Taking an MBA course this weekend: Drug and Device Regulations

This weekend, I'm sitting in an MBA course focused on drug and device regulations. You won't find a course like this is many other MBA programs, but I'm enrolled in a program that focuses on the pharmaceutical and health care industry. It's great to be surrounded by other colleagues who understand the issues that impact a rapidly evolving industry. Here's a brief description of the course:

With the plethora of new communications vehicles, including direct-to-consumer advertising and the Internet, the goal of achieving marketing objectives and remaining in adherence with FDA regulations/ guidelines has become increasingly difficult. This course will provide a working knowledge of the federal regulation of prescription drug promotion and associated marketing practices and will provide insight into drug promotion issues currently of interest to FDA and the pharmaceutical industry. The course will also consider the impact of products liability and anti-kickback concerns on developing marketing programs for prescription drugs.

Half way through my MBA

This month, I'm roughly half way through my MBA. It's hard to believe how quickly it's been going and I've been learning a lot through this self-paced executive-style program. Recently, I took a course in business statistics and the course took a very different approach to the world of statistics compared to the biostatistics course I took during my MPH program. The application of statistics in the business world can solve complex problems through data-driven decision-making. I also recently took a course on supply chain management and got to appreciate the complexity of the supply chain in the pharmaceutical industry.

This month, I'll be taking a course on the competitive analysis of business. I'm also taking a course around drug/device regulations. I find it very rewarding to take courses with colleagues who work in the pharmaceutical or health care industries. Our discussions are interesting, relevant, and meaningful to our day-to-day work. Plus, we get to apply our education directly at the workplace.

Getting ready for an MBA course in supply chain management

Next week, I'll be taking an MBA course on supply chain management. Those of us working in medicine often don't think about the supply chain. When we're focused on delivering services rather than products, the concepts around a supply chain may not feel very relevant. However, the concepts surrounding supply chain management are essential to health care delivery both on an individual patient level and a population health level.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Supply Chain Management:

Supply chain management (SCM) is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of product and service packages required by end customers (Harland, 1996).[2] Supply chain management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished goods from point of origin to point of consumption (supply chain). 

Another definition is provided by the APICS Dictionary when it defines SCM as the "design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply chain activities with the objective of creating net value, building a competitive infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics, synchronizing supply with demand and measuring performance globally."

According to the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), supply chain management encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing, procurement, conversion, and logistics management. It also includes the crucial components of coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers, and customers. In essence, supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies. More recently, the loosely coupled, self-organizing network of businesses that cooperate to provide product and service offerings has been called the Extended Enterprise.

I'm currently 1/3 of the way through the MBA program and I'm enjoying my experience so far. It's great to learn new concepts and to have an opportunity to apply my knowledge in the real world setting.

Taking an MBA Course in Pharmacoeconomics

This weekend, I'm taking an MBA course in pharmacoeconomics with other students who work in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and health care industries. It's great to have an opportunity to take a course that is so relevant to what I do on a regular basis. In our company (MCM), we develop continuing medical education (CME) activities for managed care professionals and we're dealing with pharmacoeconomic issues all the time. In health care, we grapple with challenging issues like cost-effectiveness, cost-consequence, cost-minimization, cost-utility, or cost-benefit of medical therapies. I look forward to the discussions we'll be having in class about these things.

I am approximately 1/3 of the way through my MBA program at this point. This will be my 7th MBA course this year.

Here's a brief course description:

This course reviews the principal elements and concepts in economics, history and development of health economics, and the applied uses of the discipline of economics made possible since the quantification of studies has been developed and perfected. These introductory sections are presented by lecture and discussion group. In addition, the need for uses of, and value of health economics studies is reviewed and pharmaceutical-related examples are presented.

SJU/HBS Roundtable: Pharmaceutical Sustainability

Tonight, Saint Joseph’s University/ Harvard Business School Health Industry Alumni Association is holding a roundtable discussion titled, "Why are People Still the Most Important Asset for a Pharmaceutical Firm’s Sustainability?"

