Working papers

Abstract

This paper begins by contrasting the importance given to supply-side public-private partnership (PPP) within Tanzanian health policy documents with the acknowledged limited progress on PP to date. The paper then examines the broad public-private interface in the Tanzanian health system, from both demand and supply sides. We outline the key role of public funds in supporting private activity within the liberalised health care sector and argue that on the demand side, private health expenditure is substantial but poorly documented. On the supply side, patients increasingly resort to private shops, while private facilities struggle to fund competent care. For patients and the health system as a whole, the private expenditure delivers poor value for money. We describe the view from the private sector about why this is so, and then discuss potential directions of transformation. Our central argument is that changes in the public-private interface at the system level are needed to support and incentivise better individual public-private partnerships on the supply side at local levels. Our proposals include better modalities for the management of fees and charges; greater transparency and effectiveness of public subsidies; support for collaborative networks of non-governmental provision; and an acceptance that heavily subsidised, accessible provision, free or near-free at the point of use, for those on very low incomes is essential to reshape the role of private provision within the system as a whole.

Abstract

The past two decades have been characterised by an increasing uncoupling of economic growth and social and economic development. Outside of China, the numbers living in absolute poverty have remained stubbornly large; in Africa, they have increased substantially. Although this uncoupling has multiple sources, the trajectory of innovation (large in scale, capital intensive in nature and destructive of the environment) has contributed to these outcomes. Reorienting towards a more 'inclusive innovation' path has an important role to play in overcoming exclusion. However, we have only a weak understanding of the definition, nature and dynamics of inclusive innovation and this paper seeks to fill this conceptual gap. It argues that inclusive innovation needs to be understood and developed in the context of a  holistic conception of the innovation cycle, the distinction between process and product innovation and the roles played by the poor as both producers and consumer. It further charts the growing interest of private sector actors in inclusive innovation (including, but not confined to TNCs seeking the "fortune at the bottom of the pyramid") and large global funds working in tandem with the private sector and governments. Consideration is also given to the role which growth trajectories play in determining the direction of innovation and in promoting linkages between the globally absolute poor (incomes below $1pd) and those with discretionary cash incomes living in the margins above $1pd. The paper concludes with a call for a more holistic and balanced approach to inclusive innovation to be adopted by a range of stakeholders so that resources are deployed most effectively to aid the recoupling of growth and development.

Abstract

This working paper is an output of the research project 'Understanding Rural Co-operative Resilience: a pilot study', funded by the Leverhulme Trust from October 2012 to September 2013. The project is a partnership between The Open University and the Co-operative College UK, and the working paper is co-authored by a research associate at each institution. The research project explores whether and in what ways co-operatives are resilient social and economic organisations. By investigating the distinctive nature of the co-operative model, the project aims to provide insights on limiting and enabling factors that might be required for the development of resilience at the level of co-operatives. This working paper includes a general review of the literature as well as literature on the specific case of Uganda, which has experienced a co-operative revival and has been engaging with new models of co-operative organisation.

Abstract

Recent approaches to innovation and development have slowly started shifting their emphasis from economic growth to social equality and justice. These two concepts were prominent in the 1970s, but were sidelined during the neo-liberal era and are currently being rediscovered. Thus, innovation and development researchers now agree that 'making new things in new ways' has positive and negative impact on equality and socio-economic and political relations within and between countries. They recognise that innovation and technical change are significant from the point of view of distributive justice. However, despite their recognition, none of them adequately defines these concepts or provides a set of principles which ought to guide socially equitable or just innovation and development. This paper explains why innovation and development studies need to move towards the normative terrain in search of a plausible theory of distributive justice. Unless such a theory can be found and defended against other competing theories, the recent shift from economic growth to equality and social justice will be temporary and without any substantial impact on global policies for poverty reduction.

Abstract

Outside of China, despite rapid economic growth in many low and middle income countries, there has been little progress in meeting the MDG1 target of halving the incidence of global poverty by 2015. Part of the explanation for this weak poverty-reducing performance has been the historic trajectory of innovation. During the 20th Century, most of global innovation had its origins in the north, producing products for high income consumers, developing technologies which excluded poor producers and technologies which were energy intensive and polluting. This innovation trajectory gave rise to the not-for-profit Appropriate Technology movement after the 1970s. But many of the technologies which they it were inefficient and were scorned by both producers and consumers. However a series of disruptive factors - the growth of low income consumers in the context of global economic slowdown, the development of radical technologies (such as mobile telephony and renewable power), the development of capabilities in low income economies and the emergence of new types of innovation actors - have begun to transform the potential of AT to support pro-poor growth. Whilst this new vintage of ATs will be largely market-driven (since it provides the potential for profitable production), there are important dimensions in which this market-driven process can be supported by policy.

Abstract

Effective delivery in the fields of development aid and healthcare relies on knowledge and its communication. Institutions, practitioners and the end-users are examined in these two fields as key actors in the production and communication of knowledge. Similarities and differences, and strengths and weaknesses of their approaches to knowledge are compared. Knowledge is shown to be an intrinsically political process in which institutions and practitioners play a critical role in its communication. Establishing a common background is essential to communicate knowledge effectively. The World Bank's notion that knowledge is a simple commodity should be challenged.

Abstract

In the last decade the Indian auto industry has shown increasing levels of technological sophistication and significant growth. The Indian auto industry consists of local firms with indigenous design and development capability; well established global brands and has marketing presence in Indian as well as other emerging markets. This paper tracks capability development in the Indian auto industry and seeks to understand the factors; both internal and external to firms that have shaped innovative capabilities. It points out that the Indian government?s industrial policy secured development of basic capabilities but restricted innovative capability development in auto manufacturing. This paper reveals that key attributes of firm ownership such as managerial vision and diversified nature of business, helped Indian firms in the development of the innovative capabilities.

Abstract

This paper contrasts the performance of the Kenyan and Malagasy economies post MFA quota removal on garments. Although Malagasy exports to the US declined significantly, they did so at a lower rate than those of Kenya. Moreover, Madagascar was also able to significantly diversify its exports to the EU and South Africa. Following a review of trade performance and detailed plant-level research, the paper explores the extent to which this divergent performance was associated with the differential capacities of firms in the two countries to upgrade their process and product technology. It concludes that the superior performance of the Malagasy industry - achieved in the face of particularly adverse operating conditions - is largely a function of the embeddedness of key firms, some of whom are socially embedded in Madagascar itself, and others of which are of Mauritian origin, but with close regional ties to Madagascar.

Abstract

This paper argues that the development of targeted technologies for poor people will require a new mix of technology, organisations and institutions. Using a technology-market matrix we explore new social technologies which may sometimes include MNCs but are also associated with developing country private sector firms and not for profit Product Development Partnerships (PDPs). The paper argues that these arrangements are most likely to generate and deliver new physical technologies and innovations processes required by low income users.

