The Connectivity of Capabilities
The greatest value of a capability may emerge when it is connected with another.
Organizations are rich in capabilities—people, expertise, technology, infrastructure, products, relationships and operational knowledge. Each has value in its own right. But some of the most interesting opportunities emerge when capabilities that previously operated independently are connected around a common purpose. The value is not only in the individual capabilities. It is also in the connections between them.
Connecting capabilities across geographies
I experienced this first-hand while building the European organization of a central laboratory company.
At the time, there was an established US organization, but no global organization to replicate. Establishing Europe meant connecting expertise from different US departments with new capabilities being developed locally.
Scientific and operational expertise, project management, quality, IT, logistics, finance and commercial capabilities were brought together around customers and their clinical studies.
Connectivity turned existing expertise into a new organizational capability.
M&A added another dimension
I saw the same principle through the acquisition of a specialized temperature-controlled logistics and storage company serving life sciences and healthcare.
The acquisition brought infrastructure, temperature-controlled logistics, storage, clinical materials management and supply-chain expertise, together with experienced people and years of accumulated operational knowledge.
The transaction brought these capabilities under common ownership. Connecting them created the broader opportunity.
The acquired capabilities became part of the wider clinical trial processes of the central laboratory organization, enabling us to support customers across more of their clinical trial journey. At the same time, the acquired organization gained access to expertise, customers and experience from across the broader business. Knowledge and experience flowed in both directions.
One example has always stayed with me. A senior manager from the acquired company moved into a broader leadership role for supply chain across the European organization. He brought his logistics and operational expertise into the wider business while gaining experience across a much broader part of the clinical trial journey.
He later returned to lead the acquired company, bringing that broader experience back with him.
His capability had become an enterprise capability—and both organizations benefited from the connection.
The opportunity in connectivity
The relevance of this principle extends well beyond these experiences.
M&A is one example. McKinsey reported in 2026 that 76% of biopharma transactions between 2020 and 2025 were growth-focused, compared with 34% a decade earlier. The same analysis highlights execution capabilities—with dedicated integration teams, repeatable playbooks and governance supporting rapid decision-making—as an increasingly important differentiator in translating strategic intent into sustained performance.
But connectivity is equally relevant in geographic expansion, partnerships, technology, innovation and organizational transformation.
Products can be connected with new markets. Technology with scientific expertise. Infrastructure with new services. People with knowledge elsewhere in the organization. Experience from one geography with opportunities in another.
Capabilities can originate anywhere—within an organization, through people, acquisitions, partnerships, technologies or across geographies. Their potential is determined not only by what they can achieve individually, but by what becomes possible when they are connected.
Organizations often possess or gain access to capabilities whose broader potential may not immediately be visible. The opportunity lies in recognizing those possibilities and creating the right connections across products, people, technologies, organizations and stakeholders.
Because connectivity does more than bring capabilities together. It creates possibilities that did not exist before.
McKinsey & Company, Life sciences: Dealmaking gains momentum as strategic pressures intensify, 13 February 2026.
NexThera Perspectives explores how leaders can create enterprise value by connecting capabilities, decisions and stakeholders across increasingly complex healthcare ecosystems. Each publication is designed to stimulate discussion, sharpen choices and support practical action.