IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v15y1983i2p147-164.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Filter-Down Theory: Location and Technology in the UK Pharmaceutical Industry

Author

Listed:
  • J R L Howells

    (School of Geography, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford OX1 3TB, England)

Abstract

This paper presents an examination of filter-down theory in relation to the location and technological sophistication of manufacturing establishments within the UK pharmaceutical industry. By means of data drawn from a survey of eighty-three pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, the paper considers the technological sophistication both of firms and of plants according to their location as defined by settlement size, degree of urbanization, and their broader centre-periphery regional setting. Given the overall location of the UK pharmaceutical industry, it is shown that there is no significant technological bias in favour of firms or plants located in larger settlements, in more urbanized areas, or within more centrally located regions. In part this result was associated with the decentralized location of manufacturing units controlled by large technologically advanced corporate organizations. The survey data also revealed that on an intracorporate basis there was no evidence that more distant plants, in relation to their main innovation or headquarters location, tended to be less technologically sophisticated.

Suggested Citation

  • J R L Howells, 1983. "Filter-Down Theory: Location and Technology in the UK Pharmaceutical Industry," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 15(2), pages 147-164, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:15:y:1983:i:2:p:147-164
    DOI: 10.1068/a150147
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a150147
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a150147?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Louis T. Wells, 1969. "Test of a Product Cycle Model of International Trade: U. S. Exports of Consumer Durables," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 83(1), pages 152-162.
    2. Barkev S. Sanders, 1962. "Some Difficulties in Measuring Inventive Activity," NBER Chapters, in: The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity: Economic and Social Factors, pages 53-90, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Hastings, Trevor, 1976. "The Characteristics of Early Adopters of New Technology: An Australian Study," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 52(138), pages 239-250, June.
    4. Arthur F. Burns, 1934. "Production Trends in the United States Since 1870," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number burn34-1, July.
    5. Vernon, John M, 1971. "Concentration, Promotion, and Market Share Stability in the Pharmaceutical Industry," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 246-266, July.
    6. McDermott, Philip, 1979. "Multinational Manufacturing Firms and Regional Development: External Control in the Scottish Electronics Industry," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 26(3), pages 287-306, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Erik Brouwer & Hana Budil-Nadvornikova & Alfred Kleinknecht, 1999. "Are Urban Agglomerations a Better Breeding Place for Product Innovation? An Analysis of New Product Announcements," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(6), pages 541-549.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. J Howells, 1985. "Product Sophistication, Industrial Organisation, and Location: The UK Pharmaceutical Industry," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 17(8), pages 1045-1062, August.
    2. Francesco Quatraro & Marco Vivarelli, 2015. "Drivers of Entrepreneurship and Post-entry Performance of Newborn Firms in Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 30(2), pages 277-305.
    3. Pol Antràs, 2005. "Incomplete Contracts and the Product Cycle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(4), pages 1054-1073, September.
    4. Francesco Quatraro, 2009. "Innovation, structural change and productivity growth: evidence from Italian regions, 1980--2003," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 33(5), pages 1001-1022, September.
    5. M J Taylor & N J Thrift, 1982. "Industrial Linkage and the Segmented Economy: 1. Some Theoretical Proposals," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 14(12), pages 1601-1613, December.
    6. Ryan Lampe & Petra Moser, 2012. "Do Patent Pools Encourage Innovation? Evidence from 20 Industries in the 1930s," NBER Chapters, in: Standards, Patents and Innovations, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Richard Easterlin, 1965. "Long swings in u.s. demographic and economic growth: some findings on the historical pattern," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 2(1), pages 490-507, March.
    8. Foellmi, Reto & Hanslin Grossmann, Sandra & Kohler, Andreas, 2018. "A dynamic North-South model of demand-induced product cycles," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 63-86.
    9. Geoffrey H. Moore, 1995. "Following the Indicators," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 39(1), pages 15-19, March.
    10. Peter Midmore & Max Munday & Annette Roberts, 2006. "Assessing industry linkages using regional input-output tables," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 329-343.
    11. Vaitsos, Constantine V., 2003. "Growth Theories Revisited: Enduring Questions with Changing Answers," UNU-INTECH Discussion Paper Series 2003-09, United Nations University - INTECH.
    12. Bernardina Algieri & Antonio Aquino & Marianna Succurro, 2022. "Trade Specialisation and Changing Patterns of Comparative Advantages in Manufactured Goods," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 8(3), pages 607-667, November.
    13. Sam Tavassoli & Babak Kianian & Tobias C. Larsson, 2015. "Manufacturing renaissance: return of manufacturing to western countries," Chapters, in: Charlie Karlsson & Urban Gråsjö & Sofia Wixe (ed.), Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Global Economy, chapter 11, pages 261-280, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Dosi, Giovanni & Nelson, Richard R., 2010. "Technical Change and Industrial Dynamics as Evolutionary Processes," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 51-127, Elsevier.
    15. Wang, Cong & Lu, Yifan, 2020. "Can economic structural change and transition explain cross-country differences in innovative activity?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    16. Ryan L. Lampe & Petra Moser, 2012. "Do Patent Pools Encourage Innovation? Evidence from 20 U.S. Industries under the New Deal," NBER Working Papers 18316, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Alessandro Nuvolari & Emanuele Russo, 2019. "Technical progress and structural change: a long-term view," LEM Papers Series 2019/17, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    18. David Greasley & Les Oxley, 2010. "Clio And The Economist: Making Historians Count," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(5), pages 755-774, December.
    19. Alessandra Colombelli & Jackie Krafft & Francesco Quatraro, 2012. "The emergence of new technology-based sectors at the regional level: a proximity-based analysis of nanotechnology," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1211, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jun 2012.
    20. Jean-Louis Mucchielli & B. Lassudrie-Duchêne, 1979. "Les échanges intra-branche et la hiérarchisation des avantages comparés dans le commerce international," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 30(3), pages 442-486.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:15:y:1983:i:2:p:147-164. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.