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Constructing Capabilities in Entrepreneurial Technology Firms: A Comparative Institutional Analysis of Germany, Sweden, and the UK

Richard Whitley and Steven Casper

in Business Systems and Organizational Capabilities: The Institutional Structuring of Competitive Competences

This chapter explores the mechanisms linking dominant institutions to distinctive business competences in Germany, Sweden, and the UK, and looks at the relative success of these mechanisms in some ... More

This chapter explores the mechanisms linking dominant institutions to distinctive business competences in Germany, Sweden, and the UK, and looks at the relative success of these mechanisms in some detail by focusing on the characteristics of different subsectors. Specifically, it compares how the institutional frameworks in these countries have affected strategies for dealing with two major kinds of organizational problems that firms have to manage in developing new technologies in the biotechnology and software industries. It focuses on the role of different kinds of skill formation systems and labour market institutions in encouraging the development of contrasting kinds of organizational capabilities. While the predominantly arm's length institutions in countries such as the USA or UK are conducive to the development of project-based entrepreneurial technology start-ups focusing on discontinuous radical innovations, there are other subsectors of these industries where more complex and stable organizations are effective. Success in such segments is strongly advantaged by institutional structures that encourage competence enhancing human resource strategies.Less

How an American technology cluster emerged and became sustainable: San Diego biotechnology

Steven Casper

in Creating Silicon Valley in Europe: Public Policy Towards New Technology Industries

The ability of the US economy to generate new technology industries, such as biotechnology, provides support to the contention that liberal market economies (LMEs) have a comparative institutional ... More

The ability of the US economy to generate new technology industries, such as biotechnology, provides support to the contention that liberal market economies (LMEs) have a comparative institutional advantage in generating radically innovative firms. However, the link between varieties of capitalism and innovation within LMEs has not been systematically explored. This chapter explores the link between institutions and the management of innovative competencies within a successful US biotechnology cluster — San Diego, California. It empirically examines whether national institutional frameworks within the US generate patterns of economic coordination in the areas of finance, employee incentive structures, and labor market organization that benefit firms, and are consistent with predictions of the varieties of capitalism approach. The policy context surrounding the US biotechnology industry is also discussed.Less

Is a Substantive Regime Adequate to Generate full Compliance? The Biotechnology Debate

Srividhya Ragavan

in Patent and Trade Disparities in Developing Countries

This chapter explores how the relationship of the biotechnology industry with the patent system was facilitated, which subsequently led to the growth of the industry. It shows how the courts, the ... More

This chapter explores how the relationship of the biotechnology industry with the patent system was facilitated, which subsequently led to the growth of the industry. It shows how the courts, the patent office, and administrators have set standards and/or led amendments for the patent regime to accomplish national objectives. It also considers some examples from both the developed and developing world, as well as the role of procedural, administrative, and judicial mechanisms in creating the needed balance between TRIPS's minimum standards and national issues in developing nations.Less

Innovation, entrepreneurship, and technological change: an overview

Albert N. Link and Donald S. Siegel

in Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Technological Change

This chapter first sets out the purpose of the book, which is to provide a comprehensive and integrative overview of the burgeoning literature on innovation, entrepreneurship, and technological ... More

This chapter first sets out the purpose of the book, which is to provide a comprehensive and integrative overview of the burgeoning literature on innovation, entrepreneurship, and technological change. It introduces some basic concepts that are pervasive throughout the book. It then discusses innovation, entrepreneurship, and technological change from the historical perspective of the development of the US biotechnology industry. This focused discussion is intended to be introductory material to illustrate, through example, how these three concepts are interrelated. An overview of the subsequent chapters is presented.Less

Economic Specialization: Pathways to Change

Michael Storper, Thomas Kemeny, Naji Philip Makarem, and Taner Osman

in The Rise and Fall of Urban Economies: Lessons from San Francisco and Los Angeles

Industries, firms, and entrepreneurs in the Bay Area and Los Angeles did not plan the economic divergence of their regions. They faced challenges from the restructuring of the Old Economy and ... More

Industries, firms, and entrepreneurs in the Bay Area and Los Angeles did not plan the economic divergence of their regions. They faced challenges from the restructuring of the Old Economy and benefited from the opportunities of the New Economy. Their successes and failures widened the income gap between the two regions. This chapter presents comparative case studies of entertainment, aerospace, information technology, logistics, and biotechnology in San Francisco and Los Angeles, showing how they developed differently and shaped specialization, wages, and income divergence in the two regions.Less

Biotechnology Dilemma 1: Patented Research Tools and Experimental Use

Michael A. Carrier

in Innovation for the 21st Century: Harnessing the Power of Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law

Research tools used by scientists are essential for innovation in the biotechnology industry. In recent years, the patenting of such tools has skyrocketed with many scholars and organizations ... More

Research tools used by scientists are essential for innovation in the biotechnology industry. In recent years, the patenting of such tools has skyrocketed with many scholars and organizations lamenting this development. They have focused, in particular, on reduced access to research tools and an “anticommons” characterized by multiple patentees exercising rights to exclude. This chapter addresses the question of whether scientists are able to use patented research tools. It argues that industry and academia have forged a relationship that, at least at the present time, has displaced the need for changes to the law. The chapter offers three proposals that could be implemented if the situation changes. First is to protect “experimentation” on the invention, which uses the invention to study its technology or design around the patent. Second, it offers an amendment to the Bayh–Dole Act (which encouraged the commercialization of nonprofit inventions) that would require universities and nonprofit institutions to reserve the right to use the invention for non-commercial research. Third, it recommends empirical study of user innovation among research tool innovators.Less

