The Heart of the Matter

“Roche Holding AG's $44 billion bid to gain full ownership of Genentech Inc. took the staunchly independent biotechnology company by surprise and risks upsetting the highly successful -- but delicate -- relationship the partners have developed over two decades...

“Genentech employees expressed concern about the proposed takeover's impact on Genentech's culture and identity…

“Roche's chief executive, Severin Schwan, said repeatedly in a conference call… that Roche wants Genentech's drug researchers to keep working as an independent group.

“‘We will do everything to preserve the unique and science-driven culture of Genentech, something which made Genentech so successful and something we want to build on,’ he said in a separate interview.

“The danger, though, is that the big Swiss company will instead prove stifling to Genentech's scientists and other employees. When big drug makers have taken over biotech companies in the past, key scientists have often defected to start-ups or other opportunities...

“Michael Ross, a Ph.D. biochemist from the California Institute of Technology and Harvard who was an early Genentech employee, left six months after Roche acquired its initial stake in 1990.

“Dr. Ross… said Roche would be foolish to tamper with ‘a unique culture, a Valley culture that has aspects of Google and the old Hewlett-Packard.’ But, if Roche doesn't touch Genentech governance or culture, the deal ‘could be smart,’ Dr. Ross said…

“When Roche first bought control of Genentech in 1990, it allowed the company to keep working as an independent unit that decided which research to pursue and how to spend its money. Both companies have always maintained that this arms-length relationship is crucial to Genentech's success.

“Mr. Schwan said Roche would offer Genentech employees ‘attractive and competitive’ packages to try to keep them. But he said that ‘protecting their culture and providing an environment where they feel respected’ would be more important in retaining them.”

(“Roche Bid Blindsided Genentech; Top Executives to Meet Today to Discuss Swiss Drug Giant's $89-a-Share Offer for Rest of Biotech Firm.” Jeanne Whalen, Dana Cimilluca and Marilyn Chase. Wall Street Journal: July 22, 2008. pg. B.1)

MORE THAN MONEY, more than title... heart, soul, humanity, self-determination, and relationships of trust drive our world.

While mainstream pharmaceutical firms have tried to scientificize and bureaucratize innovation, deft CEOs understand that connection, touch and feel are the prime tools of delicate success.