Resource Management is a critical aspect of operations that can ultimately determine a business' profitability and ability to respond to changing business conditions. Resources available to run a business are usually constrained, and allocating them effectively is a key component of achieving the business' goals.

A good example of constrained resource management can be found in the drug discovery and development programs in pharmaceutical companies. At a given time, many drug candidates are being worked on by the company- only a fraction of which can be adequately resourced by the company. The manner in which these drug discovery/development programs are managed, and resources allocated effectively between them, is often the difference between a successful product launch, and a costly failure.

Our case-study on resource management in a pharmaceutical company illustrates this with clarity.