Heterogeneity in learning processes and the evolution of dynamic managerial capabilities as a response of emergence of biosimilar market: evidence from the Indian pharmaceutical industry

This paper examines heterogeneity in the response of Indian firms to the emergence of a new segment in the pharmaceutical generics market – biosimilars. The necessary diversity of the knowledge base and regulatory requirements underlying biosmilar products have created significant technological capability and market access challenges for Indian firms. This is but the latest development which adds to an existing catalogue of challenges including the decline of the traditional generics markets, regulatory hurdles in advanced country markets and failures in managing new drug development. Using case studies of three Indian firms we show that dynamic managerial capability is a key driver of heterogeneity in learning processes involved in acquisition of technological capabilities for biosimilars and market access strategies. It further highlights the important role of pre-existing capabilities in enabling and constraining the development of new biosimilar capabilities

Corporate political activity and location-based advantage: MNE responses to institutional transformation in Uganda’s electricity industry

We examine how multinational enterprises (MNEs) employ political strategies in response to location-based, institutional transformations in new frontier African markets. Specifically, we explore the heterogeneous corporate political activities of advanced and emerging market MNEs in Uganda’s electricity industry, as they respond to and influence locational advantage using diverse political capabilities. We argue that, in institutionally fragile, new frontier markets, Dunning’s OLI paradigm is more theoretically robust and managerially relevant when combined with a political perspective. Effective MNE political strategies in these markets rely on nonmarket capabilities in political stakeholder engagement, community embeddedness, regional understanding, and responsiveness to stages of institutionalization

Are Business Incubators helping? The role of BIs in facilitating tenants’ development

Business incubators (BI) are among a variety of initiatives to stimulate economic growth by promoting the creation and development of new companies. The rapid growth of BIs in recent years confirms their importance in the economic fabric. In this study, we conceptualize BIs using insights from knowledge based theory of the firm, resource-based view thinking and capabilities literature. BIs will be seen as service providers geared towards helping their tenants in solving developmental problems. The more problems the BI helps to solve the bigger the incubation value for tenants; further, as tenant firms solve problems they develop important capabilities which will yield increase their chances of survival once they graduate. Results show that tenants unequivocally seek support after experiencing problems. Solving those problems is a function of BI support and other external sources part of each tenant firm’s network of contacts. Age and human capital of tenant firms have a negative impact in the total number of the problems solved, suggesting BIs’ deficiencies in helping more experienced and older tenants. Our main contribution is to shed light on the processes of delivering support to young firms within BIs. Importantly, we assess the value of the BIs’ intervention by measuring the amount of developmental problems they help tenants to overcome. Finally, we discuss the implication of our finding to BI managers, prospective tenants and policy makers

Corporate envy and emotional dynamics in the internal selection process of corporate venturing initiatives

Corporate venturing initiatives, which exemplify corporate entrepreneurial behavior, follow an evolutionary path of variation, selection, and retention. While their external selection is a consequence of their performance, their internal selection is subject to forces of complementarity and legitimacy, and how well competition from other initiatives is overcome. This chapter aims to unfold the dynamics of the internal selection process of initiatives, focusing on its emotional dimensions. Assuming that organizational agents have a deliberate role in guiding the internal selection process of initiatives, the chapter examines how organizational agents' emotional dynamics influence this process. The chapter draws its theoretical basis from the intraorganizational evolutionary perspective and the literature on emotions in organizations. The case of a corporate venturing initiative and the narratives of four managers involved directly and indirectly in the initiative are used to illustrate how the emotional dynamics of organizational members evoked envy toward a venturing initiative and directly impacted its degree of competition and complementarity with other interacting initiatives, ultimately hampering its selection

Entrepreneurial strategies for sustainable development

Indice: Entrepreneurship and economic growth. On the nature of entrepreneurship. Strategic entrepreneurship. Sustainable development and entrepreneurship

On the termination of strategic technology alliances: An exploratory study

alliances, technology

The Governance of Knowledge in Academic Spin-Offs. The Case of Emilia-Romagna.

The phenomenon of academic spin-offs (ASOs) has been widely studied in recent times. Scholars have mainly concentrated on identifying the factors that favours the phenomenon and the incentive alignments of the parties involved in the process. These works tend to remain static in nature by solely investigating the ex ante determinants of the process, that is the elements that favoured a context to be more profitable than others, usually in terms of the number of ASOs generated. More recently scholars have also acknowledged that ASOs are heterogeneous firms and have started investigating the development process of such firms. It has been highlighted that ASOs need to overcome certain defined stage of growth in order to become established firms in the market. Our work continues this line of investigation and aims to gives evidence that the paths of ASO development are heterogeneous themselves. We investigate the flows of knowledge taking place within and across the firm in a dynamic manner, at various stage of the development process of the firm: we study the governance of knowledge in a sub-population of ASOs and give evidence of the variety of possible ways the firm can develop.governance of knowledge; academic spin-off; theory of the firm; technology development

Capabilities for growth

This study explores firm growth and its relation with firm-specific capabilities. Organisations can benefit from growth in many ways, including greater efficiencies through economies of scale, increased power, the ability to withstand environmental change, increased profits and increased prestige for organizational members. The second element of research in this study, firm-specific capabilities, refers to the ability to integrate, build and reconfigure internal and external competencies to address rapidly changing environments. The fields of growth and capabilities seem to be complementary. However, the exact relationship currently seems to be underdeveloped. In this study, an attempt is made to incorporate the development of capabilities in the process of organisational growth. The following issues are addressed: The way organisations strive to grow, the manner in which firm-specific capabilities are incorporated and translated into the corporate strategy and whether these companies have succeeded.