Technological Discontinuities and the Comparative Strategic Value of New Capabilites: Evidence from the Comparison of Small- and Large-Molecule Targeted Anti-Cancer Drug Discovery

Traditional creative destruction theories distinguish disruptions as competence-destroying or competence-enhancing to incumbents’ capabilities, with the former case resulting in incumbents’ loss of competitive advantage in in-house R&D performance (even if complementary assets aid in retaining final market share). In this paper, I propose that attention to the extent of competence destruction is necessary but not sufficient for analyses of competitive advantage in R&D through a technological discontinuity. A full analysis requires the comparison of the value added and ease of access (i.e., strategic value) of all capabilities, old and new. In other words, an analysis of competition during a transition requires assessment not only of how many of the old capabilities were lost but also what it takes to acquire the new ones. I find evidence for this proposition in qualitative and quantitative data from the transition of anti-cancer drug discovery from standard chemotherapy to targeted therapies. Among targeted therapies, I compare two variants, small- vs. large-molecule drugs, which though equally competence-destroying to chemotherapy-based drug discovery, differ in that large-molecule drugs require one more new capability: expertise in biopharmaceutical technology. By tracing the origin and evolution of biopharmaceutical technology, as well as its comparative value added, I can show a contrast in results: incumbents led in small-molecule targeted drug discovery; but they fell behind biopharmaceutical technology pioneers in large-molecule targeted drug discovery, where one of the new capabilities (i.e., expertise in biopharmaceutical technology) had higher value added and was more difficult to acquire than other new capabilities.R&D capabilities; incumbents; technological disruption; competence enhancing

Outside the Police Station: Dealing with the Potential for Self-Incrimination in Juvenile Court

Youth in the justice system are at risk of self-incrimination, and the attendant consequence of prosecution, in ways that are distinct from those faced by adult criminal defendants. For example, the current trend to screen and assess court-involved youth (often before the youth are adjudicated delinquent) for mental health and substance abuse problems, using instruments that inquire about a wide range of offending behavior, raises the real possibility that youth will incriminate themselves. Under many states‘ transfer/waiver processes, juveniles facing prosecution as adults must submit to psychological or psychosocial evaluations in order to sustain their burden of showing that they are amenable to treatment in the juvenile court. Evaluators will typically question the youth about the charged offense(s) as well as their past criminal conduct. Part I briefly reviews the constitutional right against self-incrimination. Part II of this Article explains how that right is implicated when youth in the justice system are screened and assessed for behavioral health problems, and examines the recent and successful efforts in a half a dozen states to enact statutes that prohibit the admission into evidence of elicited statements. Part III examines the risk of self-incrimination in the transfer/waiver context and discusses recent successful challenges—in Nevada and Pennsylvania—to transfer/waiver processes that violated the right against self-incrimination. Part IV reviews statutes that set forth procedures and criteria for finding that a youth is incompetent to stand trial in order to determine whether these statutory schemes adequately protect youth from the adverse use of uch statements. Finally, Part V describes legal strategies for preventing the use of statements made in court-ordered treatment

Constitutionalism and democracy

La organización del poder político en una sociedad democrática no está exenta de dificultades. Así, el fenómeno conocido como constitucionalismo ha traído a primer plano la discusión a propósito de si este y democracia son principios opuestos sobre los que una teoría política sensata debe intentar alcanzar un compromiso, o son por el contrario principios complementarios que tienen un origen común. Ronald Dworkin, uno de los filósofos del derecho más importante de las últimas décadas, ofrece una reflexión sugerente en torno a esta cuestión. Esta indagación no sólo resulta de interés en sí misma considerada sino que el modo como la articula arroja luz a propósito de la comprensión del derecho como fenómeno institucionalThe organization of political power in a democratic society is not without its difficulties. Thus, the phenomenon known as constitutionalism has brought to the fore the discussion about whether this and democracy are opposite principles on which a sensible political theory should attempt to reach a compromise or are on the contrary complementary principles that have a common origin. Ronald Dworkin, one of the most important philosophers of law in recent decades, offers a suggestive reflection on this issue. This inquiry is not only of interest considered, but the way in which the article sheds light on the understanding of law as an institutional phenomenonEste artículo ha sido escrito dentro del Proyecto de Investigación “El desván de la razón: cultivo de las pasiones, identidades éticas y sociedades digitales” (Proyecto PAIDESOC. FFI2017-82535-P

On combining quota-share and excess of loss

This paper is devoted to the study of the initial reserve, as a function of the retention limit, needed to assure that the probability of ruin, at the end of a certain period of time, is not higher than an agreed value, for an excess of loss treaty. To assess the probability of ruin, the normal and the normal power approximation are used. It is shown that the initial reserve is not in general an increasing function of the retention, having a minimum under fair assumptions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The effect of the retention limit on the risk reserve

This paper is devoted to the study of the initial reserve, as a function of the retention limit, needed to assure that the probability of ruin, at the end of a certain period of time, is not higher than an agreed value, for an excess of loss treaty. To assess the probability of ruin, the normal and the normal power approximation are used. It is shown that the initial reserve is not in general an increasing function of the retention, having a minimum under fair assumptions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dependent risks and excess of loss reinsurance

In this paper we study, from the insurance point of view, the optimal excess of loss retention limits for two dependent risks. We consider two optimization criteria, which are quite connected. The expected utility of wealth with respect to the exponential utility function and the adjustment coefficient of the retained aggregate claims amount. We consider that the number of claims is generated by a bivariate Poisson distribution. The premium calculation principle used for the excess of loss treaties is the expected value principle. Although the systems of equations, that give the optimal solution for both problems, look quite similar, we will see that the optimal solution is heavily dependent on the criterion chosen.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Measuring the effects of reinsurance by the adjustment coefficient in the Sparre Anderson model

We study the insurer’s adjustment coefficient as a function of retention levels for combinations of quota-share with excess of loss reinsurance in the Sparre Anderson model [In: Transactions of the XV International Congress of Actuaries]. We show that the insurer’s adjustment coefficient is a unimodal function of the retention levels when the quota-share reinsurance premium is calculated on original terms and when the excess of loss premium is calculated according to the expected value principle.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Excess of loss reinsurance and Gerber’s inequality in the Sparre Anderson model

Assuming that the reinsurance premium is calculated according to the expected value principle we study an upper bound for the probability of ruin in finite horizon, as function of the excess of loss retention limit. The upper bound used is an extension proved by Grandell [Aspects of Risk Theory, Springer, New York, 1991] of Gerber’s bound, see Gerber [Martingales in risk theory, Mitteilungen der Vereinigung Schweizerischer Versicherungsmathematiker, 1973, pp. 205–216], for the Sparre Anderson model [On the collective theory of risk in the case of contagious between the claims, in: Proceedings of the Transactions on XV International Congress of Actuaries, New York, 1957].info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio