ISPE Boston Board’s Strategic Planning

Introduction

On Thursday, November 21, we, the ISPE Boston board, met in person to establish the framework for a rolling 3-year Chapter strategy. Our need for a new strategy framework is driven by the growth of our Chapter and the significant investment in the New England health sciences sector. At the same time, we are facing new industry challenges, such as the degradation of public trust in science and the threat of intra-regional competition. We are determined to help our local industry navigate this dynamic environment to ensure New England continues to provide a speed-to-patient environment for biopharmaceutical development!

What are we competing with?

We recognize that our members, as well as future members of ISPE Boston, face a variety of competitors for their time (Figure 1). These competitors include spending quality time with family and friends, pursuing hobbies, and developing new capabilities through opportunities offered by other professional development organizations. To better understand this landscape, we, the ISPE Boston board members, created a detailed list of these competitors for our members’ time, which provided us with a rough sketch of the competitive landscape. Visualizing this landscape has enabled us to identify where we should focus our efforts to compete. This is crucial because our choices about where to compete will inform all subsequent actions regarding how we will engage and provide value to our members.

Figure 1: Key competitions identified          

Strategy Results

We have identified two key areas where we must compete well: the after-work time of our members and time dedicated to other industry/specialist societies. These areas already overlap with many of the programs and opportunities we offer, highlighting the need for ISPE Boston’s value to match or exceed the value provided by competing options. To gain a competitive advantage, we will leverage the deep technical focus of our communities of practice. This drives our overall strategy (Figure 2).

We already have established systems to deliver high-value opportunities, starting with our engaged volunteers who actively contribute to committees and events. Meetings held at vendor sites have proven effective in providing insights into both established and emerging technologies, and facilitating discussions on how we can expedite safe and efficient product delivery to patients. Additionally, we recognize the untapped potential of our ISPE guidance documents and CoP’s, which will be integrated into our offerings to enhance their value.

To further increase our product value, we need to engage subject matter experts from owner/operating companies and establish ISPE Boston champions within these organizations. We have observed a decline in the ratio of owner/operating companies to vendor companies, indicating a perceived lack of value (Figure 3). By focusing on enhancing our offerings and leveraging our volunteers’ networks, we can strengthen the ecosystem between owner/operating companies and vendors.

Lastly, we must create systems and policies to stabilize and expand the pipeline of members transitioning from students to emerging leaders. This pipeline is crucial for ensuring ISPE Boston has the depth and diversity of expertise necessary to contribute meaningfully to the growth of the biopharmaceutical ecosystem in New England.

Figure 2: Output from the session

Figure 3: Participation ratio of Manufacturers to Vendors

Conclusion

We developed our strategy within the context of a dynamic regional and national landscape. This strategy will lead to the creation of new capabilities that support our existing systems in delivering high-value products for our members and future members, helping them enhance their competitive advantage in developing products for our patients. Additionally, we have identified several priorities that we will communicate shortly to the committees as they prepare for FY’25. We expect the committees to leverage these priorities to shape their offerings into even more appealing options for our members’ and future members’ time. We will review this strategy annually to make necessary adjustments as the regional and national landscapes evolve. Together, we can enable our industry’s success in delivering products to patients.

ISPE Boston Board of Directors