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Case Study

Chugai (A): Overcoming adversity with a transformative leap

By Kazuo Ichijo and Yunfei Feng

7 pages

November 2025

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Reference: IMD-2709

Chugai A traces the transformative journey of a leading Japanese biopharmaceutical firm from its founding in 1925 to the early 2000s. Starting with founder Jz Ueno’s vision to ‘create medicines that benefit society,’ the case details the company’s evolution from an over-the-counter OTC drug importer to a research-driven enterprise. Key milestones include the shift to prescription drugs in the 1960s and a strategic pivot to biotechnology in the 1980s. Despite Japan’s limited biotech expertise at the time, Chugai successfully developed groundbreaking therapies by forging global partnerships, such as with the US-based Genetics Institute, and laid the foundation for its leadership in biopharmaceuticals. The case highlights visionary leaders like Jz Ueno, Kimio Ueno, and Osamu Nagayama, who drove pivotal strategic transformations in response to environmental and policy changes from 1925 to the 1990s. The central conflict focuses on how President Nagayama, upon taking office in 1992, navigated the limitations of the traditional business to seize the immense opportunities in biotechnology, ultimately realizing the firm’s ambition to become an international enterprise.

Learning Objective

Understand how to build dynamic capabilities for continuous reinvention in order to pivot strategically by leveraging technological shifts and via proactive resource reallocation.
Understand how visionary leaders drive transformation and operational change during crises by making critical decisions and orchestrating strategic pivots.
Explore how to align execution with vision in order to drive visionary success.

Keywords

Strategy, Global Business, Mergers and Acquisitions, Organizational Culture, Corporate Transformation, Dynamic Capabilities, Strategic Pivot, Resource Allocation

Settings

Asia, Japan
Chugai Pharmaceutical, Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals
1925-2002

Type

Published Sources

Available Languages

English

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Academic institutions face unprecedented complexity from technological change, evolving funding models, diverse stakeholder demands and pressure to demonstrate societal impact. Traditional strategic planning – periodic exercises that typically yield lengthy reports but little change – no longer suffices. This technical note introduces the Seven Dimensions of Academic Strategy, a comprehensive systems framework for designing, implementing and continuously refining strategy in universities, research institutes and academic departments. The framework encompasses seven interconnected dimensions: Impact (vision and purpose), Defining Choices (where to focus and not focus), Core Capabilities (world-class strengths and make-buy-partner sourcing decisions), Portfolio (resource allocation across time horizons), Stakeholders and Value Creation (partnerships and value exchange), Economics and Resources (financial sustainability), and Execution and Learning (organizational systems for action and adaptation). Unlike linear planning models, this framework presents strategy as a dynamic system in which changes in one dimension cascade through the others. Designed for practical application, the framework includes assessment tools that are applicable at multiple institutional levels. Academic leaders, administrators and faculty involved in strategic planning will find actionable guidance for achieving institutional impact in an increasingly complex world.

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