Functional competition strategies

To execute a company s competitive strategy, all these functions play a role, and each must develop its own strategy. Here, strategy refers to what each process or function will try to do particularly well. 

Enbrel is a product now approved for medical use that is based upon this strategy. The product is an engineered hybrid protein consisting of the extracellular domain of the TNF p75 receptor fused directly to the Fc (constant) region of human IgG (see Box 13.2 for a discussion of antibody structure) The product is expressed in a CHO cell line from which it is excreted as a dimeric soluble protein of approximately 150 kDa. After purification and excipient addition (mannitol, sucrose and trometamol), the product is freeze-dried. It is indicated for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and is usually administered as a twice-weekly s.c. injection of 25 mg product reconstituted in WFI. Enbrel functions as a competitive inhibitor of TNF, a major pro-inflammatory cytokine. Binding of TNF to Enbrel prevents it from binding to its true cell surface receptors. The antibody Fc component of the hybrid protein confers an extended serum half-life on the product, increasing it by fivefold relative to the soluble TNF receptor portion alone. 

Porter formulates the general strategies for the value chain of cost leadership and differentiation to reach competitive advantage (Porter 1985, pp. 62-163). These cross-value chain strategies established a principle that competitive advantage can be reached only by managing the entire value chain as a whole including all involved functions. 

The most direct route towards functionalized aliphatic polyesters is based on the functionalization of polyester chains. This approach is a very appealing because a wide range of functionalized aliphatic polyesters could then be made available from a single precursor. This approach was implemented by Vert and coworkers using a two-step process. Eirst, PCL was metallated by lithium diisopropylamide with formation of a poly(enolate). Second, the poly(enolate) was reacted with an electrophile such as naphthoyl chloride [101], benzylchloroformate [101] acetophenone [101], benzaldehyde [101], carbon dioxide [102] tritiated water [103], ot-bromoacetoxy-co-methoxy-poly(ethylene oxide) [104], or iodine [105] (Fig. 26). The implementation of this strategy is, however, difficult because of a severe competition between chain metallation and chain degradation. Moreover, the content of functionalization is quite low (<30%), even under optimized conditions. 

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