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Good people are hard to find, the saying goes. For example, by the year 2000 over 190,000 computer programmer and other information technology jobs will be vacant, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report. (This is now a b

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

it out of date, and although the dot-com bustups and the 2000-2001 recession has eased things a bit, it is still difficult to lure top talent.) It may be easy to fill these empty positions if you are a software giant like Microsof

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

t, but there is a tremendous challenge attracting (and keeping) top performers if you are smaller and less well known. This article will provide a framework for positioning your company to attract and keep the top performers who w

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

ill help your company flourish.

According to chief executives and industry recruiters who were interviewed for this article, there are three main areas on which to focus: the quality and market position of your product or service

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

, environment, and compensation.

Leading edge technology and a high perception of quality will lure top technical and design people, salespeople and support people, all for different reasons. Technology people relish the challeng

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

of developing something new, plus they need ongoing opportunities for skill enhancement to remain fresh.

As for top sales people, a strong product means they can earn bigger commissions, and their egos are fulfilled by being on

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

the leading edge. And top support people are smart enough to know that a quality product makes everyone's job easier, and it enables them to earn their incentives. For everyone, superior products will earn your company better retu

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

rns, enabling more reinvestment in R&D, providing challenges and adventure for your technical people, and more and better product for your sales and marketing team.

What if your product is not cutting-edge, or your quality not up

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

to snuff? Appealing to top performers is not going to be your only problem. Unless you control a mature market niche, your company will need to update and upgrade to remain viable - this requires high caliber people. If you want

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

to survive in the marketplace you must concentrate harder on the next two factors.

Environmental factors - the corporate culture, the caliber of co-workers, the attitude of your management team, and your physical environment can

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

e pivotal in finding and retaining talented people.

Corporate culture is one area smaller companies have an edge - that "hell-bent-for-leather" attitude makes it exciting and challenging to come to work, and there are fewer layer

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

s of bureaucracy people find so stifling. Real teamwork, where success is shared and the team affirms a common commitment, will draw other top professionals.

Having a smart, talented staff will captivate more smart, talented peop

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

le. So will a collegial atmosphere which values the opinions of the rank-and-file along with open-management policies keeping the troops informed on the state-of-the-company.

A training plan, designed career paths and professiona

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

l conference attendance are more ways to attract and keep people. Other small but significant options include dress code, flextime, telecommuting, offices with walls - these all help.

Last is the issue of compensation. The big sa

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

lary problem is no matter how much you pay, a competitor can pay a little bit more. So in terms of salary level itself, you simply have to be at or near your market rate.

Pay-for-performance however, can take compensation much hi

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

her while avoiding salary inflation. A system of carefully designed bonuses and incentives will enable you to pay people for exceptional production.

Equity - stock grants, options and equity-like phantom stock - is a powerful way

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

for smaller companies to entice people at all levels. Plus, smaller companies can grant equity without the usual waiting period required by public and larger companies. (Just remember to include a forfeiture clause in case of ear

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

ly termination.)

What does all this mean in real terms? Some of the ideas in this article are harder to implement than others, and some describe conditions you simply can't achieve. Must you arrange for every item mentioned above

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

? Of course not, but systematically providing your people with the challenge to be their best, the opportunity to learn, the freedom to be creative, the incentives to perform and produce, a feeling of ownership, and the respect as

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

professionals - these are the things that will make top technical and sales people want to join your company, and have them stay.

To get a copy of our "Keeping Top Performers" checklist go to www.paullemberg.com/toolsandtips.htm

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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What do the billionaire creators of Google, Nike, eBay and the Oprah Winfrey Show know that you do not? Discover how you can use their marketing secret to ignite your small business.

Do you want to make some extra money? If you do, then you might want to invest in some vending machines. Those who invest in these machines usually have to either rent or buy them, and then have someone supply what they need to fill them up. The profit will be the rest of the money you make above those expenses.

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