Abstract

Standards have become an increasingly important dimension in global trade. Without the capacity to meet the growing body of standards, producers may either have difficulty in entering global markets, or may be relegated to unprofitable and low-margin niches. This paper overviews the history of standards, explains the difference between different types of standards and identifies the key stakeholders involved in the setting of standards. It then addresses the role which standards play in enterprise upgrading and considers some of the major costs for producers in meeting standards, including potential cost barriers for small scale producers. Before concluding with a discussion of the policy challenges raised by these developments it discusses the extent to which standards intensity in global value chains will be affected when the final markets increasingly move from high-income consumers in the North to lower income consumers in Southern economies such as China and India.

Abstract

Rapid economic growth in China has boosted its demand for commodities. At the same time, many commodity sectors have experienced declining demand from highincome northern economies. This paper examines two hypotheses of the consequences of this shift in final markets for the organization of global value chains in general, and for the role played in them by southern producers in particular. The first is that there will be a decline in the importance of standards in global value chains. The second is that there will be increasing constraints in the ability of low-income producers to upgrade to higher value niches in their chains. Detailed case studies of the Thai cassava industry and the Gabon timber sector confirm both these hypotheses. It remains to be seen how widespread these trends are across other sectors.

Abstract

Rapid growth in many low-income economies was fuelled by the insertion of producers into global value chains feeding into high-income northern markets. This paper charts the evolution of financial and economic crisis in the global economy and argues that the likely outcome will be sustained growth in the two very large Asian Driver economies of China and India and stagnation in the historically dominant northern economies. Given the nature of demand in low-income southern economies, it is likely to be reflected in sustained demand for commodities, with other southern economy producers in global value chains being forced into lower levels of value added. Standards are likely to be of considerably reduced significance in value chains feeding into China and India.

Abstract

Innovation and technological change play an important role in poverty reduction through their contribution to growth, their use of factors of production, their environmental spillovers, the social relations associated with production and the characteristics of the products which they produce. It was only after the 1960s that these linkages were identified, with the recognition that much of global technological progress was directed to meet the needs of the global rich, and was best-suited to operation in high-income environments. The development and diffusion of 'appropriate technologies' was an agenda largely pursued by the not-for-profit Appropriate Technology movement. However, with the global diffusion of innovative capabilities, and the rapid rise of incomes of the very poor = the 'second bottom billion' - innovation for the poor and innovation appropriate for production in low-wage and poor-infrastructure environments has increasingly become an arena for profitable production. The very large size of China and India, coupled with their growing technological capabilities and the rapid growth of low-incomes, makes it likely that they will become the dominant sources of innovation for the poor.

Abstract

This paper studies the relationship between innovation and venture capital (VC) funding for a sample of 239 UK firms active in the clean technology sector (cleantech) using a unique combination of three datasets; (1) FAME, (2) UK Intellectual Property Office patent data and (3) Cleantech Network's Venture Investments data. Cleantech, a relatively new investor defined term, covers a range of different applications broadly aimed at alternative energy production or providing solutions to environmental problems (Cooke, 2008). However, as investors are generally motivated by financial return, rather than environmental solutions we use this paper to understand the relationship between cleantech investment, technology innovation and the role of different types of investor. We profile the VC-backed firm's active in clean technologies across UK sectors and investigate the relationship between venture capital, investor specialization and experience, and the patenting activities of these firms.

Abstract

The economic recession has slowed efforts to weaken inheritance tax in the UK. Political debates about cuts in government spending mean that cutting inheritance tax is not seen as a priority. However, can present conditions create a positive case for wealth taxes? I examine the ways that the recession might provide arguments for wealth taxation. A house price bubble is usually seen as one of the root causes of the crisis. This might support arguments about a form of land tax. Wealth taxes might also fit into a revival of interest in Keynesian economic ideas.

Abstract

In the decade before the current economic crisis, the US biotechnology industry was booming. In a 2006 book, Science Business: The Promise, the Reality, and the Future of Biotech, Gary Pisano implies that, given the 10-20 year time-frame for developing biotech products and the lack of profitability of the industry as a whole, the US biotech boom should not have happened. Yet the biotech industry has received substantial funding from venture capital firms as well as from established companies through R&D alliances. Why would money from venture capitalists and big pharma be flowing into an industry in which profits are so hard to come by? The purpose of this article is to work toward a solution of what might be called the "Pisano puzzle", and in the process to provide a basis for analyzing the industrial and institutional conditions under which the growth of the US biopharmaceutical (BP) industry is sustainable. One part of the answer has been the willingness of stock-market investors to absorb the initial public offerings (IPOs) of a BP venture that has not yet generated a commercial product, and indeed may never do so. The other part of the answer is that the knowledge base that BP companies can tap to develop products comes much more from government investments and spending than from business finance. Indeed, we show that, through stock buybacks and dividends, established corporations in the BP industry have been distributing substantial sums of cash to shareholders that may be at the expense of R&D. We use the framework that we have developed for analyzing the sustainability of the US BP business model to pose a number of key areas for future research, with an emphasis on the implications of the financialization of this business model for the generation of safe and affordable BP drugs.

Abstract

This paper analyses the impact of China's exports on the prices of exports from other countries using disaggregated import data in the US, EU and Japan over the 1989-2006 period. Findings from this study suggest that China's exports have affected not just those countries whose competitiveness is largely based on low wages but all country groups in certain products sectors, destination markets and during different time periods. The middle income countries are the most affected by China's export expansion through price competition particularly after the late 1990s as a consequence of China's market expansion, its WTO entry and exchange rate variation. The influence on high-income countries is only in low-technology product sectors and appears to lose its significance in the post-1997 period. The impact on low-income countries is only significant in the medium- and high-tech sectors mostly in the pre-1997 period and this effect weakened over time.

Abstract

This paper analyses the pattern of price changes between 1989 and 2006 of imports into the EU, Japan and the US and compares the price change of exports from China with the price changes of exports from other countries grouped by income level, distinguishing among goods of different technological intensity. It finds that the level and growth pattern of unit prices of China's exports are similar to those of the products from the middle income countries. Their unit prices are generally lower than those of exports from high-income economies, and grow significantly slower than those of the low and high income group countries.

Abstract

A key ingredient of the UK innovation policy has been to encourage local access to venture capital finance in order to support the development of small innovative entrepreneurial firms. However research, particularly in the US, has shown the venture capital industry to be organised at both a national and regional level, especially in terms of syndicate networks. Venture capitalists develop relationships with other investors to help to facilitate the transfer of information and knowledge about investment opportunities, as well as develop long term trust between investors which help reduce various investment costs. The formation of investment syndicates provides an important basis for the development of relationships between investors. In this paper we use a detailed dataset of UK investment tracking over 1900 entrepreneurial firms between 2000 and 2006 to analyse syndicate networks. In agreement with US literature, our analysis indicates a national level network structure, controlled by the major UK investors. In contrast to literature on regional clustering, our analysis indicates absent or weak network ties between locally constrained investors. However, our research emphases the opportunity for public policy to help stimulate the venture capital industry by focusing on the role of Government finance in co-ordinating networks at a national as opposed to regional level.