Scan nearly any pharmaceutical company's annual report for the past five years and three strategic themes are usually conveyed: transformation of current operations, growth in emerging markets, and innovation for new products/services. While processes and systems are factors in supporting these remits, a firm's purposely-engaged staff is the critical element that ultimately drives long-term sustainability. To hear the latest insights on how a few firms are tapping into innovative human-capital management ideas, join us on October 27, 2011 at Saint Joseph's University, located at the corner of City Avenue and N. 54th Street in Philadelphia,

Learn more here.

The 4 main factors that I weighed as a physician considering an MBA program

I'm currently enrolled in an MBA program. Recently, the NY Times reported that more physicians are adding an MBA for various reasons. If you're one of those physicians strongly considering an MBA, here are some factors to consider:

1. Time. The biggest factor here is my stage in life. I'm married, I have young kids, and I am working full-time. I can't afford to enroll in a full-time program. For that matter, I also need to really weigh my ability to commit every-other-weekends for two straight years. That's the kind of schedule that's often required for traditional executive MBA programs. Plus, you'll need to take a week off for orientation and another week off for an international trip. These are some of the factors that made me decide that a traditional executive MBA format wasn't right for me.

2. Cost. I don't work for a large employer who is able to cover my tuition costs. Therefore, when I evaluated MBA programs in my area, cost was a significant consideration. An executive MBA at Wharton will cost over $160k. An executive MBA at Penn State or Villanova is over $90k. Then again, you can get an MBA for less than $10k at a number of different state schools if you're an in-state resident. Plus, you can get an online MBA from a school like U Mass Amherst for less than $30k.

3. Benefits. I love asking my classmates this question: what do you plan to do with your MBA? Some will candidly tell me that they're hoping it will help them find a new job when they get laid off because they feel that it's inevitable that they will someday lose their job. Others tell me that their managers strongly urged them to get an MBA to increase their ability for job promotions. I'm probably getting an MBA for reasons that are very different from most of the people in my program. I currently the president of a small company, so I'm not trying to climb any corporate ladders. For me, the benefits mainly revolved around having the degree, expanding my business network, enriching my perspectives around different types of companies, and filling my knowledge gaps around some of the fundamentals of business.

4. Location. I knew that I wanted to gain the business school experience through a face-to-face interaction with my classmates. I've experienced online classes, so I already knew that I did not want to enroll in an online MBA program. In my area, I'm very fortunate to be surrounded by a number of major universities that offer a variety of MBA programs. So, I visited most of the programs and sat through some classes so that I could observe and experience the program. There are many students who commute to take classes at an executive MBA program at a top-tier school. If you're willing to travel every other weekend

Lunch with the former president of a big pharma company

Over the weekend, I was taking a business school class called Business Ethics. The class was very interactive and we explored a series of cases within the pharmaceutical industry that involve some serious ethical issues. I enjoyed the dialogue, met some new classmates (we're now connected on LinkedIn), but one of the best parts of the course was that we had a guest in the classroom. This guest was the former president of a major pharmaceutical company. He's now retired and he's also an SJU alum, so it was a unique and valuable experience having him in the class. I also had the chance to sit at a lunch table with him on Saturday and he shared his perspectives on some of the ethical issues we were discussing in the classroom.

Do you know any senior executive management team members of a major pharmaceutical company? Where else can you have the opportunity to have lunch with a former president of a major pharmaceutical company?

If you're seriously thinking about an MBA program and you have a strong interest in the pharmaceutical industry, consider the program at SJU. When the faculty members are well-connected with business executives in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, you gain a rich perspective and you also have unique opportunities to meet people who are working in that industry. In my recent class business school class, we had scientists, attorneys, epidemiologists, and marketing professionals who work in various pharmaceutical companies.

