Harvard Business School has published a case study on Actavis and its president and CEO. The study, entitled “Robert Wessman and Actavis’ Winning Formula” was presented in an MBA class in international entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School. The case will be made available to business schools around the world.

Dr Daniel Isenberg, senior lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, expressed interest in creating a case study of how what started as a relatively small Icelandic pharmaceutical company has today become one of the most important players in the generic pharmaceutical business internationally, lead by its 39-year-old CEO Robert Wessman.

The business case takes a look at the company culture and the CEO’s management style. It details the Actavis story from 1999, when the company had about a 100 employees – all located in Iceland, to the end of 2007 when the employees of the very successful global company numbered more than 11,000 in 40 countries. During this period Mr Wessman led the company through 26 acquisitions and extensive integration of the acquired companies.

Mr Wessman said: “This is the effort of each and every person who works for Actavis. Each person’s conviction and determination to make this company a leader in its field has gotten us where we are today.”

Dr Isenberg is senior lecturer of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit, teaching classes on International Entrepreneurship and The Entrepreneurial Manager: “Actavis has grown from a small domestic player to a world leader in seven years, a very unusual accomplishment, especially given the extremely competitive nature of the generics industry. The fact that Actavis has simultaneously globalised its supply chain, its markets, its research and development, and its management is an achievement which speaks for itself.”