Brainstorming for Business Solutions

"Baxter provides the autonomy to initiate and execute ideas," said Kaiye Wang, Regulatory Affairs Manager. "This sets a very conducive environment for an entrepreneurial mindset to be instilled, allowing for ideas to come to fruition." 

An example of this was during Baxter's first hackathon – an event where a large number of participants engage in a collaborative solution-finding effort. 

Over the course of five days, four cross-functional teams of interns in Singapore came together to brainstorm innovative solutions to current business problems, from maximizing our Flex Benefits program to re-imagining the dialysis experience for Peritoneal Dialysis patients. 

"Every company needs fresh ideas to stay innovative and to keep bringing value to its customers," said Jacky Devergne, Business Unit Director, Renal in Singapore. "And who better than interns to think outside of the box and bring fresh perspectives to an organization?"

To kick off the event, the team conducted a half-day workshop on Design Thinking to equip participants with the necessary skills and knowledge ahead of the challenge. "The workshop helped the interns focus on seeing the problem from the perspective of the customers, and to design agile solutions to address it," said Mary Kiang, Manager, Peritoneal Dialysis and hackathon coach. 

Regional IT Manager and coach Handoko Janto agreed: "Design thinking is useful to solve problems. It is a framework from the early stage, problem finding/framing, until the end stage, a working solution. It promotes collaboration within the team and across functions."

The interns collaborated on a real business case and were coached by a leader who helped them refine their pitch. On the last day, they presented to a wide audience, including a prestigious panel of judges.

Kaiye said his favorite part of the program was the grit and perseverance displayed by the interns in coming up with the plan and executing it.

"The interns really had to move very quickly to define a problem, come up with a viable model and strategize a plan around it," he said. "It was really fascinating to watch how quickly they moved, designed and executed a viable plan."

Mary added: “I was so impressed with the collaboration effort among the team. They also took all the inputs seriously and within a matter of days were able to improve dramatically on the content and their presentation skills."

The hackathon exemplified how entrepreneurship succeeds at Baxter.

"An entrepreneurial approach is always helpful to link personal accomplishments, goals and visions to the bigger picture, which is our mission to save and sustain lives," Handoko said. “We need to do something good not only for ourselves, or our team, but also for Baxter and the patients and providers we serve. This is where an entrepreneurial approach is useful: it provides meaning to what you're doing every day."