IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_8311.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Dynamic Effects of Licensing and Knowledge Transfer across Research Stages: Evidence from the Pharmaceutical Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Zhili Tian
  • Ralph Siebert

Abstract

In the pharmaceutical industry, firms frequently engage in licensing agreements to overcome innovation challenges and keep up with the pace of developing new drugs. Licensing helps firms jointly develop new drugs and acquire external knowledge, which helps improve their internal drug development capability. Our study examines the dynamic effects of licensing on the success of the licensees’ internal drug development across research stages. We adopt a structural equation modeling approach and find that external knowledge transfer via licensing can have differential effects on firms’ internal research stage-specific R&D capabilities. The success of transferring external knowledge to an in-licensing firm is critically dependent on the firm’s internal R&D capabilities, their financial capability, and the research stage. We find that license agreements formed at the early stage (the discovery and preclinical test phases) and intermediate stage (phase 1 and 2 clinical test phases) exert strong direct and short-run effects on internal R&D capabilities in the same research stages. Moreover, licensing formed at the intermediate stage exerts remarkably strong indirect and long-run effects that impact R&D capabilities in successive research stages. Licensing in the late stage (phase 3 clinical test and product approval) is costly and does little to enhance firms’ internal R&D capabilities. Our results also show that licensing is formed among firms with stronger financial resources, and those resources are necessary for a successful technology transfer. Our results also provide insights into the impact of licensing on project success rates across research stages.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhili Tian & Ralph Siebert, 2020. "Dynamic Effects of Licensing and Knowledge Transfer across Research Stages: Evidence from the Pharmaceutical Industry," CESifo Working Paper Series 8311, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_8311
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp8311.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Atul Nerkar & Peter W. Roberts, 2004. "Technological and product‐market experience and the success of new product introductions in the pharmaceutical industry," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(8‐9), pages 779-799, August.
    2. Marianna Makri & Michael A. Hitt & Peter J. Lane, 2010. "Complementary technologies, knowledge relatedness, and invention outcomes in high technology mergers and acquisitions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(6), pages 602-628, June.
    3. DiMasi, Joseph A. & Grabowski, Henry G. & Hansen, Ronald W., 2016. "Innovation in the pharmaceutical industry: New estimates of R&D costs," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 20-33.
    4. Marco Ceccagnoli & Matthew J. Higgins & Vincenzo Palermo, 2014. "Behind the Scenes: Sources of Complementarity in R&D," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 125-148, March.
    5. Gautam Ahuja & Riitta Katila, 2001. "Technological acquisitions and the innovation performance of acquiring firms: a longitudinal study," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 197-220, March.
    6. Cassiman, Bruno & Colombo, Massimo G. & Garrone, Paola & Veugelers, Reinhilde, 2005. "The impact of M&A on the R&D process: An empirical analysis of the role of technological- and market-relatedness," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 195-220, March.
    7. DiMasi, Joseph A. & Hansen, Ronald W. & Grabowski, Henry G. & Lasagna, Louis, 1991. "Cost of innovation in the pharmaceutical industry," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 107-142, July.
    8. Cohen, Wesley M & Levinthal, Daniel A, 1989. "Innovation and Learning: The Two Faces of R&D," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(397), pages 569-596, September.
    9. Laurence Capron & Will Mitchell, 2009. "Selection Capability: How Capability Gaps and Internal Social Frictions Affect Internal and External Strategic Renewal," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(2), pages 294-312, April.
    10. Arora, Ashish & Gambardella, Alfonso, 1994. "Evaluating technological information and utilizing it : Scientific knowledge, technological capability, and external linkages in biotechnology," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 91-114, June.
    11. John Hagedoorn & Rajneesh Narula, 1996. "Choosing Organizational Modes of Strategic Technology Partnering: International and Sectoral Differences," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 27(2), pages 265-284, June.
    12. Bruno Cassiman & Reinhilde Veugelers, 2006. "In Search of Complementarity in Innovation Strategy: Internal R& D and External Knowledge Acquisition," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(1), pages 68-82, January.
    13. Konstantinos Grigoriou & Frank T. Rothaermel, 2017. "Organizing for knowledge generation: internal knowledge networks and the contingent effect of external knowledge sourcing," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 395-414, February.
    14. Higgins, Matthew J. & Rodriguez, Daniel, 2006. "The outsourcing of R&D through acquisitions in the pharmaceutical industry," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 351-383, May.
    15. Nancy T. Gallini & Ralph A. Winter, 1985. "Licensing in the Theory of Innovation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 16(2), pages 237-252, Summer.
    16. Frank T. Rothaermel & David L. Deeds, 2004. "Exploration and exploitation alliances in biotechnology: a system of new product development," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 201-221, March.
    17. Gallini, Nancy T, 1984. "Deterrence by Market Sharing: A Strategic Incentive for Licensing," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(5), pages 931-941, December.
    18. Arora, Ashish & Gambardella, Alfonso, 1990. "Complementarity and External Linkages: The Strategies of the Large Firms in Biotechnology," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 361-379, June.
    19. DiMasi, Joseph A. & Hansen, Ronald W. & Grabowski, Henry G., 2003. "The price of innovation: new estimates of drug development costs," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 151-185, March.
    20. Lee Fleming, 2001. "Recombinant Uncertainty in Technological Search," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(1), pages 117-132, January.
    21. Henry Grabowski & John Vernon, 1990. "A New Look at the Returns and Risks to Pharmaceutical R&D," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(7), pages 804-821, July.
    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. Zhili Tian & Haresh Gurnani & Yi Xu, 2021. "Collaboration in Development of New Drugs," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(11), pages 3943-3966, November.

