Abstract

Erez Israeli (Israeli) joined India-based multinational pharmaceutical company Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. as its new COO in March 2018. Well respected in global pharmaceutical circles as a strategic thinker and executor, Israeli had worked with pharmaceutical majors like Teva and Enzymotec and held many positions of responsibility. When Israeli joined DRL, the company was staring at a series of challenges. Warnings from the USFDA, revocation of certification by German regulator BfArM and the aftermath, channel consolidation in the US, increased competition, problems in the Russian market – DRL’s third largest market – and the new Goods and Services Tax regime in India, were just a few of them. Israeli needed to strategize and deliver products and service without losing market share. The case invites participants to go beyond the actions Israeli took and explore alternate ways to leverage technology and social media and use various innovative approaches to address these challenges facing the company.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• To understand the challenges that the new leader faced
• To understand the dynamics a global pharmaceutical company faced

Keywords

Dr. Reddy’s Labs; Leadership; Pharmaceutical Industry; Leadership dilemmas; Change; Globalization ; USFDA; Corporate Strategy; Market strategy