Harvard Business Review has included in its case collection a study of Mylab Discovery SolutionsтАШ innovations conducted by the IIM-Bangalore, the Pune-based biotech firm, which made a mark during the pandemic with its Covid-19 test kits, said Wednesday.
The case study titled, тАШMylab Discovery Solutions: Innovating against all OddsтАЩ, focuses on how MylabтАЩs founders steered the company through the Covid-19 pandemic, taking their production from 10,000 tests to 5,50,000 per week and employee strength from 30 to 350.
According to the case study, prepared by Charu Rastogi (PhD student at IIMB), Prof Srivardhini K Jha (IIMB) and Rishikesha Krishnan (Director, IIMB), the companyтАЩs тАЬfortunes changed in March 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. The firm was dubbed the тАШposter child of the Covid-19 pandemicтАЩ after it rose to the limelight for developing Covid-19 RTPCR and rapid antigen test kitsтАЭ.
It adds, тАЬThe firm started developing RTPCR and rapid antigen test kits and the next two years saw it raising funds, automating and scaling production, doubling down on research and development, launching multiple new products, and pursuing inorganic growth through acquisitions and alliances.тАЭ
When contacted, Hasmukh Rawal, MD, Mylab, told, The Indian Express, тАЬDuring the initial years, we met with several challenges, including the lack of a level playing field in high-end diagnostics, slow adoption rate of molecular testing, long gestation period from conceptualisation to regulatory approval prior to commercialisation and immense lack of funding to support the research and manufacturing of innovations.тАЭ
Rawal added, тАЬFollowing the pandemic, we have been deploying various alternatives in the diagnostics space for consolidating the companyтАЩs position in the domestic market and to maintain its growth momentum by expanding to new product lines as well as new geographies.тАЭ
The case study is also included in the IIMB curriculum, the company said. According to the IIMB experts, the learning objectives of this case were to understand the unique challenges faced by ventures in the nascent markets, compare the ecosystem of ventures in the nascent industries with those in mature industries and discuss how stakeholder relationships evolve as a venture advances in its journey.
