The strategic approach of Novartis to e-commerce moved from a random approach to a professional centralized basis with the appointment of Matthew Timms as chief web officer in August of 2000. He inherited a conglomeration of Internet based activities, none of which were particularly successful or effective and operated on a wide variety of systems. Senior management was moderately interest in the net, but viewed it as a "necessary evil" that could grow faster than they could afford to pay for it. Mr. Timms first job was to turn the conglomeration of literally dozens of separate operations into something resembling a cohesive organization. At the same time, he had to determine what the long-term goals of the organization he was building might be, and then how to reach the goals.
Mr. Timm's problem was compounded by the necessity of combining the Swiss German love of organization that results in bureaucratic structures with clearly defined rules, responsibilities and procedures with the generally free wheeling approach of Information Technology (IT) specialists. The result was a bureaucracy overlaid with a matrix management structure. A glance at exhibit 6, Parma Organizational Structure 1 September 2000, and then at exhibit 8 e-Business Organization Chart illustrates this graphically.
The underlying problem was the lack of an e-business goal within Novartis. Michael Dubery's comment on the pre-Timms approach "àBrand teams were left on their own to do whatever it was you did on the Internetà" sums up the problem clearly. Mr. Timms introduced two clear business models and melded them into a strategic vision.
Upstream marketing is one model. Marketing in the pharmaceutical industry evolved into a three-pronged approach. Historically, "detail men", industry jargon for salesmen, went to doctor's offices and tried to explain what new drugs were available what they were used for, and why they were better than other dr...