One unpaid $250 bill triggered billions in losses for one of the world’s most powerful companies. If it can happen to them, it can happen to any business that overlooks the small stuff. This story is more than a cautionary tale—it’s a practical blueprint for how manufacturing businesses can protect their future by tightening up the basics.
What happened to Novo Nordisk wasn’t some dramatic corporate scandal—it was a simple administrative slip-up that any business could make. The company failed to pay a small patent maintenance fee in Canada, which led to the loss of their exclusive rights on a drug projected to generate billions. For most business owners, it’s hard to imagine how something so small could snowball like that. But it does—and it’s probably already happening in small ways inside your company right now.
The mistake that turned into a billion-dollar loss
Here’s the short version. Novo Nordisk, a massive pharmaceutical company, didn’t pay a $250 annual fee to maintain a Canadian patent on semaglutide—the core ingredient in their top-selling weight-loss drugs. When they missed the deadline, the patent office notified them, even giving a grace period with a late fee. Still no payment. The patent eventually lapsed, and now generic manufacturers in Canada are gearing up to enter the market. Analysts estimate this could cost Novo Nordisk billions in lost sales.
Why didn’t they pay? Reports show that a lawyer at the company asked for the original payment to be refunded because they were unsure if it was worth keeping. That decision—or lack of decision—ended up opening the door for competitors. That’s the kind of error no one really sees coming because it feels too small to matter at the time.
Imagine this in a manufacturing setting. Say a machine component design you created internally is protected with a patent or trade secret, but no one follows up on the legal paperwork after a few years. You lose exclusivity. A competitor copies your design, undercuts your price, and your biggest customer switches to them. The dollar amount may not be billions, but losing a $400,000-a-year client because of an expired registration feels just as painful.
Small admin slips can create huge business risks
Every business has these “boring” responsibilities—reapplying for environmental permits, keeping up ISO certifications, renewing vendor agreements, tracking customer rebates. These are the kinds of tasks that don’t scream urgency until something breaks. And usually, no one’s really assigned to own them.
This is where manufacturing businesses get hit hardest. Teams are lean. People wear multiple hats. Things get handled “when we have time.” But that’s when small cracks form. When no one is clearly responsible, it’s easy to assume someone else is handling it. Eventually, that $150 certification you didn’t renew becomes the reason you can’t ship to a big-box retailer. Or that one expired vendor contract becomes the reason a key supplier walks away.
There was a CNC shop that missed a yearly reinspection required to stay certified for aerospace parts. The fee was less than $1,000. But because no one caught it, they were barred from bidding on government-linked work for six months. They didn’t just lose revenue—they lost momentum.
Low-cost doesn’t mean low-value—why some small expenses matter more than they look
A big takeaway from Novo Nordisk’s mistake is how easy it is to overlook something because of its small price tag. A $250 bill doesn’t feel important in a multi-billion dollar company. But that’s exactly why it slipped through the cracks. The cost wasn’t the problem—the value of what it protected was.
In your business, what small costs are you pushing off because they seem minor? Things like renewing a safety license, paying for a vendor audit, or keeping up with small tax registrations in other states you ship to. These aren’t exciting line items, but they often unlock your ability to operate or stay competitive. Skip them, and you expose your business to outsized risk that doesn’t show up until it’s too late.
It’s not about being paranoid—it’s about being professionally disciplined. If something protects access to markets, customers, or compliance, it deserves your attention, regardless of the price tag.
Who owns the follow-up?
In many cases, the failure isn’t in the task—it’s in the follow-through. Someone might start the process. Someone else might be notified. But if no one actually owns the outcome, nothing gets done.
That’s what likely happened at Novo Nordisk. Legal raised a question. Finance didn’t act. Admin didn’t escalate. No one closed the loop. You can bet a lot of people assumed it wasn’t their job. And that’s the danger.
To avoid this, every task—especially the small, recurring ones—needs a name next to it. Who’s responsible for making sure that contract gets renewed? That compliance training gets completed? That state sales tax registration gets reviewed annually? When it’s clear who owns it, it becomes manageable. When it’s vague, it becomes a mess.
Build simple systems before your business gets complex
You don’t need enterprise software to prevent this kind of mistake. A shared calendar with reminders. A quarterly checklist for renewals. A binder with critical dates reviewed at each leadership meeting. These simple systems can save you from huge headaches.
One family-owned machine parts manufacturer started keeping a “critical dates” whiteboard in the office kitchen: contract expirations, state filings, vendor rebates, insurance reviews. Nothing fancy. But it forced visibility. And visibility drives accountability.
The best time to put these systems in place is before things get chaotic. If you’re growing, adding customers, or bringing on new equipment, your complexity is increasing. Get ahead of it now while you can still keep it simple.
Success can hide sloppiness—until it doesn’t
Novo Nordisk didn’t miss this payment during a crisis. They missed it while riding high. The market was hot. Sales were booming. That’s exactly when companies start letting the basics slide.
The same thing happens in manufacturing. You’re busy with orders. Quoting is up. People are working weekends. That’s when the maintenance calendar gets skipped. The contract review gets postponed. The training gets delayed.
