Board users willing to be interviewed for an academic case study of J&J's recent withdrawal from the CV stent area? We are seeking former Cordis employees who can comment on strategic decisions that led to the recent business closure. This is a business school study. We are not related with any pending shareholder suits. All interviews/surveys will be by e-mail and will be anonymous. With sufficient replies, we will post a contact link.
Let me help you out here. Cordis was the innovator in CV stents. Had the early lead with Cypher. Seth Fischer takes over with zero credentials - only a history of failures and shoddy decision-making (i.e. OMP, Janssen). Not strategic, just Weldon's yes-man. From that point on, Cordis spriraled into oblivion. This is the classic HBS case study in not taking prudent risks, resting in past success, and not innovating in an industry that is all about innovation. Seth, you suck. Time to take your Harley for a ride into the sunset.
I doubt DePuy is next but know that they are about to go through some changes. The new Ortho President is a take-no-prisoners type and will not accept the current performance. Heads will roll. The acquisition of Synthes is going to be a remake of the spine group and a shut-down of the current insignificant trauma and extremities group. It won't be as apparent to the external market, but it will be an internal bloodbath.
This will be the subject of the next chapter in "Good to Great" - it will be titled "JNJ - Good to great to sheeaat"
No, its going to be OCD. Has the same genius that engineered Cordis from an 80% market share to *out of business*. J&J in the device cardiology world is the gang that couldn't shoot straight. Remember Guidant and Conor? Just look up Valeriani and Conor Medsystems. Great strategy to spend a billion on a product that did not work. Then look up the same name and Guidant. So convinced that the Guidant acquisition would work, that a lot of the experienced Cordis manufacturing and R&D groups were decimated. The acquisition wasn't completed and Cordis was gutted. Valeriani has been heading up OCD for the last several years. Same things are happening, all in the name of 'shareholder value'.