Abstract

Global pharmaceutical policies are currently dominated by debates on access to medicines and in support of research and development for neglected diseases in developing countries. This paper argues that, between 'North' and 'South', there are more common health interests in pharmaceutical policies, within broader global public policies, than are currently articulated. Moreover, the current global policy focus may as well undermine the importance of these common health policy interests as well as conflicts of interest between health policy interests and corporate interests at international and national level in both developing and high income countries. The divisions concerning global regulatory issues and intellectual property rights do not fall neatly between rich and poor countries. Rather, they cut across corporate and commercial policy interests, and health and pharmaceutical policy interests within countries, and concern global regulatory processes and the interface between commercial policies and health policy. The issues of concern include pricing of and access to medicines, but also the broader public health issues of rational use or medicines and appropriate incentives for research and development so as to guarantee research efforts on key health policy areas as well as support access to knowledge and data. There is a danger that, if common health policy interests and concerns are not better understood and more strongly articulated, then global policy making on access to medicines and support for R&D will become increasingly guided by commercial policy priorities across countries. This can not only undermine effective global public health policies as well as reduce policy space for health and pharmaceutical policies at national level.

Abstract

Access to medicines is poor in India, despite a large pharmaceutical industry. Nongovernmental action in India has concentrated on campaigning, with relatively little direct NGO activity that aims to influence the supply chain for essential medicines from manufacturer to user. This paper examines two exceptions to that generalization: LOCOST (Low Cost Standard Therapeutics) and Community Development Medicinal Unit (CDMU). The case studies aim to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of such NGO intervention in essential medicines markets, and the constraints on their effectiveness in the Indian context. The case studies demonstrate both the importance of NGO market intervention in the largely unregulated Indian markets, to improve access to reliable and appropriate medicines, as well as the difficulties such interventions face.

Abstract

This paper analyses and discusses global public action in the context of global health policies. It discusses how public action on pharmaceuticals has influenced on the one hand global health, and on the other the institutional basis of global health governance. It argues that while nongovernmental public action has been effective in terms of influencing agenda-setting in global policies, its role in influencing solutions to the problems has been more limited. In contrast to trade policies, more substantial changes have taken place within global health policies and global health governance. Furthermore, some of the directions supported by global public action may not be conducive to the democratic accountability of global health governance, the wise use of public resources, health systems development, and longer term access to health care within developing countries. The scope for nongovernmental public action is further challenged by the changing context and commercialisation of global public action itself, whereby calls for access to medicines can also be seen as a means of demand creation for new and more expensive medicines in developed countries too, with further articulation of requests for more public funds in support of innovation and clinical trials to tackle the issue of lack of research and development (R&D).

Abstract

One of the new forces likely to influence the future of global change and re-shape development agendas is the growing theory and practice of global justice. The latter is founded upon the moral and political claim that, in today's globalising world, our duties and obligations to other persons extend beyond state borders. Two frontiers of the current theory and practice of global justice are poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. The aim of this paper is to synthesise the discussion of emerging theory and practice of global justice that took place in the 2008 DSA annual conference. The focus is on particular cases of poverty reduction and environmental sustainability such as the Jubilee 2000 Debt Cancellation, Make Poverty History, and the campaign for farmer's rights. The argument of the paper is that global justice is both a normative claim and an instrument of social and political action. This is clearly reflected in campaigns for and debates on extending the idea of fairness beyond state borders.

Abstract

Bio-clusters have been at the centre of regional dynamics in the last ten years. The fact that they allow innovation and competitiveness to emerge through intense interactions between various agents in close geographic proximity has stimulated the interest of policy-makers with aspirations to establish biotechnology presence in their regions. However, this paper conceives bio-clusters as historical developments of the social division of labour which co-evolve with biotechnology, venture capital (VC) and socio-political institutions. In doing so, it focuses on the empirical cases of Cambridge and Scotland, critically taking on board a recently developed industry life cycle model. The argument is that co-evolutionary development of bio-clusters is not static but dynamic, involving, nevertheless, certain pre-conditions, discontinuities and contradictions.

Abstract

Today, bio-scientific research and commercialisation are considered to be critical for improving a number of areas of social and economic life. Especially in the sector of human healthcare, the recent developments in new life sciences and biotechnology appear to constitute the main driving force of change. The most important characteristic of the new paradigm of technological change and innovation in life sciences is the close collaboration between all actors involved, including companies and research institutes, public policy initiatives and regional impacts. This paper examines in depth the complex collaborative relationships between public policy, public research and private firms in genomics and biotechnology, focusing on the cases of Cambridge and Scotland. On the basis of empirical evidence, it is argued that although these relationships are uneven and contradictory in both regions, they play significant roles in building firm-based and policy-making capabilities. Therefore, public-private collaborations in genomics and biotechnology are inevitable for regional innovation and development within the contemporary capitalist knowledge-based economy.

Abstract

However pressing the distributional concerns of redressing inequality and overcoming poverty are in the short-run, in the long run meeting the development needs of humankind requires economic growth. This much is indisputable, although the composition of this growth - the weight given to different social and environmental parameters - is of course subject to contestation. Growth can arise from one or a combination of two different sources - an increase in the amount of investment applied to production ("extensive growth"), and an improvement in the quality of this investment ("intensive growth"). Most rapidly-growing economies draw on both the extensive and intensive margins. But, increasingly through the last three centuries, and inevitably even more so in the coming centuries as global resources are depleted, the focus of attention has been, and will be, placed on the intensive margin. And as we now have also realised, innovation and technological change lie at the centre of investment quality and therefore at the root of growth and development agendas. It was not always so. In the early part of the 20^th century as far as most analysts were concerned, the capacity of economic systems to produce more over time simply took place. And if it was determined by anything it was by the rate of investment i.e. by the rate of addition to the stock of capital within the economic system under consideration. …

A similar version of the paper appears in the Innogen working paper series.

Abstract

If access to medicines is obtained by a population largely through market exchange, then consumer rights become a key aspect of the right to health. Medicines markets are dangerously subject to perverse incentives and asymmetric information, and in low income countries are largely unregulated. Research in rural Tanzania explored the information received by those buying medicines at the time of purchase, and the extent to which buyers knew the information they should receive. It also examined the extent to which dispensers were aware of good dispensing practice, and compared nongovernmental non-profit dispensing with private sector practice in this regard. This paper argues for a shift in the framework of analysis of medicines markets from sources of trust to methods of strengthening implementation of rights; for a clearer incorporation of consumer rights into efforts progressively to implement the right to health; and for a strengthening of NGOs' activity in this regard.

Abstract

The paper studies the dynamics of firm growth and the firm size distribution in the pharmaceutical industry from 1950 to 2003. Growth dynamics are studied in the context of how the size composition of firms changes, how innovation patterns (patents) change, and how location leads to growth differentials among US firms. It is found that the growth advantage of small pharmaceutical firms increases after the 1980s as small firms become more active in patenting and their patenting activities become more 'persistent'. Location is found to affect growth differences only for the most innovative firms (i.e. for non innovative firms, location does not matter). For this group of firms, California firms which are much smaller in size, yet more active and persistent in patenting are found to grow significantly faster than their counterparts in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut Tri-State region. The bimodal shape of the firm size distribution is found to emerge towards the end of the 1970s precisely when a new division of labor between large and small firms sets in. Implications of location dynamics for firm growth and the nongaussian behavior of the size distribution are highlighted.

