Competing business models in the french biotech industry

Public authorities have recently supported development of the biotechnology sector by encouraging start-ups and creating favourable environments such as incubators, a specialised stock exchange or technopoles. The different programmes to encourage biotech development (subsidies for research performed jointly by firms and academic labs, subsidies for start-ups, creation of incubators) seem to be successful if the results are estimated in terms of the number of new firms (around 300 SMEs still in existence, since 1990). On 1 January 1999 France had just over 400 biotechnology SMEs employing a total of 15,000 people, with an estimated turnover of 2 billion euros. Average size in terms of number of employees per firm is about 40, compared to about 140 in the USA. All in all, biotechnology remains a small emergent sector compared to others such as agri-food (over 4,200 French firms with 372,300 employees and a turnover of 100 billion euros) or pharmaceuticals (94,500 employees in 271 firms and a turnover of 28,5 billion euros). The creation of start-ups during the past ten years raises questions on the future of these new biotech firms (DBFs) in France and in Europe. Will consolidation occur in Europe and, if so, when? Will maturity of the biotech sector be accompanied by the progressive disappearance of many of these firms and the growth of a few of them? Will the sector be structured along the same lines as the automobile industry, with large firms with a high capacity for integration of research performed elsewhere and a large number of specialised firms? What will the future be of the hundreds of small firms which focus on the local or regional market, especially service oriented firms? To answer these questions, this paper presents three business models of biotech firms. By referring to the governance modes of each business model of biotech SMEs, it provides us with a better understanding of the logic of development of biotechnology SMEs in France. The first part presents the linkages between business models and governance modes. The second part, based on a survey on half of the 400 dedicated biotech firms (DBFs) in France, presents an overview of these firms and their development. The third part presents an attempt to map out the development trajectories of SMEs and the respective leading forces in each type of firm. Concluding remarks present three possible scenarios of the evolution of the sector.

Biotech Innovation in Europe's Food and Drink Processing Industry: Promise, Barriers and Exploitation

Early optimism about the potential of biotechnology to contribute to "the production of food with improved quality and nutritional content" (ACOST, 1990) has waned in the face of consumer resistance to the use of genetically modified organisms in food. The European food and drink sector has not abandoned biotechnology, however, but it is being very selective in its use. Some of the current applications of biotechnology were not recognized in early predictions about the application of biotechnology to the food and drink sector.

"Do non-R&D intensive industries benefit of spillovers from public research? The case of the Agro-food industry

The agro-food industry is a sector in which the percentage of firms which have done innovation in the past three years is high, whereas they have a low research capacity. According to an innovation survey (1986-90) in France, 70% of agro-food firms which responded in the Community Innovation Survey (CIS), reported innovations while less than 5% of them had internal research capacities. Our paper models estimates of determinants of innovation in the agro-food industry. Based on the comparison of several French databases (annual survey on firms, on innovation, on R&D in firms, on R&D in academic labs), it explores the determinants of innovation: sources of innovation (as defined in CIS), spillovers from public research and spillovers from other firms. Since agro-food firms have a low absorptive capacity, we assume that the transfer of knowledge from public research or from large firms to agro-food firms is based on geographical proximity. The paper presents three main results: 1. Intensity of innovation (defined as radical innovation versus incremental innovation) is linked with the presence of public research in life science in the same region. 2. Spillovers form academic laboratories do exist even if firms have no absorptive capacity.

