Jim Miller

In this environment, we see contractor executives falling into two categories: those who are lucky and those who are smart. Executives in the lucky category are content to ride the high tide of prosperity with little thought to what happens if the market weakens, while smart executives are those who are using their current good fortune to build a basis for lasting success.

Here's how to determine whether your company's management is lucky or smart.

If your business is growing at 10% per year or less, you are more lucky than smart. Publicly traded CROs and CMOs have routinely reported revenue growth rates of 12–20% over the past two years. Service providers that are growing slower than that are doing no better than holding their own, and they may actually be losing market share. Smart executives are looking for ways to distinguish their companies so as to be able to grow faster than the market and secure lasting relationships.

If your business is largely dependent on venture capital-backed bio/pharma companies, you are more lucky than smart. Major pharmaceutical companies are concentrating their spending with the largest CROs and CMOs, so smaller service providers are increasingly dependent on the trickle down of venture capital from early stage bio/pharma companies. The level of venture capital funding fluctuates from year to year, and just the prospect of reduced funding can cause small bio/pharma companies to cut back on spending to conserve cash. Large and midsize bio/pharma companies fund their development activities internally, and their spending is more consistent.

If your company is not investing in sales and marketing because you have enough business coming in unsolicited, you are more lucky than smart. Now is the time for service providers to be investing in brand building and relationship development: the higher profit margins resulting from current business activity provide resources for advertising, trade shows, and targeted prospecting. The objective of these efforts is two-fold: to improve the quality of the current customer base and to provide a basis for sustained performance when market conditions are less favorable.

If your company is growing by over-promising and under-delivering, you are more lucky than smart. Rapid growth stresses a company's physical, project management, and executive capacity. In the current environment, many service providers are taking on more business than they can handle and disappointing clients with missed deadlines and performance promises. Clinical packaging providers seem to be especially prone to this problem and major pharmaceutical companies are victimized almost as much as smaller companies. Poor performance erodes client loyalty, which will be critical during periods when demand is not so robust.

If your company is turning away business because it can't handle any more, you may be lucky or smart. Turning away business because you can't meet the client's requirements is a good practice—to a point. Turning away too much business can hurt a company's reputation in the market, and it may be a symptom that management isn't being aggressive enough. If a company isn't investing in more capacity to meet the growing demand, it suggests that management is too contented or too scared to take some risks necessary to make the business a long-term player in the industry.