Leerink Swann Co Analysis

Leerink Swann & Co. provides an interesting perspective on a company that has had to adapt in a relatively quick fashion to take advantage of certain gaps in the investment industry. With both their initial understanding of said gaps and their continued efforts to provide previously unavailable information in an attractive package, they have been able to dial in to a growth pattern that is extremely lucrative. In examining the competitive advantages created by Leerink Swann & Co., we are immediately struck by their key factors for success in having an information-sharing perspective on structure, a commitment to a full-time integrator to facilitate horizontal linking, and a matrix structure to increase the breadth of their response to their clients.

The first factor is their dedication to an information-sharing perspective. As noted by Daft if this structure is not correctly developed, “people either will have too little information or will spend time processing information that is not vital to their tasks.” (Daft, 92) In the case of investment managers that Leerink Swann & Co. wanted to capture in terms of gaining their business, they were not able to “maintain a current and complete rolodex of gurus to cover the ever-expanding galaxy of medical technologies, products, and services.” (Harvard Business Publishing, 21) Thus Leerink Swann & Co. found a niche for their product offering by providing the information that companies needed but couldn't spend time on because it wasn't a vital part of their day. Along with this perspective Leerink Swann & Co. had to focus on the information-sharing perspective within their own company. As notated there was a lot of confusion in the beginning as the analysts were used to simply using “expert” knowledge as a component of their recommendation. Instead with a horizontal structure data was being delivered by the research team itself which caused some level of friction.

This sense of friction was addressed through the use of...