A similar version of the paper appears in The Open University Open Discussion Papers in Economics series.

Abstract

Indian generic companies have played a major role in reducing the prices of HIV/AIDS drugs for the benefit of the people of Africa. However Indian companies in general display more interest in the larger and more lucrative markets of North America and Europe. Although the pharmaceutical industry has quite a long history in Tanzania, financial condition and growth have not been satisfactory, and, as in many other developing countries, Tanzanian industry suffers from some inherent cost disadvantages. However this paper argues that it is important for Tanzania to develop the industry further to take care of her drug needs, since there are problems with relying on foreign sources such as India. The government does provide some incentives to local manufacturers, but these are inadequate, and the paper argues for a proper industrial policy in Tanzania with both push and pull incentives. Abolishing product patents in pharmaceuticals operated as an important pull incentive in India, yet Tanzania has never abolished such patent protection. She can still do so: under TRIPS, Tanzania, as a least developed country is not required to introduce such protection in pharmaceuticals till 2016. Even if she chooses not to abolish product patents, there are other TRIPS flexibilities which Tanzania can use to develop her industry and enhance access to medicines.

Abstract

From 2000 to 2002 worldwide exports from Massachusetts declined by 18.5 percent before rising by 43.7 percent from 2002 to 2006.The European Union has been the most important destination for exports from Massachusetts,with over 43 percent of the state's worldwide exports going there in 2006, up from 39 percent in 2000. In the aggregate, these changes appear to be merely cyclical, with a trend toward more exports to Europe. When one disaggregates the export data, however, one finds that during the 2000s a significant structural change in the composition and destination of Massachusetts' exports has taken place.

Final version published in Geography Compass, 2 (1). pp. 67-78. Open Research Online

Abstract

A basic intellectual challenge for those concerned with the poverty of nations is to come to grips with the nature and causes of the wealth of the world's wealthier nations. One might then be in a position to inform the poorer nations how they might achieve similar outcomes. This paper is organized around what I call 'the theory of innovative enterprise', a perspective derived from the historical and comparative study of the development of the advanced economies. The theory of innovative enterprise provides the essential analytical link between entrepreneurship and development. Section 2 offers, as a point of departure, a contrast between entrepreneurship in rich and poor nations. Section 3 outlines the theory of the innovating firm in which entrepreneurship has a role to play. Section 4 identifies the roles of entrepreneurship in new firm formation in terms of the types of strategy, organization, and finance that innovation requires, and emphasizes the 'disappearance' of entrepreneurship with the growth of the firm. In Section 5 I argue that, in the advanced economies, successful entrepreneurship in knowledge intensive industries has depended heavily upon a combination of business allocation of resources to innovative…

Abstract

This paper examines the inter-relationship between Innovation Studies, poverty and inequality in the context of a rapidly globalising economy. It begins by summarising the nature and extent of global poverty, inequality and globalisation, and follows this with a disaggregation of different components of inequality. A number of potential causal links between innovation, poverty and inequality are discussed, before we attempt to map the extent to which different streams of Innovation Studies address issues of poverty and inequality. This is followed by a discussion of the nature and direction of causality in this inter-relationship, as a prelude to drawing conclusions for the agenda of individual studies of innovation, for the methodology used to explore the innovation-welfare nexus, and for policy makers concerned with reducing poverty and inequality.

Abstract

If market 'selection' works, and if innovation leads to greater efficiency (higher quality and/or lower costs), then one should expect to find a relationship between innovation and firm growth. Yet the empirical evidence for the impact of innovation on firm growth is rather mixed.
The paper looks at the relationship between innovation and firm growth, and the effects of this relationship on market structure for the pharmaceutical industry (firms quoted on the Us stock market between 1950-2003 and sub-periods). We find that innovation (proxied via R&D spending, patents and citations) affects growth rates only for firms with particular characteristics. These are firms that are persistent innovators, have biotechnology alliances, and are small. This suggests that market selection operates on a mix of firm characteristics. Furthermore, it is precisely firms with these characteristics which shape the 'complex' patterns in industry structure which have recently caused many industrial economists to puzzle over the non-gaussian properties of firm size and growth (e.g. bimodality of firm size distributions and fat tails in the growth distributions).

Abstract

It is now widely argued that many of the problems of pricing and accessibility of essential medicines in Africa lie in market structure and regulation failures within African countries. This paper presents new findings on pricing, margins and competition along the supply chain from manufacturers of essential medicines, in India, Kenya and Tanzania, to medicines buyers in Tanzanian rural areas. Based on these findings the paper considers the extent to which current faith-based and secular NGO non-profit actors are playing a beneficial role in promoting access to reliable medicines, and discusses whether and how that role might be strengthened. While it is often argued that NGOs can be reliable and trustworthy actors in problematic low income private health care markets, the role of NGOs in low income countries' medicines supply is less studied, and policy proposals on NGOs' roles are rarely rooted in an understanding of their market contexts.

Abstract

Benefit-sharing between the users and the providers of biological resources and the knowledge associated with them has been a topic of intense, increasing concern in bioprospecting in recent years. This is due to the large amount of genetic resources that have commercial viability in a number of formal sectors, including pharmaceuticals in both industrialised and development countries .
Bioprospecting activities have been characterised by a dichotomic vision of the local communities, seen either as victims of 'biopiracy' or as potential beneficiaries of benefit-sharing agreements which often have proved to be ineffective in promoting development and equity at local level.
The aim of this paper is to investigate whether novel benefit-sharing arrangements might give rise to a new form of bioprospecting activity. It intends to develop this understanding through the examination of what appears to be a new model of bioprospecting, represented by the community-based enterprise Gram Mooligai Company Limited (GMCL). GMCL is active in herbal sector in India, it sells raw herbs and commercialises medicines using the local ethnomedicine knowledge.
The paper aims to analyse the structure and functioning mechanisms of this community organization and shows how an alternative representation of bioprospecting 'from below' can be an instrument to enhance the local livelihoods of communities and promote their empowerment and capacity building.

Abstract

The private market for medicines, considered as a supply chain from manufacturers to end users, is notoriously subject to market failure; in rich countries it is therefore subject to stringent regulation. Yet the empirically based policy literature on access to essential medicines remains limited on how these market problems can be overcome in the supply of medicines from developing country manufacturers to the dangerously unregulated retail medicines markets suffered by the very poor across the world. This paper explores the under-studied role of social enterprise as traders and regulatory actors in the international wholesale markets for essential medicines and their impact on accessibility, quality and prices in these perverse markets, drawing on an interview survey of European-based socially oriented wholesalers supplying the medicines market for sub-Saharan Africa. The paper argues that these enterprises play an important role in regulating price and quality and hence in improving access to medicines by the poor. However they face challenging market and political conditions. The paper analyses the motivations and organisational structures that sustain social and ethical commitment in this market, drawing on theories of social enterprise and non-profit business, and surveys the challenges and constraints. It then examines the formal international and national regulatory interventions in the international markets and their effects on social enterprise, in the context of a substantial institutional divide between the medicines-related campaigning of the large international NGOs and the activities of these market-oriented social enterprises.