The Dynamics of Innovation Networks

We analyse the changing contribution of networks to the innovative performance of 30 pharmaceutical companies from 1989 to 1997. Count data models show that collaborations with universities and biotechnology companies are important determinants of the firms' innovative performance, but their respective contributions diverge when industry matures. Larger firms enjoy a significant size advantage and in-house research activities are highly significant. Returns to scale in research are decreasing over time while the size advantage is increasing. The changing contribution of networks to knowledge production suggests that these are phase-specific, which has substantial managerial and policy implications.pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology, innovative processes, networks

From individual scientific visibility to collective competencies : the example of an academic department in social science

The article discusses the role of university department in social sciences. It studies how to describe the three missions of university department: education, research and consultancy services for public and private organisations. It also proposes tools to evaluate to what extend these missions are connected. Until now, evaluation in this domain has focused primarily on research activities and far too few indicators have been developed for the other two missions. Moreover, evaluation is often performed on an individual basis, so that the synergy generated by work collectives is rarely evaluated. The purpose of this article is to propose a method for identifying and describing the competencies of a social science research and teaching department. By means of this method can be used to study the articulation between the department's different activities—research, expertise and teaching—can be studied. Maps of an activity are generated, which can serve as a basis for strategic planning of future trends. The approach is based on an analysis of "traces" (articles, contracts, research reports, postgraduate training modules) of the activity of the different components of the Social Science Department, using lexicographic analysis tools. With keywords, titles, summaries and synopses of lectures, it is possible to draw up "maps" representing the department's main competencies.

Institutional change and professional practices: The case of French doctoral education

Based on empirical research on the effect of doctoral schools in French university, this paper analyses under which conditions the implementation of a new institution impacts work practices i.e. the ways by which individuals and collective actors perform their activity. It focuses on the micro-practices of actors, in order to shed new light on the micro-level works which put the new institution into action. The paper contributes to existing theory in three different ways. First, it shows that institutional change does not generate new practices per se. Institutional change impacts work practices if the pre-existing practices are close to the new desired norm as promoted by the new institution. It thus emphasises proximity as a main mechanism of new practice diffusion, when actors are interdependent on each other. Second, in professional contexts based on practices distant from the new desired norm, actors adopt the new institution and change their practices if they are able to solve unaddressed problems. Such a dynamic is mainly based on the creation of new organisational arrangements or tools which mediate and enable problem solving activities. Finally, it proposes a delayed and indirect effect of the introduction of the new institution. By generating new interactions among actors, the new institution creates opportunities for comparisons across professions, legitimating one amongst the several existing norms in the field. Comparison amongst actors or disciplines leads to some categorising themselves as deviants, who lose legitimacy and power in the organisation.professional practices, institution, institution change, university

Editor's Introduction: Scientific and Technical Human Capital

Human capital and social networks are the two pillars supporting scientists' and engineers' ability to contribute knowledge. Throughout their careers, scientists seek to enhance both. Human capital endowments include not only formal education and its representation in credentials but the actual scientific and technical knowledge, craft knowledge and technical skills. In science and technology the deploying of human capital in the production of scientific and technical knowledge is intensely and inevitably social. Science cannot be understood in purely cognitive terms. Social mechanisms undergird not only the production of knowledge but its distribution and use. Scientific and technical journals and conferences are social institutions, as well as intellectual property protections, grants and awards, job placement and career transitions which are governed by social institutions. Social networks are the means by which scientists and engineers traverse social institutions. Indeed, scientists and engineers are as dependent upon social networks as they are upon such tangible scientific tools as electron microscopes, supercomputers and synchrotrons. Research policy and management scholars have long recognized the importance of scientists' and engineers' human capital endowments and their social networks. It is surprising, though, how rarely the two are viewed as part and parcel of a single bundle