5 reasons why I chose to enroll in business school

There are many different reasons why people choose to attend business school. Unlike many MBA students, I already have an advanced degree. Here are the main reasons why I chose to pursue an MBA:

1. I didn't take any business courses in college. In hindsight, I regret that and I wish that I had enrolled in some business classes when I was at MIT.
2. To learn how to avoid making mistakes in the business world. Many people learn through trial-and-error. In business school, you'll learn from your classmates and from their stories of past mistakes. 
3. Physicians value formal education and degrees. There's a level of formal credibility that comes with a degree or a certification. 
4. To network with other pharmaceutical and health care executives. It's been a great experience so far.
5. I'm a continual learner. Call me a nerd, but I'm a lifelong student. I enjoy learning new things and going to class. I enjoy homework. I don't enjoy exams, but I'm sure I'll manage since business school is more about writing papers and working through group projects. 

This list could go on, but these are some of the reasons why I chose to enroll in business school. Are you thinking about pursuing an MBA?

I am currently a business school student in the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Executive MBA program at Saint Joseph's University Erivan K. Haub School of Business in Philadelphia, PA. The Nationally-ranked and AACSB-accredited Haub School of Business, centrally located in the mid-Atlantic pharmaceutical and healthcare corridor, is able to bring together industry experts and a world-class faculty for a unique industry-focused, immersive executive program.

You can read about my business school experience by reading all the blog posts tagged "Business School Blog."

My business school experience so far

This summer, I only took one business school course. One of the best features of my current program is the flexibility it offers busy executives. I have the option to take a few courses or a heavy load of courses each year. At my current pace, I will probably complete the MBA in 3 years. Each year, I will be giving up approximately 8 weekends to be in class. To me, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Traditional executive MBA programs have classes on every other weekend and that was simply too much time away from my family. Choosing an MBA program is a very personal decision and I made mine based around family and career priorities. I'm currently 1/4 of the way through the program and I've had the opportunity to meet some very interesting students working in the healthcare or pharmaceutical industry. It's been great to hear their stories and their career ambitions. Some of my classmates are nurses, pharmacists, scientists, or physicians. Others are business professionals who do not have a clinical background. I find it rewarding to have a dialogue with a diverse group of students who can appreciate the issues we face within the health care industry.

I'm taking Managerial Accounting this weekend

This weekend, I'm taking a Managerial Accounting course for my MBA program. Here's what this course is about:

This course provides an overview of managerial accounting and its uses in the pharmaceutical industry. Topics covered include cost concepts and terminology, systems design (including job-order costing), just-in-time and activity-based costing. Other topics include cost behavior, cost-volume-profit relationships, and profit planning.

We're using the textbook: Managerial Accounting / Edition 9
by Ronald Hilton

Title Overview: The emphasis of Managerial Accounting, 9th edition is on teaching students to use accounting information to best manage an organization. In a practice Hilton pioneered in the first edition, each chapter is written around a realistic business or focus company that guides the reader through the topics of that chapter. Known for balanced examples of Service, Retail, Nonprofit and Manufacturing companies, Hilton offers a clear, engaging writing style that has been praised by instructors and students alike. As in previous editions, there is significant coverage of contemporary topics such as activity-based costing, target costing, the value chain, customer profitability analysis, and throughput costing while also including traditional topics such as job-order costing, budgeting and performance evaluation.

Previously, I took a course called Accounting Foundations and it covered financial accounting and reporting. We learned about the four basic financial statements: balance sheets, income statements, retained earnings statements, and cash flow statements. We also analyzed the role of the manager in the development and use of the preparation of financial statements. I learned about the use of key ratios in the analysis of a firm’s financial statement.

Lessons in change management

Recently, I took a business school course on organizational development and we reviewed a variety of concepts around change management. When you’re responsible for leading an organization, there are a number of ways to achieve change within your group. Some may rely on traditional methods while others may use contemporary, creative strategies that include some “out of the box” thinking.

The concept of change management is defined in Wikipedia as:

Change management is a structured approach to shifting/transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. It is an organizational process aimed at empowering employees to accept and embrace changes in their current business environment. In project management, change management refers to a project management process where changes to a project are formally introduced and approved.