Abstract

After a decade of global diffusion, and the realisation of some economic benefits, the environmental impact of genetically modified (GM) crop technologies remains inconclusive and a source of considerable threat to biodiversity-rich Africa. Drawing on evidence from Ethiopia and South Africa, this paper characterises debates, considers policy, and discusses the rationale for proactive GM policy (as in South Africa) and precautionary ones (such as in Ethiopia). It shows that GM crop adoption, or rejection, crucially depends on the scientific, technological and institutional capabilities for the development and use of the technology, and perceptions about risk and socio-economic impacts. Overly protective policies (inadvertently) suppress the development of biotechnological capacities that have the potential to add more value to biodiversity-derived products, and reduce loss of biodiversity. It argues that Africa's progress in science and biotechnological innovation is central to conservation and sustainable use of its biodiversity for the improvement of the livelihoods of its people.

Abstract

European Commission policy has promoted agbiotech in the name of 'sustainable agriculture', based on the industry's claims for ecoefficiency improvements. The Commission has aimed to facilitate approval and commercialisation of GM products, as a means 'to complete the internal market'; this project became linked with neoliberal globalisation, whereby the objective imperatives of economic competitiveness force Europe to adopt agbiotech. This linkage provided a vulnerable target for political protest against agbiotech as a symbol of neoliberal policies. Societal conflict was eventually translated into regulatory disputes over the appropriate safety standards for GM products. These disputes, combined with a retailers' boycott of Gm grain, largely blocked the European commercial development of agbiotech.
Those EU conflicts provide a case study for evaluating the explanatory utility of ecological modernisation (EM) as a social theory. Some EM perspectives can help to explain how ecoefficiency claims framed agbiotech innovations, gained wider policy support and provoked demands for more stringent regulation. However, those EM perspectives have limited capacity for explaining the societal conflicts and their outcomes. These limitations derive from normative standpoints: attributing environmental degradation to market failure, understanding 'ecoefficiency' as an input-output efficiency of resource usage, understanding pollution in narrowly biophysical terms, and modelling civil society as supporters of such efficiency improvements.
Going beyond those limitations, some EM perspectives have already been linked with wider ones: state failure, cultural-discursive frames, rival political economies and reflexive policymaking. These perspectives too have normative standpoints, which enhance the analytical utility for explaining the EU societal conflict over agbiotech. Normative differences among theories cast a new light upon the task of linking EM with other analytical perspectives.

Abstract

This paper adopts a system-evolutionary perspective to describe the dynamics of the life science sector and reflect on regional innovation policy. It begins with a brief outline of the evolution of life sciences and of the biotechnology industry. A crucial feature of such evolution is the strong tendency towards geographical concentration of research and related economic activities. The formation and growth of bio-clusters have sometimes appeared to be spontaneous, in that governments have not been in the driving seat. However, many regional and national governments have now developed policy frameworks to support the development of bio-clusters.
Regional and evolutionary economics contribute to explain cluster emergence and growth, but little is known about pre-emergence conditions. As a result, although policy measures aimed at supporting emergence and growth are grounded on direct evidence and observable transformations, starting clusters from scratch often involves replicating the pathways followed by successful regions.
We examine the rational behind regional innovation policy in life sciences and the reasons why some policies have either succeeded or failed. Special emphasis is placed on Scotland, where the local development agency has pioneered the implementation of cluster thinking to support the development of the life sciences sector.

Abstract

In recent years advances in biotechnology and the growing toll imposed on poor countries by epidemic diseases have brought the development of safe and affordable vaccines to the heart of the debate on development. Almost exclusively economic policies are put forward to address the crisis focusing on market failures in the production of vaccines for neglected diseases. This paper argues that development policies aimed at fostering vaccine innovation should also consider the institutional and organizational uncertainties entailed in enabling research into, and production and delivery of, vaccines for diseases affecting primarily poor countries. This paper looks at one product development public private partnership, the International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). IAVI is attempting to increase vaccine production for neglected diseases by acting both as a broker and integrator of knowledge. Based on our understanding of IAVI and our assumption that IAVI might be representative of other product development PPPs, we suggest there is a tension between an emphasis on private pharmaceutical sector efficiency and sustainable development activities that requires understanding and managing if PPPs are to successfully vaccine reach their goals.

Abstract

In this paper we present a history-friendly model of the changing vertical scope of computer firms during the evolution of the computer and semiconductor industries. The model is 'history friendly', in that it attempts at replicating some basic, stylized qualitative features of the evolution of vertical integration on the basis of the causal mechanisms and processes which we believe can explain the history. These factors are identified in the co-evolution of capabilities, the size of markets and the structure of industries In particular, the basic assumption is that the principal force behind the patterns of vertical integration and disintegration of computer firms was the differential development of capabilities for designing and producing semiconductors among firms. On this basis, the changing boundaries of firms are analyzed in the context of dynamic and uncertain technological and market environments, characterized by periods of technological revolutions punctuating periods of relative technological stability and smooth technical progress. The model illustrates how the patterns of vertical integration and specialization in the computer industry change as a function of the evolving levels and distribution of firms' capabilities over time and how they depend on the co-evolution of the upstream and downstream sectors. Specific conditions in each of these markets - the size of the external market, the magnitude of the technological discontinuities, the lock-in effects in demand - exert critical effects and feedbacks on market structure and on the vertical scope of firms as time goes by.

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of different types of public policies - ranging from antitrust to public procurement, open standards, information diffusion and basic research support - on the coevolution of two, vertically related industries in changing and uncertain technological and market environments. It does so by focussing on the specific cases of the computer and semiconductor industries and relying on a 'history-friendly' model of the co-evolution of these two industries.

Abstract

In last decade a host of new multinational enterprises have risen from developing countries such as Indian and China. These new multinational enterprises (MNEs) are dominating global economy and challenging existing paradigms of international business literature. In this context this paper tries to explore whether internationalisation of firms from developing countries can be explained in terms of mainstream theories derived mainly from studies of Western multinational corporations or do these cases present new insights in the explanations that have been offered for latecomer multinationals. With this in mind, the present paper explores patterns and motives for internationalisation by Indian pharmaceutical firms. It focuses on internalisation that is directed towards expansion into foreign markets and accessing new technologies. The paper moves beyond study of export from domestic units and investigates different strategies adopted by Indian firms to internationalise their operations.
The evidence presented here suggests that Indian pharmaceutical firms are internationalising by acquiring small firms as well as setting up their subsidiaries, in order to access resources, move up value chain and enter new markets. Each of these routes have provided certain benefits but equally posed different challenges and risks.

