Alan Steigrod, any chance he would...

It really pisses me off when people say that Alan Steigrod is outdated. For your information I heard Steigrod was at RTP last month pitching a new technological advance for call reporting. It's called an MSI device and is half the size of a laptop. What you do is take the wand of the device and swipe barcodes for your doctors and samples. It never breaks down and you can print a copy right from the unit. So quit the Steigrod bashing!

 

I forgot about that MSI device I think we sent them back to home office in 1984. At least it didn't track you.

 

Oh yes it did CAPPY, thats why you and the Taurus are best of friends.

 

Nothing but an old Hebe sitting on the beach in Miami. Would never even look you in the eye, that says a lot.

 

Cappy was from the SK side, they couldn't afford the MSI device.

 

DATS NOT VERY NICE.............HAVE A HEART FER DA CAP............HARD TIMES HAVE FALLEN........................

 

That post says more about you. According to the oldtimers thie guy dominated the industry with his sales force for six years and grew sales from 50 million to 5 billion. That works for me!!!!!!!!

 

GOOD POINTS

 

Steigrod knew how to motivate and gave reps everything he could. He himself was a great salesperson.

He owns all the GSK sales records and it would huge if he would lead us again.

But he's worth over $30 million. Why would he EVER want to come back to a shit company like GSK now?

Plus he must be 65 or even older now.

 

Agree with your bottom line.

 

Thanks for sharing this. I love that line you have from him...

"As we get larger, we must guard against falling into the trap of the ultra structured, multi-layered company that takes away our entrepreneurial spirit."

Its sad how far 5-Moore-Drive has fallen from Alan's days!

 

I loved the MSI device, it was the same thing that they used in grocery stores to count inventory. Reps knew a lot more about the prescribing habits of their doctors back then, they would actually talk to doctors instead of analyzing computer data that changes every week.

 

Interesting...and it was a Supra.

 

It was a CELICA, Adam! LOL! You were an awesome intern! Hope to run into you again some one of these days.

Regards, your former pseudo-boss.

 

I think if Steigrod came back he would fight for the return of the Chevy Lumina to replace our lousy Ford and Mercury choices.

 

That above and his statement...

"As we get larger, we must guard against falling into the trap of the ultra structured, multi-layered company that takes away our entrepreneurial spirit."

 

Let's cover this guy one more time, and take a walk through ancient history.

When Alan Steigrod was hired to come to Glaxo in 1981 he was a good catch. At the time he was hired by Glaxo, he was a mid-level marketing person at Eli Lilly. As Glaxo grew he was not the right person to have in the company. If the company remained small, he might have been good, however, his skills did not match the company that Glaxo was becoming. After he left Glaxo he continued to have a successful career, but it was always with smaller companies. He was/is a good small company leader.

Steigrod did contribute to the success of Zantac, but he was only one of many contributors.

Joe Ruvane had 10 years as a pharma company president at Organon when he came to Glaxo as president in 1981. Ruvane brought Steigrod in, and thankfully was smart enough to not push Jim Butler (who was around as sales head of Meyer when Glaxo bought them in 1978) out of the company or to try to get him to take another role. Butler built a sales management team that would walk on hot coals for him.

Ruvane had the foresight and guts to do something NO ONE had ever done before – co-promote a drug. Co-promotes are so common now that no one thinks twice about it, but this was the FIRST time. Ever. It was Ruvane’s relationship with Irwin Lerner, CEO at Hoffmann LaRoche, that multiplied the sales muscle to launch Zantac. The Roche sales organization was several times larger than Glaxo at the time, and Roche had relationships with docs the Glaxo reps were still building. The Glaxo team size and connections would later eclipse Roche, but at the launch…Roche had the bigger and more connected sales team.

Some have said that Steigrod was brilliant in pricing Zantac at a high premium above Tagamet. Steigrod had NO CHOICE in how Zantac was priced. The premium pricing strategy for Zantac was developed by the head of Glaxo in Italy, Mario Fertonani. Zantac was launched in Italy well before it was launched in the US, and the premium price strategy was highly successful. The US was told to use a premium pricing strategy by the mother ship in the UK. The exact launch price for Zantac was set by the US, but the strategy was born elsewhere and dictated to the US.

There are no records of exactly who owned Glaxo stock back in the early days in the US, but word of mouth was that many physicians were highly invested. Stock (The ADR) was cheap, the promise high, and docs wanted Glaxo to succeed. Zantac would have been successful without this early help, but make no mistake, this was a big plus.

Steigrod, a genius and the reason for the early success of Glaxo? No. He was good, especially in those early years, but the company grew beyond his skill set. Innovator? No. He oversaw the effective implementation of some big innovations, but the innovations were not his. He was, and is, a highly successful manager of smaller pharma companies.

These are the facts. Let's see how long this stays up.

 

thanks, now can you explain who actually started WWII and was Poland to blame ?

 

While your history of early Glaxo and Steigrod is partly correct and some of it your opinion, you underestimate Alan. Ruvane was a nice guy but he was the one that was in over his head. He is lucky that he had Alan Steigrod on board. Roche was a big disappointment and Glaxo had to constantly give them guidance and kick their butts. Bob Ingram came on board in the early 90's and retired Alan from Glaxo as his first move. Others followed, a restructuring followed and a lot good people were demoted, retired or fired. The sales force has never been the same and probably will never be.

 

while we are doing history of Glaxo/Steigrod, let's get it correct. Ruvane did not bring Steigrod aboard, Steigrod was already here. Steigrod did not bring Butler aboard, Butler was already here. Steigrod left because he was pushed out the door by Sanders, Mario and Ingram. This 3-some realigned the company and made a complete mess of it. Good people were let go and demoted, incompetent dolt's were promoted and turned loose to exercise their grudges and revenge. People were in Allen & Hansbury for a reason, they were not the A players. The company was never the same again, a highly motivated and effective sales force. Butler had some major faults but the sales force loved him. I am surpised that Mario allowed all of this to happen.