Do you have experience with change management? Physicians in the hospital setting often act as team leaders, but are they effective in empowering members of their team? Most physicians tend to command authority by dictating orders and expecting their subordinates to obey and follow. This type of approach may lead to good followers, but it won’t lead to more empowered employees who are open to embracing change. This is one reason why many physicians are effective managers but they’re not necessarily strong leaders. They have the ability to manage their teams and accomplish tasks, but there’s a key difference between being a manager vs. a leader.

DISC assessment

When you're managing people, it's important to know what type of people you've got on your team. Are they persistent and thoughtful? Are they leaders or followers? Are they reactive or proactive?

Over the weekend, when I was in my business school class on organizational development, the topic of a DISC assessment came up. We're not talking about the spine or herniated disks. Here's a brief description of the DISC assessment from Wikipedia:

DISC is a group of psychological inventories developed by John Geier, and others, and based on the 1928 work of psychologist William Moulton Marston and the original behavioralist Walter V. Clarke and others.

The assessments classify four aspects of behavior by testing a person's preferences in word associations (compare with Myers-Briggs Type Indicator). DISC is an acronym for:

1. Dominance – relating to control, power and assertiveness
2. Influence – relating to social situations and communication
3. Steadiness (submission in Marston's time) – relating to patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness
4. Conscientiousness (or caution, compliance in Marston's time) – relating to structure and organization

These four dimensions can be grouped in a grid with "D" and "I" sharing the top row and representing extroverted aspects of the personality, and "C" and "S" below representing introverted aspects. "D" and "C" then share the left column and represent task-focused aspects, and "I" and "S" share the right column and represent social aspects. In this matrix, the vertical dimension represents a factor of "Assertive" or "Passive", while the horizontal dimension represents "Open" vs. "Guarded".

Career transitions and paradigm shifts

I spent the weekend "in class" attending business school. I was taking a course on organizational development and we had some great discussions around traditional vs. transformational paradigms in the workplace. Our discussions also made me reflect on my own paradigm shift that occurred when I shifted out of clinical medicine and entered the non-clinical world of business. I use the term "business" very broadly because the non-clinical setting may involve work related to research, medical affairs, health technology, etc. Given that the health care industry is a business, it's important to find the right opportunities that you'll find enjoyable.

If you're thinking about a career transition, you're facing a significant paradigm shift. Are you ready for that? Do you know what kind of world you're about to enter?  Before you "jump" out of a career in clinical medicine, make sure you're learning as much as you can about all the different non-clinical options that may be available to you.

SJU: Pharmaceutical & Healthcare Marketing MBA for Executives - Programs and Format

Here's a short video about the SJU: Pharmaceutical & Healthcare Marketing MBA for Executives.



About My Business School Blog:

I am currently a business school student in the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Executive MBA program at Saint Joseph's University Erivan K. Haub School of Business in Philadelphia, PA. The Nationally-ranked and AACSB-accredited Haub School of Business, centrally located in the mid-Atlantic pharmaceutical and healthcare corridor, is able to bring together industry experts and a world-class faculty for a unique industry-focused, immersive executive program.

You can read about my business school experience by reading all the blog posts tagged "Business School Blog."

Business School Blog: Organizational Development

Next week, I'm taking a course on organizational development. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about this topic:

Organization development (OD) is a concept, organization-wide effort to increase an organization's effectiveness and viability. Warren Bennis has referred to OD as a response to change, a complex educational strategy intended to change the beliefs, attitudes, values, and structure of organization so that they can better adapt to new technologies, marketing and challenges, and the dizzying rate of change itself. OD is neither "anything done to better an organization" nor is it "the training function of the organization"; it is a particular kind of change process designed to bring about a particular kind of end result. OD can involve interventions in the organization's "processes," using behavioural science knowledge as well as organizational reflection, system improvement, planning, and self-analysis.

Most of my business school classmates work in a large pharmaceutical company. I work in a small company, so the organizational dynamics are quite different compared to large, corporate enterprises. I'm looking forward to the discussions we'll be having in class about organizational transformation and change management.

Featured physician executive: Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach

This week, I wanted to feature a physician executive who is a graduate of Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. Why SJU? Because I'm currently enrolled in an MBA program at SJU.

