Merck Sharpe & Dohme Case Summary
MERCK SHARPE & DOHME
CASE SUMMARY QUESTIONS
1. Provide brief Background and Context
In 1996 Merc Sharp & Dohme (MSD), one of the top tier pharmaceutical firms in Argentina was undergoing fundamental changes in both its organizational structure as well as managerial philosophy. For over a year the company was under a new managing director who was leading the transformation of the company. The main goals at the time were to change the old hierarchical management system into a flatter and highly integrated structure where information could flow freely and individual managers would be able to make decisions on their own and be held accountable for them.
However as Argentina had only recently transformed its nationalist economy into a free market based one, the changes described above were not an easy task. The country was still facing a widespread corruption problem and many business still relied on personal connections and favors. 2. Who are the key players involved in the case?
Silvia Ring – Manager of Training and Development
Antonio Mosquera – Managing Director
Cristina Quinteiro – Human Resources Director
Martin Rodriguez Hunter – Director of Sales 3. What are the main issues/allegations?
In order to attract prospective future leaders, MSD was running a highly selective internship program for final year college students. The selection process was in its final stage, when Manager of Training and Development had to pick 15 best performing students out of a group of 30.
Before the final decision the manager was contacted by a colleague in MSD and made aware of the fact that one of the students in the selection group is a son of a high ranking official within a government’s national retirees’ health care program and it would provide MSD with an opportunity to get all its product into the national health care formulary if the student is successfully picked for the internship. However, the student in
CASE SUMMARY QUESTIONS
1. Provide brief Background and Context
In 1996 Merc Sharp & Dohme (MSD), one of the top tier pharmaceutical firms in Argentina was undergoing fundamental changes in both its organizational structure as well as managerial philosophy. For over a year the company was under a new managing director who was leading the transformation of the company. The main goals at the time were to change the old hierarchical management system into a flatter and highly integrated structure where information could flow freely and individual managers would be able to make decisions on their own and be held accountable for them.
However as Argentina had only recently transformed its nationalist economy into a free market based one, the changes described above were not an easy task. The country was still facing a widespread corruption problem and many business still relied on personal connections and favors. 2. Who are the key players involved in the case?
Silvia Ring – Manager of Training and Development
Antonio Mosquera – Managing Director
Cristina Quinteiro – Human Resources Director
Martin Rodriguez Hunter – Director of Sales 3. What are the main issues/allegations?
In order to attract prospective future leaders, MSD was running a highly selective internship program for final year college students. The selection process was in its final stage, when Manager of Training and Development had to pick 15 best performing students out of a group of 30.
Before the final decision the manager was contacted by a colleague in MSD and made aware of the fact that one of the students in the selection group is a son of a high ranking official within a government’s national retirees’ health care program and it would provide MSD with an opportunity to get all its product into the national health care formulary if the student is successfully picked for the internship. However, the student in