Global Competitiveness in Pharmaceuticals: A European Perspective

The report examines the competitive position of the European pharmaceutical companies and industries, and compares them with the pharmaceutical companies and industries in other parts of the world, particularly the US. Over the last two decades, the industry has experienced some important structural changes, mainly driven by technological and institutional shocks that have affected all the stages of its value chain. In turn, this has led to changes in firms' organisation and in market structure, within domestic markets, regionally, and globally. The main finding of the report is that the European industry has indeed been losing competitiveness as compared to the USA, although there are large differences and trends across European countries. As a whole, Europe is lagging behind in its ability to generate, organise, and sustain innovation processes that are increasingly expensive and organisationally complex. In fact, one conclusion of the report is that the relative position of the US as a locus of innovation in pharmaceuticals has increased over the past decade compared to Europe. All in all, the report claims that the competitiveness of the European pharmaceutical industry is negatively affected by the persistence of insufficient degrees of competition and institutional integration, still centred on domestic and fragmented health care and research systems. Four sets of variables have been found to be relevant as sources of competitiveness and growth in pharmaceuticals: 1) The size and the structure of the biomedical education and research systems; 2) Some basic institutions governing labor markets for skilled researchers and managers, as well as corporate governance and finance; 3) Intellectual property rights and patent law; 4) The institutional settings in the regulation of health care systems and, moreover, the nature and intensity of competition on the final market. The data analysed in this report come from OECD, Eurostat, the European Patent Office, IMS Health and PHID (PHarmaceutical Industry Database) at the University of Siena

Where do graduates Develop their Enterprise Skills? The Value of the Contribution of Higher Education Institutions’ Context

This study investigates the value of the contribution of HEIs’ context in developing graduates enterprise skills. HEIs are under pressure to develop more enterprising graduates, particularly with the increasing numbers of graduates seeking employment and the growing dissatisfaction of employers. This study explores where graduates develop enterprise skills through investigating the impact of HE and employment contexts on their development. The paper draws on a qualitative study in the social constructionist paradigm within the pharmacy context, where interviews were conducted with pharmacy academics and employers. Results show that ability to demonstrate skills in one context does not necessarily mean ability to demonstrate them in another since the development and demonstration of enterprise skills is impacted by the contexts in which they are developed and demonstrated. The study adds value by highlighting the significant role of both HE and employment contexts in developing enterprise skills, while emphasising that these skills become more transferable through exposure to more contexts

Communities of Practice in the Public-Private-Partnership Sector for Neglected Diseases Drug Development: the Importance of Mindset Mapping

This research article explores the mindsets of Public-Private Partnerships and Clinical Trials Organizations (CTOs) and the potential conflicts when working on drug discovery and development in the Third World global infectious diseases sector. A Communities-of-Practice (CoP) approach has been adopted to more fully explore the underlying values, attitudes and practices of these two future partners. This exploratory study suggests that future collaboration will be dependent on the two communities understanding and interpretation of each others‟ sustainability drug development drivers. The authors present secondary research findings that suggest the positive contribution that cognitive mapping of a community‟s sense-making can have in understanding the community‟s likely engagement in any future joint enterprise. Proposed future research will explore the underlying sustainability drivers that may both push and pull CTOs to engage in future global infectious diseases discovery and development projects. The article concludes by discussing the implications for future sustainable drug development projects involving PPPs and potential new strategic partners

A Holistic Social Constructionist perspective to Enterprise Education

Purpose – Drawing on the Gestalt approach this article proposes a holistic framework for enterprise education (EE) research based on Social Constructionism, illustrating how the latter supports research into experiential learning in EE in 7 UK Higher Education (HE) pharmacy schools. Design/ Methodology/ Approach – This paper is based on a qualitative empirical study involving educators in UK Higher Education Institution (HEI) pharmacy schools in semi-structured interviews, and investigates the delivery of EE through experiential learning approaches. Social Constructionism is proposed as a suitable underlying philosophical paradigm. Findings – A Social Constructionism paradigm, which adopts relative realism ontology, transactional epistemology, and Gadamer’s Hermeneutic Phenomenology, offers a relevant, multi-perspectival philosophical foundation for EE research, supporting transactional relationships within contexts of multiple possibilities. Research limitations/implications – Social Constructionism does not necessarily support the individualistic paradigm, as advocated by Constructivists; and the values associated with the former encourage a more collaborative and cooperative approach different from the latter. Practical implications –The paper supports the understanding that applying experiential learning through inter-disciplinary and inter-professional learning is regarded as an approach beneficial for educators, institutions and learners, within the context of EE. Originality/ value – This paper offers a holistic conceptual framework of Social Constructionism that draws on the ‘Gestalt Approach’, and highlights the harmony between the ontological, epistemological and methodological underpinnings of Social Constructionism. The paper demonstrates the relevance of the proposed framework in EE research within the context of an empirical study, which is different in that it focuses on the delivery aspect of EE by considering the views of the providers (educators), an hitherto under-researched area. Paper type – Research paper Key words: Enterprise education, research philosophy, Social Constructionism, relative realism ontology, transactional epistemology, Gadamer’s Hermeneutic Phenomenology, Gestalt approach