Abstract

Today, bio-scientific research and commercialisation are considered to be critical for improving a number of areas of social and economic life. Especially in the sector of human healthcare, the recent developments in life sciences and biotechnology appear to constitute the main driving force of change. The most important characteristic of the new paradigm of technological change and innovation in life sciences is the close collaboration between all actors involved, including companies and research institutes, public policy initiatives and regional impacts. This paper examines in depth the complex collaborative relationships between public policy, public research and private firms in genomics and biotechnology, focusing on the cases of Cambridge and Scotland. It is argued that although these relationships are uneven and contradictory in both regions, they play significant roles in building firm-based and policy-making capabilities. Therefore, public-private collaborations in genomics and biotechnology are inevitable for regional innovation and development within the contemporary capitalist knowledge-based economy.

Abstract

This paper argues that planned health care provision and market regulation play distinct roles in relation to the effective provision of equitable health care. Governmental planned provision has as a core objective ensuring that the health system is redistributive and that the poor have access to competent care. Market regulation has as its central objective the shaping of the role and behaviour of the private sector within the health system. Management of the health system as a whole, which is a governmental responsibility, therefore requires the integration of planning and regulation in a manner appropriate to each particular context.
All health systems are 'mixed', involving both private and public initiative. This paper defines a concept of health care commercialisation, and shows that, based on the data and sources available, higher levels of commercialisation are not associated with better health outcomes. Some, but not all of this finding can be explained by the association of higher commercialisation with lower average incomes. Case-based exploration of the reasons for the finding suggests that low-income unregulated fee-for-service commercialisation is particularly damaging to health outcomes, and solutions are urgently required. At higher incomes, where patterns of commercialisation are driven by large private firms (providers and insurers) seeking to segment the market and serve its high income segment, the regulatory challenge is to shape the role of these firms in a manner that allows sustained redistribution.
In the case of publicly planned provision, the evidence surveyed shows that countries that spend more via government - directly or through social health insurance mechanisms - have generally better outcomes, and that those who ally higher government spending to a universalist commitment to open access and to very low or no charges at the point of use, do particularly well, achieving high levels of access at lower incomes, containing catastrophic expenditures, and (perhaps counter-intuitively) ensuring that the extensive private provision in these systems plays a complementary role in serving the better off. This is the converse of the finding for systems where the public sector has largely collapsed or has become strongly fee-based : here the poorest citizens struggle disproportionately to gain access to private providers and catastrophic payments are a serious source of impoverishment.
The paper illustrates what is meant by the integration of planned provision and market regulation with reference to four contexts. It argues:
  • for planning public health care to operate as 'beneficial competition' for private providers in low income health markets;
  • that sustaining public benefit culture in the public and non-governmental sectors is key to promoting planning-regulatory synergy, and that this requires constraining public sector marketisation;
  • that the regulation of private providers and constraint of private insurers can be done effectively through the extension of social health insurance, but the technical demands are considerable and the political process of gaining consensus to support compulsion is essential;
  • and that integrating 'classical' regulation with planning can be highly successful in shaping access to essential drugs and other essential commercial inputs to the health system.
The paper concludes that in no case can the need for competent public leadership and management of the system be avoided. Where it cannot be established, it is however possible for large non-governmental organisations to play a quasi-governmental role in planned provision.

Abstract

Recent finance literature highlights the role of technological change in increasing firm specific and aggregate stock price volatility (Campbell et al. 2001, Shiller 2000, Pastor and Veronesi 2005). Yet innovation data is not used in these analyses, leaving the direct relationship between innovation and volatility untested. Our aim is to investigate more closely the relationship between stock price volatility and innovation using firm level patent citation data. The analysis builds on the empirical work by Mazzucato (2002; 2003) where it is found that stock price volatility is highest during periods in the industry life-cycle when innovation (measured at the industry level) is the most 'competence-destroying'. Here we ask whether firms which invest more in innovation (more R&D and more patents) and/or which have 'more important' innovations (patents with more citations) experience more volatility. We focus the analysis on firms in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries between 1974 and 1999. Results suggest that there is a positive and significant relationship between idiosyncratic risk, R&D intensity and the various patent related measures. Preliminary support is also found for the 'rational bubble' hypothesis linking both the level and volatility of stock prices to innovation.

Abstract

The paper begins by exploring the terminology associated with this area of work and references to people who share similar characteristics. Key trends, their effects and impact of age on a wide range of broader economic factors, with particular attention on the small and medium-sized enterprise proprietors are examined. The 'Grey' drivers and motives are explored to identify what prompts them towards entrepreneurship and the characteristics that set them apart from younger groups, using existing empirical studies. Literature review of past and current studies on Grey entrepreneurs, Third age and Entrepreneur age, and their effects and impact on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises is considered.
The study examines popular arguments, that aged people are more experienced, respect independence, possess more social, human and financial capital, have less risks at this stage of their lives in contrast to younger people, hence this is ideal, fertile grounds for starting in business. The findings provide a contemporary view and throw much doubt to popular understanding by challenging some of the most fundamental elements of the argument. The findings indicate a greater role for some members of the Grey community who share certain characteristics, to contemplate the appeal and intricacies of self-employment and to set up in business. It acknowledges the role of government assistance as a legitimate intervention to support and sustain Grey entrepreneurs as they are expected to generate their own markets and business opportunities e.g. nursing, care, health, leisure, financial and professional services.
The role of government and their policies are discussed. Policy implications are identified to stimulate 'Grey' entrepreneurship and, in creating a dynamic enterprise culture where age is critical but caution are advised to target all those over 50 years old. Business Link and enterprise agencies will be able to target their provision more selectively, in line with renewed efforts to tackle age exclusion and improve business succession and sustainability. By drawing on findings from existing research, the popular view is examined and a re-assessment is offered for policy makers and service providers to target their support more meaningfully

Abstract

'Brain drain' is often viewed as a curse for developing countries like India and China but recent analysis suggests that in the current global competitive environment, the 'brain drain' may actually provide a crucial advantage to these countries. Over the years, these regions typically have been treated as low-cost production sites for multinational companies, but the 'reverse brain drain' of engineers or scientists educated and trained in the US or Europe can accelerate technological upgrading of these regional economies. Communities of such foreign educated scientists or engineers can provide the skill and know-how needed to help local firms shift to higher value added activities. However transfer of knowledge through human mobility is not a straight-forward process and knowledge diffusion by hiring scientists is a complex process. This paper presents important insights regarding the issues affecting diffusion of knowledge through migration of scientific labour, using case studies of innovative Indian pharmaceutical firms.
The analysis of firm level 'assimilation processes' reveals major issues such as generational differences of returnees, differences in working culture of Indian firms and western firms and importantly differences between the requirements of Indian firms and the skill sets of returnees, which have hampered effective diffusion of knowledge. We also show that Indian firms responded to these issues by adopting global R&D management practices. The findings also suggest that firms require government support policies to attract returnees.

Abstract

This paper studies the strategies employed by four established Indian pharmaceutical firms. In response to new economic opportunities generated by the Hutch Waxman Act (1984) in the US and the New Patent Act (1999) in India , these firms pursued different marketing, internationalisation and R&D strategies. Interorganisational learning makes this variety akin to a natural experiment where firms learn about their own 'best' practices by observing what other firms do. Such experimentation is a necessary condition for the development of dynamic capbilities, but not sufficient.

