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Best Definition of “Corporate Culture”

If you ask 10 people to define “organizational culture,“ you will get 11 different answers!

Fortunately, from my consulting and writing on leadership and organizational change, I created my definition of organizational culture:

“C

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

orporate culture is how every employee knows she or he must act – even if no one is watching.”

Knowing your company’s culture proves crucial for multiple reasons, including:

+ Only organizational changes that fit into your company’s culture will succeed.

Changes not f

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

tting into the culture will fail and not achieve desired results.

+ Hire employees who fit into the corporate culture. That is, “Do not try to fit a square peg into a round hole!”

Fastest Way to Uncover Your Organization’s Culture

From my consulting experience, I dev

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

ised a super-quick way to uncover an organization’s culture: Discover the story all employees know and tell other employees. In fact, hearing the company’s signature story is a right-of-passage for new employees. Hearing the story implicitly tells a new employee the ac

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

ions and values the organization expects.

Here are two examples taken from my book entitled, Absolutely Fabulous Organizational Change™: Strategies for Success from America’s Best-Run Companies.

1st Story: Ritz-Carlton-Hotel Company

Leonardo Inghilleri, senior vice p

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

resident of The Ritz-Carlton-Hotel Company, told me this story often is repeated among his company’s employees.

“Ladies & Gentlemen Serving Ladies & Gentlemen”

When he was 14 years old, Horst Schulze -- currently president of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company -- worked in

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

s an apprentice waiter in a very fine restaurant in his native Germany. Initially, he saw himself as a “servant.”

Then, he realized the fine restaurant was staffed by highly skilled professionals. For example, he looked in awe as he repeatedly saw the ma?tre d' chat wi

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

th and entertain the diners. In fact, the ma?tre d' spoke many languages. So, he spoke German to the German diners, French to the French guests, and English to the English customers. He also expertly helped diners with their food and wine choices.

From this experience

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

it dawned on Horst Schulze that a luxury establishment is composed of ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen. He instilled this insight into The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company where he now is president.

Ritz-Carlton’s Culture

Company president Horst Schulze’s e

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

xperience gives rise to The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company’s customer care motto which precisely expresses its corporate culture: “We Are Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen.” Note: The company’s culture perfectly dovetails with Ritz-Carlton’s big, exciting,

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

compelling vision: “Our key goal is to be the premier worldwide provider of luxury travel and hospitality products and services.”

2nd Story: Intuit

Brooks Fisher, vice president and general manager of Intuit’s consumer internet business, told me Intuit’s signature sto

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

y is the following:

“Follow Me Home”

Scott Cook, founder of Intuit, was so focused on understanding and fulfilling the customers’ needs that he invented “Follow Me Home.” He would go to a store where Intuit’s software was being sold. Then, while a customer was buying

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

Intuit software, he would ask if he could follow the customer home. At the home, he would watch how the customer installed and used the software.

Intuit’s Culture

Given Intuit’s story, what is the company’s culture -- or main focus? Fisher says the story conveys Intui

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

’s culture which is “The customer always is first.” And, as Fisher puts it, “That’s how you win.” Note: The story also precisely meshes with Intuit’s big, compelling vision: “Our key goal is to revolutionize how people do financial work.”

Hire Applicants Who ‘Fit Int

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

o’ Your Company’s Culture

You know it proves difficult to “fit a square peg into a round hole.” Likewise, companies need to hire applicants who ‘fit into’ their organizational culture.

For instance, one company I consult to is ultra-customer service oriented with super

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

friendly employees. When we did benchmarking studies for this company with the Abilities & Behavior Forecaster™ Test – to customize the Forecaster™ Test to help hire the best – we discovered successful employees in every job scored high on two of the test’s scales:

+ H

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

elping People Motivation, i.e., customer service-orientation

+ Friendliness

Such customer service-focused and super-friendly employees ‘fit into’ the company’s culture, and prove most likely to succeed.

Message = Don’t bet against your organizational culture when you

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

im to hire the best. Fortunately, you can do by

1. benchmarking your “superstar” employees in each job – by having them fill-out a validated pre-employment test to discover their “benchmark” test scores

2. focusing on hiring applicants whose test scores are similar t

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

o your company’s “superstar” employees’ test scores

Now, You Can Uncover Your Organization’s Culture

To discover your corporate culture, you simply need to uncover the story that

1. employees hear in their first week on-the-job and repeat to new employees

2. perfect

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

y conveys how all employees must act – even when no one is watching!

Usually, the story is about the company’s founder. It typically conveys insights and actions that lead to remarkable, profitable success.

© Copyright 2005 Michael Mercer, Ph.D., http://www.DrMercer.co

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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As identity theft becomes a real problem in our society, paper shredders begin to fill a growing need in the community. Businesses and individuals both desire to safely and effectively destroy sensitive documents.

An article outlining some of the highly profitable ways to make money working in Japan.

When it comes to traditional fundraising campaigns their are literally thousands of ideas that organizations seeking to start a program can utilize. Traditional fundraising has always been to present the program, get groups to sign up, and get patrons to purchase the product. But, with the advent of the Internet, many such programs that have been a traditional face-to-face method have become more updated and accessible and even more creative. Even though the means has changed, the methods have not. Their are several key aspects in a solid, profitable, and mutually beneficial fundraising program that have not changed over time.

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