Making Biotech History: Social Resistance to Agricultural Biotechnology and the Future of the Biotechnology Industry

Rachel A. Schurman and William A. Munro

in Engineering Trouble: Biotechnology and Its Discontents

This chapter investigates the character and impact of the new antibiotech movement. It first presents a sketch of what the movement looks like and of whom it comprises. The chapter also describes the ... More

This chapter investigates the character and impact of the new antibiotech movement. It first presents a sketch of what the movement looks like and of whom it comprises. The chapter also describes the domestic regulatory sphere, the international regulatory sphere, and the corporate sphere, and evaluates their effectiveness. It then addresses the strengths and limitations of this type of activism. Social activism has not only forced the issue of biotechnology firmly onto the regulatory agenda but has also complicated the economic lives of biotechnology corporations. The antibiotechnology movement has certainly not stopped the biotechnology train in its tracks. But it has reduced its velocity, possibly altered its trajectory, and created a great deal of uncertainty for the life sciences firms by means of a vigorous and sustained political engagement with both the industry and governing agencies.Less

Biotechnology Dilemma 2: Material Transfer Agreements

Michael A. Carrier

in Innovation for the 21st Century: Harnessing the Power of Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law

This chapter focuses on material transfer agreements (MTAs). Scientists frequently need and request materials owned by others. The most common request involves biological materials such as genes, ... More

This chapter focuses on material transfer agreements (MTAs). Scientists frequently need and request materials owned by others. The most common request involves biological materials such as genes, cell lines, tissues, and organisms used to create new products. Each of these materials is an input in the research and development (R&D) process, allowing scientists to create new products that eventually could be used by the public. In many cases, the recipient must sign an MTA, which can be defined as a contract between the owner of a material and a party that wishes to use the material for research purposes. MTAs present at least five threats to innovation in the biotechnology industry: (1) withheld materials, (2) abandoned research lines, (3) delays in receiving material, (4) publication restrictions, and (5) other harms. The chapter offers a proposal to address these concerns.Less

Parts of the Elephant: How Industry Perspective Drives Patent Theory

in The Patent Crisis and How the Courts Can Solve It

This chapter argues that the disagreements about how the patent system promotes innovation can be traced to the industry-specific character of the patent system. The prospect vision of patents maps ... More

This chapter argues that the disagreements about how the patent system promotes innovation can be traced to the industry-specific character of the patent system. The prospect vision of patents maps most closely onto invention in the pharmaceutical industry. Patents map well onto products in the pharmaceutical industry. Patents in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries were more likely to be licensed ex ante than patents in any other field. Competitive innovation theory fits business methods, arguably fits the Internet, and fit software. Cumulative innovation theory, which balances rights given to initial inventors with rights given to improvers, makes sense for the modern software industry. The structure of the biotechnology industry appears likely to run high anticommons risks. The semiconductor industry may be characterized by anticommons problems since integration of many different inputs is necessary to produce a commercial semiconductor product.Less

Why Courts and Not Congress Offer a Way Out of the Crisis

in The Patent Crisis and How the Courts Can Solve It

This chapter addresses the dangers of legislating industry-specific statutes. It also defends the proposition that courts, rather than Congress or the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), are the right ... More

This chapter addresses the dangers of legislating industry-specific statutes. It also defends the proposition that courts, rather than Congress or the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), are the right place to implement those policy levers. Congress has spent the last four years, from 2005 to 2008, in an ultimately futile effort to reform the patent system. The pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries opposed virtually all elements of patent reform directed at abuse. It suggests that, as a general principle, a flexible common-law approach of ongoing judicial oversight will best accommodate new and different technologies within the general framework of a patent statute. The legal standards for patentability have remained squarely with the court. The separation of functions in the patent context may yield the best of both institutions; the expertise of the agency tempered by the independence of judicial review.Less

The CCR5 Patent and Intellectual Property Law

Myles W. Jackson

in The Genealogy of a Gene: Patents, HIV/AIDS, and Race

Using the CCR5 patent as a guide, this chapter analyses how various legal precedents based on chemistry have proven to be inappropriate to genes. Gene patents are controversial not simply because of ... More

Using the CCR5 patent as a guide, this chapter analyses how various legal precedents based on chemistry have proven to be inappropriate to genes. Gene patents are controversial not simply because of their eligibility for intellectual property protection. This patent is particularly interesting because it occurred at a time when the status of patenting genes was being renegotiated, when the accuracy of computer sequencing for determining function and utility of a gene product was being challenged, when the role of utility-based patents to downstream research was being debated, and when the nature of the deposited object and its written specification were being defined.Less

Profits and Principles

in Science for Sale: The Perils, Rewards, and Delusions of Campus Capitalism

This chapter discusses the conflict between the pursuit of profits and scientific principles, focusing on the case of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) which was considered the ... More

This chapter discusses the conflict between the pursuit of profits and scientific principles, focusing on the case of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) which was considered the center of the biotechnology industry boom. It highlights problems related to business-based scandals in academic science, conflicts of commitment, restraints on publication, and proper behavior in the management and conduct of research connecting academe and industry. This chapter discusses the opinion of Lisa Bero, professor of clinical pharmacy at UCSF and chair of the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on Conflict of Interest, on these issues.Less