Abstract

The importance of governance arrangements for governing GMOs is widely acknowledged, but insufficiently practised. The paper examines legitimation and harmonisation issues around evolving GMO governance in Africa. It draws on empirical research from Ethiopia, South Africa and pan-African biosafety system harmonisation initiatives. Analysis shows that the process of institutionalising biosafety systems has become a major source of contention, and dominant protagonists have emerged on either sides of the debate. The legitimacy of the emerging systems is however at stake, as those making and implementing the rules are perceived as having failed to find a way through the competing views and concerns over GMOs. The paper concludes by highlighting the need for a competence-based and more inclusive approach to governing GMOs.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to assess empirically whether trade flows carry disembodied knowledge to emerging countries. Endogenous growth theory predicts that productivity growth rates of countries are related through international trade linkages and associated embodied and disembodied knowledge spillovers. Patent statistics are an output indicator of innovation. This allow patent citations to reflect the process of knowledge diffusion. Combining an endogenous growth framework with a patent citation analysis, we evaluate whether more exporting or importing countries tend to cite more foreign patents, i.e. learn more from foreign technology. The empirical estimation concerns the relative number of backward citations and bilateral trade flows between 18 emerging and 10 technology source countries, at a sectoral level, for the period of 1980-1998. We contribute to the previous literature by taking into account several proximity measures and by distinguishing sector's technological intensities. Our results show that trade transfers technology across countries and sectors, but the extent of the diffusion depends mainly on cultural and historical proximities and the level of technical capacity of host countries.

Abstract

This paper analyses how firms organize for industrial innovation from a position significantly below being globally competitive. It investigates how follower firms can go beyond the boundaries assigned to them by their national environments and by the world's leading technology-driven firms. The paper reports on detailed case studies of how a range of successful firms in developing countries managed to break these boundaries to increase competitiveness through innovation.
Our key argument concerns the innovation dynamics of follower-firms. We argue that technology-followers approach the frontier with very different behaviour to that of leaders. We go on to report on a study of firms in less developed countries that have succeeded in moving up the value-chain. We construct and use a simple tool, based on resource-based theory, to map the alternative approaches taken by firms. It focuses on the relationship between process and product innovation and the nature of proprietary competencies. This allows the development of approaches to build technology strategies for innovation in LDC firms.

Abstract

This paper traces the evolution of Technical Assistance to Technical Co-operation, Knowledge Management and (perhaps) Innovation Systems. Originally conceived as transfer from a knowledge-rich North to a knowledge-poor South, the later terminology represents a more co-operative and dialogic conception. In this it has been driven by persistent issues concerning capacity and knowledge-in-context and by changes in thinking about development practice generally. Do, however, these terminology changes represent reframing of practice? The paper argues that a further epistemological turn is needed that conceives of co-operative learning as 'learning with', and of difference as a resource rather than a problematic divide.

Abstract

The intellectual property regime forms an important part of any government's economic and industrial policies. It is an important regulatory instrument not only affecting industry and market structure but also influencing firm level learning strategies, especially in knowledge based industries like pharmaceuticals. Given its crucial role, the strengthening of patent laws as a result of the Trade Related Intellectual Property rights (TRIPs) agreement presents a significant institutional change for developing country industry. This paper analyses Indian pharmaceutical firms response to the strengthening of patent law.
The research in this paper shows that Indian pharmaceutical firms responded to disruptive regulatory change by developing competencies incrementally as well as radically. Ambidextrous capability development involved explorative investment in R&D to develop innovative product R&D competencies and in parallel also involved exploitative use of existing process R&D capabilities. This explorative and exploitative learning in Indian pharmaceutical firms has wider implications for firms from other developing countries facing similar TRIPS challenges.

Abstract

Much public policy interest in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the 25 million or so EU firms employing less than 250 people, has increased in recent years and springs from three perceived SME strengths:
  1. their role in promoting flexibility and innovation;
  2. their labour market function in creating jobs and absorbing unemployment;
  3. the enormous size of the sector (99% of EU firms and 70% of EU jobs).
For these three points alone, it is clear that SMEs need to be taken into account when issues concerning citizenship, democracy and governance are considered. However, there are more compelling reasons to include SMEs, especially with ICT now improving communication and offering enhanced participation outside the usual structures and channels of communication. SMEs are not only diffused through every community and locality and, indeed, are often the mainstays of many small communities, they also for a major part of the marginalised sections of society with the lowest rates of participation in political processes. One important segment of the whole SME sector, the selfemployed, are generally from a milieu where personal independence and autonomy are prized. SMEs often organize themselves informally in structures that lie outside official organisations as networks that address a mix of business, social and political needs. It is through these networks that many SMEs inter-face with the larger firms and government organisations that basically run our economies. Because of their importance, and their potential for mediating the participation of SMEs in the e-society, the different types of SME networks and how they function require some attention. The 2002-2004 NEWTIME project, which investigated the impact of broadband on networks of microfirms in 8 EU member states, identified 10 different network types - differentiated according to structure (formal or informal), purpose (business or social) and organisational density (strength or weakness of ties between members). In addition it was recognized that power relations affect governance issues in SMe networks in four major areas:
  1. Transactions costs and vertical disintegration of larger firms:
  2. Local clusters of complementary SMEs;
  3. Communities of practice;
  4. Family and community ties.
This paper draws on NEWTIME and subsequent surveys in Britain to analyse the key issues in each of these areas and the potential that ICT holds for increasing the participation of SMEs in decision making at a local, regional and national level.

Abstract

The completion of the Human Genome Project has opened up unprecedented possibilities in healthcare, but also ethical and social dilemmas. Some fear that the health concerns of developed countries will take precedence over those of developing countries, thereby creating a 'genomics divide'. This has led to calls for more effective governance of genomics science and technology. On a broader scale, international relations theorists have been arguing for reform of global governance frameworks in general. One possibility for bridging the genomics divide would be through implementation of three UNESCO instruments: the 1997 Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights, the 2003 International Declaration on Human Genetic Data and the Draft Declaration on Universal Norms on Bioethics. All three contain articles on cooperation between developed and developing countries in knowledge sharing and capacity building. Other proposals include two different forms of global network.
This essay summarises the relevant international relations theories, before applying them to the case of genomics and health inequalities. It then examines the suggested networks and their potential relationship with the UNESCO instruments. It concludes by evaluating the prospects for effective global governance of genomics and the ensuing implications for development in terms of health and healthcare.

Abstract

The Indian pharmaceutical industry ever since its inception, has been deeply affected by a large variety of institutional factors and policies, ranging from patents, foreign exchange regulations, price controls, industrial licensing and organization of research and development in the public and private sectors. This paper considers the causes and implications of reforms and changes in the policy framework, particularly in terms of technological capability, technology sourcing, knowledge transfer and local production in the Indian pharmaceutical industry. The analysis of the complex web of policy reforms since the 1940s and its influence on technology evolution at the firm and industry level in India in this paper emphasises the subtle relationship between public policy and technology evolution. In particular, their transformation from relative technological weakness to their strengthening after adopting The Patents Act, 1970 followed by liberalisation and globalisation form the 1990s. This paper argues that these transformations have not only been the result of national policy, but also the competencies and capabilities of firms evolved over time. That is, there has been a coevolution of public policy and firm strategy, each key and with changing impact on innovative capabilities in the pharmaceutical industry. The coevolution of policy and technology (innovation) examined in this paper brings evidence to show how changes in public policy regimes have influenced the technological choices and trajectories of Indian pharmaceutical firms over time which in turn have facilitated the growth and evolution of this industry in India.

