This case deals primarily with the issues of managing an innovative collaboration at Cambridge's Addenbrooke's hospital, in response to the urgent demand for Personal Protection Equipment (short: PPE) created by the COVID-19 crisis in the UK in 2020. It relates to study domains within the fields of innovation, strategy, and leadership in organisations. The case highlights the challenges of open innovation (i.e., innovation which requires a third-party intervention) in general, and specific challenges which are amplified during an emergency. The two organisations featured are at opposite ends of the managerial spectrum: one is a very large hospital, run on traditional, established hierarchical lines, the other a small, informal entrepreneurial membership-based entity. The organisational cultures are also opposites: the hospital is focused on eliminating/minimising risk through well-defined protocols and processes; its potential supplier actively encourages experimentation and exploration. The central issues are whether, in the wider public interest, these two very dissimilar entities can find a meeting-point to work together, and what is the role of the protagonist, who has a foot in both camps, in brokering such a collaboration.

Teaching and learning

This item is suitable for postgraduate courses.