’s mother company, Hoechst, has different interest with RU: while RU wants to launch RU486, Hoechst does not want to market it because of the fear that public opinion will destroy Hoechst’s economic power and reputation and boycott all its products. Furthermore, there are strong opposition of local, national governments and local communities in the US and in the rest of Europe where RU want to sell its product. These institutions are against abortion and therefore try to prevent RU from selling RU486. The reason of these conflicts is that RU does not mobilize the interests of these external stakeholders, co-build the acceptance of abortion between internal stakeholders and among external stakeholders. RU also does not co-opt these sets of stakeholders to accept RU486. RU has only a coalition-building with WHO by signing an agreement to conduct test in the developing world thus paving the way for RU to sell it in there. But this coalition is not strong enough since WHO depends on the US’s money.

Power and influence of stakeholders: The Health Ministry of France uses its power, influence and legal right to force RU to sell RU486. Therefore, after a long time of debates against public oppositions, RU486 can be is produced in France and soon occupies most of French abortion clinics. Without this intervention, RU could not be able to sell RU486 since public oppositions against the company are very strong.

Institutional field model to analyze the interactions between organizations and their environments:

Share beliefs: The French society share the belief that abortion is right with RU so it accepts RU486 as the most powerful tool for women for avoid undesired pregnancy. Then the UK, China and Sweden’s societies do too. The CEO of RU also believes personally that it is worth to launch RU486. Other groups in the US also support RU and push it to sell RU486. But the US and Singapore, people, anti-abortion groups and social wisdom are strongly against abortion because they believe in the right-to-life.

Shared values: in Italy, Austria, catholic countries of south Europe people and governments still do not agree whether abortion is right and women should have free choices to use RU486. They do not share with RU that RU486 is the right way to help women in abortion.

Mindsets: The change of mindsets against abortion is very difficult since they are well rooted in people’s mind, especially in America. So RU can not easily get social approval from the US and other countries.
Coercive isomorphism: RU is between two forces: the Clinton administration now urges RU to test and produce RU486 in there while abortion remains highly charged political and cultural issue and anti-abortion pressure rises to threat the boycott of RU’s products.

Isomorphism: Someone suggests RU to do the same way as IUDs, a pharmaceutical firm having similar process to RU had done earlier: give the license for technology for a non-profit Population Council and let it find a smaller company that is willing to produce RU486.

Normative isomorphism: Dr. Baulieu was awarded the 1989 Albert Lasker Award for Research in Clinical Medicine for his contribution to the knowledge of steroid hormones included RU486 in New York. This means that this professional organization has proved that RU486 is the right way to help women in abortion.