Managing Conflict within a Biotech Industry

Mike DeSalvio, Nelson Lam, Nidhal Haddad, Evelyn Mendoza,

Lucy Lu

Team Awesome

Biotechnology• What is Biotechnology?

– Any product obtained through methods including DNA manipulation, Gene Extraction and DNA Recombinance

• What is Biotechnology used in?– Pharmaceutical, Agriculture, Medicine, Biomedical

Engineering and Education

• Controversial

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Problem Statement

• Our objective is to determine analytically how management within a biotech company is able to mitigate conflict on multiple levels to ensure success in industry, gain of market share, improved performance and maximize profit margins.

Types of Conflicts• Manager to Manager• Manager to Employee• Stakeholders to Manager• Employee to Employee• Customer to Employee• Customer to Manager• Stakeholders to Stakeholders

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Research & Findings

• In what ways does the Biotech industry attempt to gain market share? Does this involve goods or services, and is it beneficial to consumers?

• What kind of ethical issues arise by cloning in the biotechnology industry? How does management resolve ethical conflicts between co-workers?

• What are some examples of conflicts that have come about in regards to the Biotech Industry

Research Question #1

• In what ways does the Biotech industry attempt to gain market share? Does this involve goods or services, and is it beneficial to consumers?

Biotech Industry• The industry closed the month with a collective market

cap of $362.42 billion (up 1.6 percent for the month and 3.9 percent for the year)

• - 56 companies (18.5 percent) have market caps greater than $1B (there were 49 companies at the beginning of 2008)

• - Top five biotech companies are: Amgen ($56.3B, unchanged YTD), Gilead Sciences ($42.8B, up 10 percent YTD), Celgene ($27.4B, up 6.8 percent YTD), Genzyme ($15.2B, up 16 percent YTD), and Biogen ($14.8B, up 2.7 percent YTD

Market Share• Biotech industry has always had market shares in the

world, however, it is not such a large share.• Biotechnology is used for some genetically fruits and

in medicine.• For example soy beans.

• One biotech industry that is currently trying attempting to gain a large market share in the past couple of years is Stem Cell Research

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Market Share• Many of these biotech industries have gone to the smaller

companies that service a small amount of patients.

• Usually start-up companies rely on research companies, DARPA, individual donors, state grand and bonds, and other federal agencies for the fund to carry out their research.

• These biotech industries are constantly publishing journals to inform readers and to try to remove the negatives readers perceive in biotechnology.

Benefits of Biotech• Fructans were discovered by the food industry as a healthy food

ingredient.

• Like starch and sucrose, fructans are naturally present in many plants including some plants that we eat and they are reserve carbohydrates.

• Fructans are made by about 15% of flowering plant species.

• It is said that Fructans enhance the cold, salt, and drought tolerance of plants and help with the expansion of flowers.

• Recently, tobacco lines were reported to have increased tolerance to freezing with fructosyltransferases.

Benefits of Biotech

• The cloning of fructosyltransferases and fructan exohydrolases within the past few years has provided the molecular tools necessary to modify and study fructan synthesis

• Besides its role as a storage carbohydrate, an important feature of fructan is its ability to protect membranes from damage initiated by dehydration.

Benefits of Biotech•Farmers will save money on the health and longer life of their crops, and people will also have health advantages from fructans in the crops.

•People will also save money if the crops are doing well because the prices of the fruits and vegetables won’t be that high.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/genetically-modified-food

Conflict With Non-Biotech

• How conflict arises with biotech companies and non biotech companies– Contemporary products are typically biotech

alternatives.– Biotech products replace these products– Market share changes hands

• I.E. Farmers, Pharmaceutical Companies

Aventis Production Facility:http://www.linde-kca.com/international/web/le/kca/likelekcacom.nsf/repositorybyalias/biotech_pharma_frankfurt/$file/Pharma-Biotech-Frankfurt.jpg

Research Question #2

• What kind of ethical issues arise by cloning in the biotechnology industry? How does management resolve ethical conflicts between co-workers?

Ethical Conflicts

• Creating “monsters”– Living mistakes who must suffer to live.

• Playing God– Pets– Embryos– Twins– Artificial Insemination – Gender Choosing

Research Question #3

• What are some examples of conflicts that have come about in regards to the Biotech Industry?

Examples of Conflict within the Biotechnology Industry

• The government assigned definition of biotechnology is any resulting product derived using techniques involving gene excision.

• Biotechnology brings up a lot of ethical issues in regards to modifying a product’s DNA

• Biotechnology issues arise within the workplace and also with consumers and products that are distributed.

Types of Conflict Within a Biotechnology Industry

• Religious and moral beliefs experienced by individuals training and gaining an education in biotechnology.

• Conflicts in regards to the Federal Government

• Moral Conflicts after Products hit the shelves

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Moral and Religious Conflict• DNA ages over time which causes physical signs of ageing in

humans• Cloning an 80 year old man causes the cloned child being born to

show many of the physical and cellular signs of aging. (An 80 year old man in the body of a baby)

– Inability to repair DNA damage and resist cancer– Development of Alzheimer's or other neurological conditions– Failing joints and defects in connective tissues and bones– Significantly shortened lifespan.

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Safety of Genetically Modified Food• Conflicts that arise from genetically modified foods and the safety of

consumers:– Many People are now buying Organic Food rather than those

that are genetically modified.– Allergens– Unknown effects on human health

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Safety of Genetically Modified Food Organic vs. Genetically Modified

• Organic foods refers to the growth method, soil types, absence of pesticides etc.

• Genetically Modified foods refers to changes made in the DNA of a plant.

• Examples are:• Bananas• Grapes• Christmas Trees• Insulin

• This allows for optimized growth, resistance to insects and harsher weather conditions as well as influencing food volume produced.

• Best of all, 100% safehttp://www.linde-kca.com/international/web/le/kca/likelekcacom.nsf/docbyalias/biotech_pharma

Safety of Genetically Modified Food Allergens and Unknown Effects on Human Health

•Allergic Reactions

•Many children in the US and Europe have developed life-threatening allergies to peanuts and other foods.

•There is a possibility that introducing a gene into a plant may create a new allergy to certain people.

•Extensive testing of GM foods may be required to avoid the possibility of harm to consumers with food allergies.

•Which can get expensive

•Unknown Effects on Human Health

•There is a growing concern that introducing foreign genes into food plants may have an unexpected and negative impact on human health.

Conclusion

• Recap of what was presented

Conclusion

• Managing Conflict – Speak to each person individually– Listen Objectively– Offer feedback to ensure understanding– Focus on interest, not positions– Listen to employees concerns– BE A NEGOTIATOR!

Questions?????Questions?????

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