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North Atlantic Innovative Relations of Swiss Pharmaceuticals and the Proximities with Regional Biotech Arenas

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  • Christian Zeller

Abstract

Under the pressure of increased global competition and processes of concentration, the pharmaceutical giants are reorganizing their innovative capacities. Technology and research and development (R&D) play a key role in the competitive strategies of multinational pharmaceutical companies. This article analyzes the interrelation of the far-reaching but spatially selective international expansion of R&D and technology of a major Swiss pharmaceutical company and its anchoring in regional arenas of innovation. It combines this international technological expansion with a perspective on integrating spatial and social proximities. Multinational corporations (MNCs) tend to locate their R&D activities in regions that are characterized by a richness of knowledge. The structure of inter- and intrafirm networks is shaped by the geography of talent. The Swiss pharmaceutical giants made substantial efforts to anchor themselves in regional arenas of innovation, such as the San Francisco Bay Area, Boston, and San Diego. A case study of a pharmaceutical giant’s embedding in the biotech arena of San Diego reveals how oligopolistic rivals fight over privileged access to spatially concentrated bases of technology. MNCs attempt to create, complement, and substitute spatial proximity with other types of social proximities, internal as well as external to their own organizations. These efforts contribute to the generation of specific global-local interfaces in the processes of global scanning, transferring, and generating new pharmaceutical compounds and technologies.

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  • Christian Zeller, 2004. "North Atlantic Innovative Relations of Swiss Pharmaceuticals and the Proximities with Regional Biotech Arenas," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 80(1), pages 83-111, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:recgxx:v:80:y:2004:i:1:p:83-111
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2004.tb00230.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Alessandro Marra & Vittorio Carlei & Cristiano Baldassari, 2020. "Exploring networks of proximity for partner selection, firms' collaboration and knowledge exchange. The case of clean‐tech industry," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 1034-1044, March.
    2. Christian Zeller, 2010. "The Pharma-biotech Complex and Interconnected Regional Innovation Arenas," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(13), pages 2867-2894, November.
    3. Fache Jacques, 2011. "Spatial Theory, Temporality and Public Action," European Spatial Research and Policy, Sciendo, vol. 18(1), pages 19-40, May.
    4. repec:wsr:ecbook:2014:i:v-004 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Peilei Fan, 2011. "Innovation, Globalization, and Catch-Up of Latecomers: Cases of Chinese Telecom Firms," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 43(4), pages 830-849, April.
    6. Chris Egeraat & Declan Curran, 2013. "Spatial Concentration in the Irish Pharmaceutical Industry: The Role of Spatial Planning and Agglomeration Economies," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 104(3), pages 338-358, July.
    7. Jerker Moodysson & Lars Coenen & Bjørn Asheim, 2008. "Explaining Spatial Patterns of Innovation: Analytical and Synthetic Modes of Knowledge Creation in the Medicon Valley Life-Science Cluster," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 40(5), pages 1040-1056, May.
    8. Pedro Pita Barros & Xavier Martínez-Giralt, 2006. "On insurance and the cost-sharing of pharmaceutical R&D," Working Papers 293, Barcelona School of Economics.
    9. Xavier Martinez-Giralt & Rosella Nicolini, 2013. "Technological endowments in entrepreneurial partnerships," Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 601-621, December.
    10. Rune Dahl Fitjar & Franz Huber & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2016. "Not too close, not too far: testing the Goldilocks principle of ‘optimal’ distance in innovation networks," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(6), pages 465-487, August.
    11. Teis Hansen, 2014. "Juggling with Proximity and Distance: Collaborative Innovation Projects in the Danish Cleantech Industry," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 90(4), pages 375-402, October.
    12. Tatiana Plotnikova & Bastian Rake, 2014. "Collaboration in pharmaceutical research: exploration of country-level determinants," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(2), pages 1173-1202, February.
    13. Amelia U. Santos-Paulino & Mariagrazia Squicciarini & Peilei Fan, 2008. "R&D (Re)location: A Bird's Eye (Re)view," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2008-100, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. Cooke, Phil, 2005. "Regionally asymmetric knowledge capabilities and open innovation: Exploring 'Globalisation 2'--A new model of industry organisation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1128-1149, October.
    15. Michael H Grote & Florian A Täube, 2006. "Offshoring the Financial Services Industry: Implications for the Evolution of Indian IT Clusters," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 38(7), pages 1287-1305, July.
    16. Tse, Caleb H. & Yim, Chi Kin Bennett & Yin, Eden & Wan, Feng & Jiao, Hao, 2021. "R&D activities and innovation performance of MNE subsidiaries: The moderating effects of government support and entry mode," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    17. Vrontis, Demetris & Christofi, Michael, 2021. "R&D internationalization and innovation: A systematic review, integrative framework and future research directions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 812-823.
    18. Gattringer, Regina & Wiener, Melanie & Strehl, Franz, 2017. "The challenge of partner selection in collaborative foresight projects," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 298-310.
    19. Hornych, Christoph & Brachert, Matthias, 2010. "Determinanten der Vernetzung von Unternehmen der deutschen Photovoltaik-Industrie," IWH Discussion Papers 20/2010, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    20. Xavier Martinez-Giralt & Rosella Nicolini, 2003. "Partnership in Open Innovation," Working Papers 101, Barcelona School of Economics.
    21. Rachael Gibson & Harald Bathelt, 2014. "Proximity relations and global knowledge flows: specialization and diffusion processes across capitalist varieties," Chapters, in: André Torre & Frédéric Wallet (ed.), Regional Development and Proximity Relations, chapter 9, pages 291-314, Edward Elgar Publishing.

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