The strategies that Millennium Pharmaceuticals engaged in over the years were incredibly well calculated and executed. Founded in 1993 as a small startup, Millennium grew to a market cap of $1.4 Billion by 1998 and was able to secure alliances which guaranteed revenue for many years to come. What was very apparent when reading the Millennium case study is that the strategies which Millennium used constantly evolved. Year after year, Millennium’s alliances adapted and changed to Millennium’s benefit while simultaneously delivering for their clients. I would argue that there was never a time that Millennium did not sway a deal to its full potential. These alliances became Millennium’s bread and butter, ensuring success, a constant revenue stream and also minimized risk. Furthermore, in addition to the alliances which Millennium acquired, the resulting revenue and knowledge never went to waste. Instead, these revenues and newly acquired knowledge were essentially re-invested back into the Millennium business in very strategic manner. For example, in the beginning Millennium was sure to keep risks to a minimum and play their strengths. Their ambitions were never to invest in a single drug and then push their discovery into clinical trials. Millennium knew that an overwhelming majority of proposed drugs failed and even if successful, the prospects of becoming profitable were still slim. It was also noted in the case study that Millennium studied the failures of other companies and was sure to not repeat them. It is important to note that Millennium also knew that no one company can survive on its own. Biotechnology as a whole had grown so large that if you attempt to work by yourself, you are sure to be outpaced by other companies combining their strengths for mutual gain. Millennium knew that success was grounded in a collaborative and compromising approach and tailored their company to exploit this. First Millennium positioned itself as a company capable of carrying out rapid discovery of genes/targets of interest to other companies as well as their own. This was done by utilizing the incredible advances made in robotics and automation. Everything within Millennium’s R&D department was streamlined. What would take another company months to complete would take Millennium weeks with a fraction of the manpower. In the end, Millennium had developed a service that was attractive to other companies. Instead of competitors setting up their own expensive automation labs to complete the same task, they partnered with Millennium. When Millennium partnered with Roche it was made very clear what the end goals were for both parties involved. Millennium was asked to find small molecule targets for treating obesity and Type II diabetes; nothing more and nothing less. In fact, Millennium relied on Roche for all follow-up studies downstream once targets were identified. However, while Roche was granted exclusive rights to exploit these discovered targets for obesity and Type II diabetes, Millennium retained all rights to exploit the same targets for other diseases as well as the right to pursue any biotherapeutics directed at these targets. In the end Millennium secured $56 million over 5 years. Pursuing such an alliance with Roche allowed Millennium to acquire targets that they themselves might be interested in pursuing later. The cash money from Roche was not simply saved either. Instead it was put to good use. The bulk of the money from Roche came in increments of $10 million/year. This money was carefully reinvested back into Millennium as they decided to pursue research in cardiovascular, central nervous system, respiratory and oncology segments. Right way this investment paid off and additional alliances were made. This time alliances with Eli Lilly, Astra and Wyeth-Ayerst were formed. All these companies wanted work done in disciplines that Millennium had invested in with proceeds from Roche. These deals signed were even more lucrative for Millennium. Millennium requested an entry fee and an upfront licensing fee. As milestones were completed Millennium was paid. However there was one stark difference between these deals and that of Roche. In addition to the payments to Millennium for their services, Millennium also received royalties for marketed drugs made possible by their research. The alliances that Millennium made were not only lucrative but the amount of Intellectual Property that was gained allowed Millennium to grow, forming subsidiaries such as Millennium Biotherapeutics (MBio) and Millennium Predictive Medicine (MPMx) in 1997. This strategy was very wise because it helped fuel growth in part due to the discovery of targets it helped discover for other competitors. After the formation of MBio, Eli Lilly purchased a large share of MBio stock ($20 Million) for 18% ownership in addition to dedicated promotion of MBio worth $8-10 million in annual funding over 3-5 years. Millennium also began to branch out and shift from the development of biotech companies to the acquisition of biotech companies having bought ChemGenics in 1997. This buyout was another very smart move on Millenniums part. ChemGenics specialized in the development of leads that could bind to targets found by Millennium. Furthermore, ChemGenics specialized in developing drugs for infectious diseases which has a much shorter development time frame when compared to other drugs. Lastly, drugs designed to treat infectious diseases also spend far less time in clinical trials to prove efficacy. These lucrative deals continued to adapt as Millennium further realized the value of participating in alliances with other biotechnology firms. As business continued, Millennium sought to streamline alliances even further, by ensuring that the bulk of the actual research wasn’t even done by their own staff. When partnering with Monsanto, Millennium helped Monsanto build its own subsidiary called Cereon. Millennium simply trained Monsanto’s employees to use Millennium’s platform. Furthermore, Cereon was positioned so that any discoveries related to health could be used by Millennium, as Monsanto’s primary goal was to advance agriculture. In summary, Millennium’s strategies can best be described as both collaborative and aggressive. In every deal Millennium was sure to leave with something that helped secure its own future after the partnership ended. Securing such a profitable future never would have occurred unless Millennium made it a priority to foster alliances. A key to Millennium’s success was not only entering into alliances which they knew they were capable of delivering but always bargaining from a position of power. At the time, there was no other company that had the reputation for constantly coming through for clients in a timely fashion in this field of research. This allowed Millennium to attract new clients very quickly which further helped Millennium because they were then able to decided who they wanted to work with.