Abstract

Recent studies find that idiosyncratic risk (IR), the degree to which firm specific returns are more volatile than aggregate market returns, has increased since the 1960's and attribute this to economy wide factors such as the role of the IT revolution. To gain further insights into why IR has increased over time, our paper uses industry level data and firm level data to study if firms and industries that are more R&D intensive are characterized by higher IR due to how the process of innovation affects the uncertainty of expected future profits. While the industry level results prove inconclusive, the firm level results are encouraging: a clear relationship is found between a firm's R&D intensity and the volatility of its returns.

Abstract

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) are an innovative mechanism to provide incentives to investment in vaccine development for HIV/AIDS and Malaria. They provide social and economic incentives to collaborate suggesting a new meaning of 'value added' is created that emphasises process factors. This paper investigates the creation of 'value added' through a case study of the South Africa AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI). A finding of this case study was that all too often innovation and health systems are seen as separate areas of activity. However, viewing PPPs from within a 'systems of innovation' perspective makes clear that these two systems are linked by the concept of absorptive capacity (understanding the value and use of knowledge). Furthermore, this paper emphasises how it is possible through a fuller investigation of collaboration and the capabilities of learning and knowledge to link innovation and health systems.

Abstract

Communication is essential to making biotechnology and genomics relevant to developing countries and poor people. Few would disagree with that. But many are sceptical about public relations efforts to impose inappropriate technological 'solutions' on developing countries. This paper is a partial reflection on how PR and advocacy 'mixes' can be understood and whether they can be useful to innovation in developing country contexts.
This paper has several aims: First to consider why communication has become more important in the area of innovation and development; Second, we look at how two biotechnology related public-private partnerships have used public relations and advocacy to further innovation in development and pose some questions about complicated aspects of communication, technological innovation and development. We suggest that it is increasingly difficult to classify communication efforts associated with technology for development initiatives as PR or advocacy or according to the preconceived notions about who the messenger might be; Third we look at some of the methodological and theoretical implications of the analysis. Discourse analysis, which encourages us to unwrap layers of meaning in the text but which often treats texts in the abstract, unrelated to broader institutional developments or to 'evidence' of any kind, is of limited help in achieving a more grounded analysis of communication efforts. Communication and voice are essential 'capabilities' in development and we suggest that we need a more sophisticated approach to thinking about communication capabilities as technical, and social and political.

Abstract

Transition and accession have necessitated the establishment of a regulatory framework for agricultural crop biotechnology in Poland. This paper examines the theoretical and practical difficulties of complying with EU requirements. The first part of the study utilises evolutionary theory and path dependency to describe how policy makers interpret the requirements of accession through established conceptual models. Secondly the paper examines how accession programmes may alter path dependent trajectory but is simultaneously introducing or importing models which are fundamentally incompatible with national capabilities. Data presents the preaccession capacity building programmes and the import of German expertise as examples. The final section examines the issue of capacity and in particular, financial capacity, and uses this underlying theme to explore in detail why incompatibilities arise and why EU compliance is presented with certain obstacles.

Abstract

This paper studies the emergence of new countries as contributors to technology generation in the world economy and assesses the relationship between this and globalisation (through trade, inward FDI and international migration). It considers two measures of technology generation, viz. a country's share of licensing revenues and of foreign origin patenting in the US, thus covering different phases and aspects of technological catch-up across countries. The paper uses a novel index to track the influence of new countries as technology generators in these datasets and uses time series techniques to understand the causal relationship between globalisation and the emergence of new technology producers. Our findings suggest a role for increasing international direct investment as a factor causing the emergence of new countries with the higher level competitiveness associated with patenting, but not in the recent surge of new countries with the basic capabilities needed to become licensors in the world economy. However, an increase in the international spread of the subsidiary sources of the patenting activity of multinationals appears to follow periods when the world economy becomes less open to trade.

Abstract

The question of how to build science and technology capacity in developing countries has been on (and often off) the agenda for decades, as has the issue of how to use partnerships to accelerate capacity building. There is, however, currently an explosion of interest in science and technology (S&T) in Africa. A plethora of reports and policy documents have argued for an expansion of S&T but to a far lesser extent for a rigorous rethink about how science, technology and innovation can be better organized for development. This paper aims to assess the importance of 'new' theories and practices based on the role of innovation and knowledge systems. The paper argues that lessons can be learned from transformations in research policy and from practices that better integrate new ideas from innovation, knowledge and development Such lessons exist not only from North America and Europe, but especially from developing countries including from Africa itself. The paper uses a range of evidence from recent cases of successful science and technological capacity development and capability enhancement in Africa, to assess the implications for future development of science technology and innovation capabilities.
It has been argued that science and technology in the poorest developing countries is being held back by a single minded, short-term focus on poverty alleviation. This focus is seen as a constraint on gaining resources for medium and longer-term programmes, including in science and technology. However, an alternative argument would be to ask what changes are required for science, technology and innovation to be accepted as key for the alleviation of poverty. This alternative would also lead to transformations in research policy.

Abstract

Two ageing processes are happening in West European economies that have profound implications for the development of innovations and entrepreneurship in Europe. The first is the demographic trend common in most industrialised countries of an aging population. This means not only that shortages in the supply of skilled workers are appearing but also that small firm owners are also much older. The second is the firms that were started as enterprising new companies some twenty years ago, and in many cases their main products too, are now at the plateau of their life-cycles (or, even worse, sliding down the decline curves at the end of the cycle). As well as the identified economic problems with regard to increased welfare costs and a diminishing active population having to sustain the pension expectations of a growing population of economically inactive people, there is the hidden potential problem of a fall off in general small business activity. In particular, does this mean a decline in entrepreneurial activity?
The Small Enterprise Research Team (SERT), an independent non-profit body based at the Open University Business School (OUBS), has been conducting regular surveys of small business behaviour and performance each quarter for the past 20 years. During the first quarter of 2004, small firm owners were asked about their growth intentions, strategic objectives and degree of innovative activity in addition to the regular performance measurement and classification questions (which include age of respondent and of firm). This paper is based on the responses of the 808 small firms and shows a distinct reduction in growth motivation and entrepreneurial activity related to both age of respondent and of firm but also distinct size of firm effects independent of age (especially when measured by sales). This strongly suggests that innovation is more of a social and managed process, as Peter Drucker argued, than one that depends on the inspiration or stamina of an individual entrepreneur. The other reassuring finding is that innovative activities do not cease completely after the official pension age and that certain small firm owners are still working, want to continue to work and some still intend to grow.