And then something small breaks. And that little problem costs you the next big win. The most dangerous words in business are: “We’ll get to that later.”
How to Catch These Risks Before They Catch You
Here’s the real question: how do you know what small things in your business could create outsized damage if forgotten? Start by doing a quick internal sweep. Sit down with your leadership team—or just your right-hand person—and ask, “What are all the tasks we only think about once a year?” These are usually the areas where danger hides. Anything you touch annually or less is easy to forget, easy to misplace, and rarely top of mind until a customer, regulator, or partner forces you to deal with it. That’s when the cost skyrockets.
Look for things like: contract renewals with key suppliers, certifications needed to bid on specific jobs, licenses tied to your ability to operate in different states, agreements with long-standing customers that quietly auto-renew but include volume or pricing commitments you no longer track. One missed update, and you might find yourself locked into bad pricing or dropped from a vendor program with no recourse.
An equipment manufacturer shared that they lost a major account after forgetting to submit quarterly quality test reports. They had the reports. They just never sent them. The client viewed it as non-compliance and moved their business elsewhere. The revenue loss? Over $200,000 a year. Again—not a flashy mistake. Just a missed email on a slow Friday afternoon.
Catch these by creating a master list of critical commitments—what they are, when they’re due, who owns them, and what happens if they’re missed. Review that list at least every quarter. You’ll catch most issues before they ever hit your radar.
Build a Culture That Values Diligence, Not Just Speed
There’s always pressure to move fast—get the quote out, fulfill the order, chase the next opportunity. But if your business only celebrates speed and hustle, you’ll unintentionally send the message that detail work doesn’t matter. That’s how the small cracks form.
Train your team to treat checklists, deadlines, and follow-ups with the same importance as hitting production goals. When someone flags an issue or raises a small task that feels tedious, reward it. That mindset shift builds a culture where catching and preventing problems becomes part of the daily rhythm—not just something you do after something goes wrong.
One fabrication shop made this change by tying performance bonuses not only to output, but to clean compliance audits, zero late certifications, and zero missing customer deliverables. Suddenly, the team was proactive about chasing down paperwork, not just punching out parts.
If you want to prevent big problems, make attention to the small things part of how your team defines excellence.
Use Risk to Drive Strategy, Not Just Avoid It
The most effective leaders don’t just use risk management to protect the business—they use it to shape smarter strategy. When you look across your operations for where you’re vulnerable, you’re also identifying what matters most to your competitive edge.
If you know your ability to serve a high-end client hinges on a certain certification, that tells you how to prioritize and invest. If your unique equipment design is what keeps you ahead, protect it with the same energy you’d spend landing a new account. Treat risk awareness as a lens for better decision-making, not just something you outsource to legal or operations.
Novo Nordisk didn’t lose billions because they lacked resources. They lost because they failed to treat a small risk as strategically important. You don’t need a billion-dollar pipeline to learn from that. You just need to recognize where the hidden levers of your business live—and treat them like they matter.
3 Clear and Actionable Takeaways
- Make someone responsible for every critical date—whether it’s a certification, permit, contract, or recurring fee. Don’t assume—it’s better to over-assign than under-clarify.
- Track it all in one place—use a shared document, calendar, or whiteboard. Review it monthly or quarterly with your leadership team, even if it’s just two of you.
- Think long-term value, not short-term cost—just because a task costs $250 doesn’t mean it’s low-priority. Focus on what the action protects, not what it costs today.
Don’t let a small crack grow into a giant problem. Put structure around the little things now—because when they’re handled well, they protect everything else you’re working so hard to build.
Smart Business Moves: Top 5 FAQs on Avoiding Costly Oversights
1. How do I know which tasks or documents pose the biggest risk?
Look for anything tied to regulatory compliance, key customers, intellectual property, or certifications that allow you to operate or bid. These are your high-leverage items. Even if the cost is small, the impact of missing them is often huge.
2. What if my team is already overwhelmed—who has time to track all this?
You don’t need a dedicated admin. Assign ownership to existing team leads for their area (sales, ops, HR), and review critical dates together once per quarter. Keep it simple and consistent.
3. Should I use software to manage these kinds of tasks?
Use what your team will actually use. For some, that’s project management software. For others, it’s Google Calendar or a shared Excel sheet. Don’t overcomplicate it—just make it visible, shared, and reviewed regularly.
4. How can I make sure things don’t fall through the cracks during busy periods?
Build a basic operating rhythm. For example, first Monday of every quarter is “risk and renewal check-in.” Add alerts and make it a habit—not just a reaction to something breaking.
5. What’s the biggest sign that I need to take this more seriously?
If you’ve ever said “I thought someone else handled that,” or had to scramble after missing a deadline, you already have the early warning signs. Fix the process now before the stakes get higher.
Summary
Most business owners don’t lose out because of one big, obvious mistake. They lose out because of small, avoidable things that build up quietly over time. If a $250 oversight can cost one of the world’s most powerful companies billions, it’s a powerful reminder that no one is immune. Protect the little things—and you’ll protect everything that matters most in your business.