Cléopâtre et son goûteur

De William Shakespeare (Hamlet) à Victor Hugo (Lucrèce Borgia), en passant par Tristant et Iseult, Albert Goscinny et René Uderzo (Astérix et Cléopâtre) ou par P. Balland (Une affaire de goût, 2000, Julliard : Paris), la boisson et l'alimentation sont au coeur des controverses mettant en scène négligences, fraudes, trahisons, empoisonnements volontaires et dispositifs permettant de garantir le caractère non toxique des aliments. Se noue ainsi autour de l'alimentation un jeu complexe mêlant confiance et défiance. On se défie d'un ennemi qui tente de vous empoisonner comme dans Hamlet, on se défie d'un marchand peu scrupuleux dont la qualité des produits est altérée, on se défie de propriétés spécifiques de certaines boissons, comme les philtres des sorcières (Boujot, Le Venin, 2001, Stock : Paris). Les exemples sont légions et éternels : de l'empoisonnement des puissants dans l'antiquité à l'intoxication alimentaire dans la période récente. La crise de la vache folle, par exemple, débute dans les années 1985-1986 avec l'identification d'une maladie à prions, l'encéphalite spongiforme bovine (ESB), dans un troupeau anglais. Quelques années plus tard, les scientifiques découvrent les liens entre l'ESB et la maladie de Creutzfelt Jakob dont souffrent des humains. S'ensuit une véritable crise de confiance sur la qualité de la viande bovine, les consommateurs se défiant à la fois des producteurs et des pouvoirs publics. A la crise de la confiance, on oppose généralement son rétablissement. Les modalités varient au cours du temps : Cléopâtre fait appel à un goûteur pour goûter les plats qui lui sont proposés. Au début du XVIème siècle, le buffet de salle à manger dont les tablettes superposées servent à poser les plats est désigné sous le terme de crédence, mot hériter de l'italien « credenza » (croyance, confiance), dans la locution « fare la credenza », littéralement, « faire l'essai de ». Les plats présentés sur la crédence sont testés, comestibles. Enfin, l'AFSAA (Agence Française pour la Sécurité Alimentaire) assure le contrôle des dispositifs mis en oeuvre pour le contrôle : traçabilité des aliments, tests, informations du consommateur, etc

Global Contests in the Production of Business Knowledge :

Drawing on institutional theory, the global production of business research is analysed by examining the system of written outputs using one of the largest databases of journal papers ever assembled, covering over 65,000 articles produced by more than 54,000 authors from over 8,000 different institutions across the period 1992-2005. We begin by pointing out how the US business schools pioneered the modern institutional system of undertaking and disseminating research that involves the intertwining of and university business schools and journals. While Wharton and Harvard are still the leading universities globally, their crowns are slipping, together with the position of the US generally. We observe the greatest challenges to the existing order as coming from European and Asian institutions that have either copied, or been inspired to innovate by adapting, the US system. London Business School, Erasmus, INSEAD and Tilburg are threatening to topple leading US universities in the undertaking of research, and other European and Asian institutions are close behind.

Profile of public laboratories, industrial partnerships and organisation of R & D: the dynamics of industrial relationships in a large research organisation

There is a paucity of papers dealing with the system characteristics of laboratories or, put in another way, the institutional character of research organisations. Neither R & D economics nor the sociology of science, as traditionally conceived, has made much headway in providing insight into sets of R & D laboratories and their evolution. Drawing upon an empirical study in the plant breeding and biochemical industry, this paper presents a typology of public research laboratories which is based on three dimensions: scientific production and visibility, type of funding (public or private) and homogeneity of research themes. Three types of public laboratory emerge: the first, called “research centres for the profession”, is composed essentially of laboratories with close ties with small and medium firms (SMEs) and industry associations. The second, called “designers of generic tools and methods”, is oriented towards basic research and themes of general interest to the industry as a whole. The third type, called “basic and specialised laboratories”, strives to develop its scientific visibility. Contracts between this type of laboratory and industry are mainly bilateral and demonstrate the complementarity between public and private research. Each type of laboratory develops specific types of relationship with private partners. The authors have identified three logics underlying these relationships: proximity, market and club. The main objective of contracts based on a proximity logic is to test a hypothesis, while the knowledge produced is mostly tacit and specific. By contrast, knowledge is entirely coded and specific in the market logic, where the aim of the contract is to implement expertise in order to relieve a scientific bottleneck. In a club logic, the aim of contracts is to produce a technical referent. In each kind of contract, the learning trajectories, modes of co-ordination, role of trust and degree to which contracts are complete or not, are different.