This week's featured physician executive is Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach.

Andrew C. von Eschenbach (born October 30, 1941 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was the Commissioner of the United States Food and Drug Administration from 2006–2009. He became acting Commissioner on September 26, 2005, after the resignation of his predecessor Lester Crawford, and was confirmed as Commissioner by the Senate on December 7, 2006. He was previously the 12th director of the National Cancer Institute.

Business School Blog: Foundational lessons in finance

I recently spent my weekend in "class." I'm currently a business school student enrolled in an executive MBA program and I was learning about finance with a group of pharmaceutical and healthcare professionals. The class was an interesting experience because none of us are "financial experts." We simply don't work in the finance industry and none of us are in the habit of crunching these types of equations on a daily basis. So, we were reviewing basic concepts like the time value of money and the application of Excel spreadsheet functions like PV, FV, NPV, PMT, NOMINAL, EFFECT, and others. We also reviewed some accounting principles related to balance sheets, income statements, cash flows, and financial ratios. This Finance Foundations course provided a great introduction to finance and this summer I'll be taking Managerial Finance. I've already taken Accounting Foundation and I'll be taking Managerial Accounting later this year as well.

If you don't have any formal training or education in finance, consider investing in a course (or a graduate degree) so that you can learn some of the basics and get firmly rooted in the fundamentals of business finance.

Pharmaceutical & Healthcare Marketing MBA for Executives

If you're thinking about business school, let me recommend my current program: the Pharmaceutical & Healthcare Marketing MBA for Executives at Saint Joseph's University Erivan K. Haub School of Business. They offer two formats: 1) classroom on the weekends; 2) online. You can learn about the program here.

I am currently a business school student in the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Executive MBA program at Saint Joseph's University Erivan K. Haub School of Business in Philadelphia, PA. The nationally-ranked and AACSB-accredited Haub School of Business, centrally located in the mid-Atlantic pharmaceutical and healthcare corridor, is able to bring together industry experts and a world-class faculty for a unique industry-focused, immersive executive program.

You can read about my business school experience by reading all the blog posts tagged "Business School Blog."

EBIT, EBITD, and EBITDA

I'm reading my finance textbook and I'm on the section that deals with financial ratios like the current ratio, the quick or acid test ratio, the times interest earned ratio, and the cash coverage ratio. I have to admit that I didn't learn this in college or medical school, so this is fascinating information.

Like the language of medicine, the language of business is full of funny acronyms. One of those acronyms is TIE = Times Interest Earned. The TIE ratio is measured by taking the EBIT/interest. Now, let's review EBIT:

EBIT (ebbit) = Earnings Before Interest and Taxes
EBITD (ebbit-dee) = Earnings Before Interest and Taxes and Depreciation
EBITDA (ebbit-dah) = Earnings Before Interest and Taxes and Depreciation and Amortization

Amused? If you want to speak with business executives about financial issues, you need to get familiar with the language.

Business School Blog: I'm taking a course in finance

In a few weeks, I'm taking a business school course on finance. I recently took a course on accounting and I'm following that up with a course on finance. Here's a brief description of the course:

The first course MPE 6004 builds on the material presented in the accounting module. We move from the presentation of the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows to an analytical framework of these statements employing ratios. We examine the informational content of the ratios both cross-sectionally and in the times series. In addition, we develop the common sized ratio process. We then build on this knowledge by using the ratios to project pro forma statements and examine the consequences of these projections. The module continues with an examination of the cash budgeting process, and concludes with the development of the time value of money concepts. It is strongly recommended that

I am currently a business school student in the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Executive MBA program at Saint Joseph's University Erivan K. Haub School of Business in Philadelphia, PA. The Nationally-ranked and AACSB-accredited Haub School of Business, centrally located in the mid-Atlantic pharmaceutical and healthcare corridor, is able to bring together industry experts and a world-class faculty for a unique industry-focused, immersive executive program.

You can read about my business school experience by reading all the blog posts tagged "Business School Blog."