Corning Microarray Technologies Case Study
no. 2-0020
Corning Microarray Technologies
Greg Brown, general manager of Corning Microarray Technologies (CMT), finished delivering the bad news to his team. Through the first half of 2001, demand had plunged in the telecommunications sector, which accounted for 73% of Corning’s revenue. As a result, Corning could not sustain funding for the nascent CMT venture. He instructed the group that they would have to identify options for keeping the program alive with half or less of its current budget. Mr. Brown knew that few situations strained the cohesiveness of a management team like formulating plans for severe budget cuts. Still, the team had strengthened dramatically since he had inherited the venture, rife with conflict, in November 1999. Because he had commitments to travel for the following two weeks, he left them to work on their own, expecting detailed proposals upon his return.
Opportunity: Meeting the Needs of Genetic Researchers
In June 2000, the scientific community reached a momentous milestone, the complete mapping of the human genome. But even before this breakthrough, molecular biologists conducted new genetic experiments. They started with organisms with simpler genetic codes, such as yeast, and worked towards more complex genomes and partial strands of human DNA. Once scientists had completely mapped the human genome, literally millions of new tests were possible. There was no scientific field ready to grow as explosively as genomics. Researchers sought new knowledge about the genetic basis of life, and in particular, genetic markers for diseases. They anticipated advancing to experiments with specific subsets of genes known to be related to a particular disease. They foresaw a revolution in medical therapies. Genetic experiments involved measuring the magnitude of DNA interactions. Measurements were always comparative, between an experimental sample and a control sample. Due to the complexity of genetics and the imperfect nature of the
Corning Microarray Technologies
Greg Brown, general manager of Corning Microarray Technologies (CMT), finished delivering the bad news to his team. Through the first half of 2001, demand had plunged in the telecommunications sector, which accounted for 73% of Corning’s revenue. As a result, Corning could not sustain funding for the nascent CMT venture. He instructed the group that they would have to identify options for keeping the program alive with half or less of its current budget. Mr. Brown knew that few situations strained the cohesiveness of a management team like formulating plans for severe budget cuts. Still, the team had strengthened dramatically since he had inherited the venture, rife with conflict, in November 1999. Because he had commitments to travel for the following two weeks, he left them to work on their own, expecting detailed proposals upon his return.
Opportunity: Meeting the Needs of Genetic Researchers
In June 2000, the scientific community reached a momentous milestone, the complete mapping of the human genome. But even before this breakthrough, molecular biologists conducted new genetic experiments. They started with organisms with simpler genetic codes, such as yeast, and worked towards more complex genomes and partial strands of human DNA. Once scientists had completely mapped the human genome, literally millions of new tests were possible. There was no scientific field ready to grow as explosively as genomics. Researchers sought new knowledge about the genetic basis of life, and in particular, genetic markers for diseases. They anticipated advancing to experiments with specific subsets of genes known to be related to a particular disease. They foresaw a revolution in medical therapies. Genetic experiments involved measuring the magnitude of DNA interactions. Measurements were always comparative, between an experimental sample and a control sample. Due to the complexity of genetics and the imperfect nature of the