    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. Ralph Siebert & Zhili Tian, 2020. "Dynamic Mergers Effects on R&D Investments and Drug Development across Research Phases in the Pharmaceutical Industry," CESifo Working Paper Series 8303, CESifo.
    2. Bae, Joonhyung & Ozmel, Umit, 2024. "The interplay between product development failures and alliance portfolio properties in the formation of exploration versus exploitation alliances," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    3. Billette de Villemeur, Etienne & Versaevel, Bruno, 2019. "One lab, two firms, many possibilities: On R&D outsourcing in the biopharmaceutical industry," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 260-283.
    4. Voss, Philipp S.R., 2022. "Innovation Performance in Healthcare M&A: An Empirical Analysis," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 7(4), pages 1164-1192.
    5. Peeters, T.J.G., 2013. "External knowledge search and use in new product development," Other publications TiSEM 300ebb34-b090-4210-b95e-f, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    6. Ye Jin Lee & Kwangsoo Shin & Eungdo Kim, 2019. "The Influence of a Firm’s Capability and Dyadic Relationship of the Knowledge Base on Ambidextrous Innovation in Biopharmaceutical M&As," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-17, September.
    7. David Benson & Rosemarie H. Ziedonis, 2009. "Corporate Venture Capital as a Window on New Technologies: Implications for the Performance of Corporate Investors When Acquiring Startups," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(2), pages 329-351, April.
    8. Leone, Maria Isabella & Messeni Petruzzelli, Antonio & Natalicchio, Angelo, 2022. "Boundary spanning through external technology acquisition: The moderating role of star scientists and upstream alliances," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    9. Angelo Kenneth S. Romasanta & Peter Sijde & Jacqueline Muijlwijk-Koezen, 2020. "Innovation in pharmaceutical R&D: mapping the research landscape," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(3), pages 1801-1832, December.
    10. Li, Zhengyu, 2016. "Essays on knowledge sourcing and technological capability : A knowledge structure perspective," Other publications TiSEM b8ff31fc-c57b-4bc3-b5a4-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    11. Konstantinos Grigoriou & Frank T. Rothaermel, 2017. "Organizing for knowledge generation: internal knowledge networks and the contingent effect of external knowledge sourcing," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 395-414, February.
    12. Soh, Pek-Hooi & Subramanian, Annapoornima M., 2014. "When do firms benefit from university–industry R&D collaborations? The implications of firm R&D focus on scientific research and technological recombination," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 807-821.
    13. Arora, Ashish & Gambardella, Alfonso, 2010. "The Market for Technology," 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 641-678, Elsevier.
    14. Avimanyu Datta, 2016. "Antecedents To Radical Innovations: A Longitudinal Look At Firms In The Information Technology Industry By Aggregation Of Patents," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(07), pages 1-31, October.
    15. Christoph Grimpe & Katrin Hussinger & Wolfgang Sofka, 2023. "Reaching beyond the acquirer-Target Dyad in M&A – Linkages to External knowledge sources and target firm valuation," DEM Discussion Paper Series 23-01, Department of Economics at the University of Luxembourg.
    16. Figueroa, Nicolás & Serrano, Carlos J., 2019. "Patent trading flows of small and large firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(7), pages 1601-1616.
    17. Ng, Desmond W., 2011. "Thinking Outside the Box: An Absorptive Capacity Approach to the Product Development Process," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 14(3), pages 1-28, September.
    18. Banerjee, Tannista & Siebert, Ralph, 2017. "Dynamic impact of uncertainty on R&D cooperation formation and research performance: Evidence from the bio-pharmaceutical industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(7), pages 1255-1271.
    19. Charles Hoffreumon & Chris Forman & Nicolas van Zeebroeck, 2024. "Make or buy your artificial intelligence? Complementarities in technology sourcing," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 452-479, March.
    20. Shafique, Muhammad & Hagedoorn, John, 2022. "Look at U: Technological scope of the acquirer, technological complementarity with the target, and post-acquisition R&D output," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    pharmaceutical drug development; licensing; R&D capabilities; effects of licensing on R&D capabilities;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L24 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Contracting Out; Joint Ventures
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • L65 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Chemicals; Rubber; Drugs; Biotechnology; Plastics
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:ces:ceswps:_8311. 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: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    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.