Private Enterprise for Public Health: Opportunities for Business to Improve Women's and Children's Health

This guide, developed by FSG and published by the Innovation Working Group in support of the global Every Woman, Every Child effort, explores how companies can create shared value in women's and children's health. The document sets out opportunities for multiple different industries to develop new product and services, improve delivery systems and strengthen health systems that can support global efforts to save 16 million women's and children's lives between now and 2015. It particularly notes that companies need not wait for health services to "catch up" with their economic model, but rather they can work proactively to help accelerate change, by partnering with other industries, civil society and the public sector to create collective impact in a specific location. The aim of the guide is to catalyze these transformative partnerships

Informatics: the fuel for pharmacometric analysis

The current informal practice of pharmacometrics as a combination art and science makes it hard to appreciate the role that informatics can and should play in the future of the discipline and to comprehend the gaps that exist because of its absence. The development of pharmacometric informatics has important implications for expediting decision making and for improving the reliability of decisions made in model-based development. We argue that well-defined informatics for pharmacometrics can lead to much needed improvements in the efficiency, effectiveness, and reliability of the pharmacometrics process. The purpose of this paper is to provide a description of the pervasive yet often poorly appreciated role of informatics in improving the process of data assembly, a critical task in the delivery of pharmacometric analysis results. First, we provide a brief description of the pharmacometric analysis process. Second, we describe the business processes required to create analysis-ready data sets for the pharmacometrician. Third, we describe selected informatic elements required to support the pharmacometrics and data assembly processes. Finally, we offer specific suggestions for performing a systematic analysis of existing challenges as an approach to defi ning the next generation of pharmacometric informatics

Geo-cultural influences and critical factors in inter-firm collaboration

Inter-firm collaboration and other forms of inter-organisational activity are increasingly the means by which technological innovation occurs. This paper draws on evidence from two studies of the same set of firms to examine the conduct of collaborations over time across different contexts. The purpose is to examine the critical factors associated with successful collaboration and explore the importance of the geo-cultural context in understanding the conduct of inter-firm collaboration. The conceptual framework draws on two main sources: - Storper’s concept of ‘conventions’ of identity and participation and Lorenz’s classification of different types of knowledge. These are used to indicate the kinds and sources of adjustments required for successful collaboration

Anatomy of cluster development in China: The case of health biotech clusters

Focussing on China's health biotech clusters the study explores the anatomy of interaction in as well as between various clusters. While the literature has identified the existence of a dense network of durable interactions among firms and between firms and academia at a particular location as one of the most important prerequisites for well-performing clusters, we show that network ties extending beyond regional boundaries are equally valuable for the innovative capacity of China's biotech firms. Analysing the demographic process of cluster emergence we show that there exist different types of biotech clusters in China, which are closely linked and exchange knowledge and technology amongst each other. It appears as if further analysis of these cross-cluster links may provide important insights of how learning and innovation works in China's health biotech industry. Although China's science parks and industrial bases may on an individual basis appear to be badly structured, the organization of China's health biotech industry turns out to be substantially enhanced once these external linkages are taken into consideration. --China,health biotechnology,cluster,entrepreneurship,localization

Shared Value in Emerging Markets: How Multinational Corporations Are Redefining Business Strategies to Reach Poor or Vulnerable Populations

This report illuminates the enormous opportunities in emerging markets for companies to drive competitive advantage and sustainable impact at scale. It identifies how over 30 companies across multiple sectors and geographies design and measure business strategies that also improve the lives of underserved individuals