Biohit: A Global, Family-Owned Company Embarking on a New Phase
Abstract
This case concerns Biohit, a family-owned biotechnology company established in
Finland in 1988, selling liquid handling and diagnostics products in the global market.
The case also describes the entrepreneurial career of Biohit’s CEO Osmo Suovaniemi,
since the company is mainly based on the know-how that Osmo gained as ownermanager
of his two earlier companies, Labsystems and Eflab, during the 1970s and 1980s.
Hence, this case describes the prior and initial phases of Biohit, examining also its
commitment to innovation and its management practices. The case ends with the
situation as of March 2010, and includes the reflections of Biohit’s managers on the
future of the company. At this point, Osmo was intending to hand over his executive
position to someone from outside the family, on the grounds that none of his three sons
was able or willing to take up the position. However, he planned to continue as owner,
inventor, and full-time board member of Biohit. The managers of Biohit had high hopes
of making a breakthrough with diagnostics products that had been under intensive
development over a long period.
Main Author
Format
Articles
Research article
Published
2014
Series
Subjects
Publication in research information system
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell; United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship
The permanent address of the publication
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:jyu-201407192243Käytä tätä linkitykseen.
Review status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
1042-2587
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2011.00488.x
NB.
Article first published online: 21 OCT 2011
Language
English
Published in
Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice
Citation
- Kontinen, T. (2014). Biohit: A Global, Family-Owned Company Embarking on a New Phase. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 38(1), 185-203. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2011.00488.x
Copyright© 2011 Baylor University. This is a final draft version of an article whose final and definitive form has been published by Wiley-Blackwell.