Corporate Governance and the Governance of Innovation: the Case of Pharmaceutical Industry

Nicola Lacetera ()
Additional contact information
Nicola Lacetera: CESPRI, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy

No 122, KITeS Working Papers from KITeS, Centre for Knowledge, Internationalization and Technology Studies, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy

Abstract: The paper focuses on some organizational dynamics that have characterized pharmaceutical industry in the last thirty years, when biotechnology and the development of life sciences have defined a new technological paradigm, reshaping many aspects of the industry, especially the organization of innovative activity. We suggest an original interpretation of some organizational settings, as the increased importance of skilled scientists within firms and the development of inter-organizational alliances for the division of scientific labor. Following recent theorizing on corporate governance issues, which points out the intrinsic organizational and relational dimensions of the resource allocation processes or strategic decision-making, we propose a role of the organizational practices mentioned above on corporate governance, and, in turn, an influence of different governance arrangements on innovative activity. We recall more traditional approaches to the analysis of corporate governance, and give a broader interpretation to the relevant variables proposed. Further, relying on more recent theories and on literature on firm's boundaries and sectoral systems of innovation, we propose industry-specific variables for pharmaceuticals, including internal settings as well as relations with external actors. Preliminary empirical support is given to our hypotheses, concerning a panel of large US pharmaceutical companies.

Keywords: Corporate governance; Firm's boundaries; Innovation; Pharmaceutical industry; Research agreements; Research organization; Technological change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D23 G34 L22 L65 O32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2000-12, Revised 2000-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cfn, nep-fin, nep-reg and nep-tid
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
ftp://ftp.unibocconi.it/pub/RePEc/cri/papers/wp122.pdf (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 500 Failed to connect to FTP server ftp.unibocconi.it: No such host is known.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cri:cespri:wp122

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
E G E A - via R. Sarfatti, 25 - 20136 Milano -Italy

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in KITeS Working Papers from KITeS, Centre for Knowledge, Internationalization and Technology Studies, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy via Sarfatti, 25 - 20136 Milano - Italy.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Valerio Sterzi ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).