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R&D collaboration as a global competitive tactic —Biotechnology and the ethical pharmaceutical industry
Author(s) -
Sapienza Alice M.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
randd management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.253
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1467-9310
pISSN - 0033-6807
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9310.1989.tb00652.x
Subject(s) - paradigm shift , pharmaceutical industry , competition (biology) , geopolitics , government (linguistics) , position (finance) , intervention (counseling) , business , microbiology and biotechnology , industrial organization , political science , law , politics , biology , ecology , philosophy , linguistics , epistemology , finance , psychiatry , psychology
In a technology driven industry, emergence of a new technology can trigger changes in the associated market structure and in the nature of competitive forces – changes herein defined as an industry paradigm shift. Biotechnology has precipitated such a paradigm shift in the ethical pharmaceutical industry, and one consequence is a proliferation of R&D collaborations. However, this paradigm shift is occurring at the same time that global competition is intensifying, and biotechnology R&D collaboration has become a tool in the geopolitical strategies of the major industrial nations. Government intervention to promote such collaborations can have deleterious long‐term effects, as described earlier for the semiconductor industry. These effects are posed again for biotechnology and the ethical pharmaceutical industry, in the hopes of provoking a dialogue among concerned parties. These issues must be addressed soon, if the competitive position of this industry –as well as governments and universities – is not to be compromised.