Innovation and Strategic Divergence: An Empirical Study of the U.S. Pharmaceutical Industry from 1920 to 1960
- 1 February 2003
- journal article
- Published by Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) in Management Science
- Vol. 49 (2), 143-159
- https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.49.2.143.12745
Abstract
Today, firms employing two distinct survival strategies—(1) innovation and (2) imitation —coexist in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry. History indicates that this intraindustry heterogeneity did not exist prior to 1940. This study empirically investigates the origin of this strategic divergence by focusing on changes in firms' R&D inputs and outputs. It finds that some U.S. pharmaceutical firms responded to the opportunity presented by the discovery of antibiotics in the 1940s by investing more in R&D, while many others did not. Over time, the innovators dominated in developing new drugs, and the gap between innovators and imitators steadily increased. These findings also shed light on “the genesis of strategic groups,” a phenomenon that is not yet well understood.Keywords
This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit:
- Investment and Market DominanceThe RAND Journal of Economics, 2001
- Do strategic groups exist? an economic framework for analysisStrategic Management Journal, 1998
- Fortune Favors the Prepared FirmManagement Science, 1994
- Competitive advantages from in-house scientific research: The US pharmaceutical industry in the 1980sResearch Policy, 1992
- Strategic groups: Untested assertions and research proposalsManagerial and Decision Economics, 1990
- Strategic Groups in BankingThe Review of Economics and Statistics, 1988
- Performance differences among strategic group membersStrategic Management Journal, 1988
- Strategic Group Formation and Performance: The Case of the U.S. Pharmaceutical Industry, 1963–1982Management Science, 1987
- Econometric Models for Count Data with an Application to the Patents-R & D RelationshipEconometrica, 1984
- From Entry Barriers to Mobility Barriers: Conjectural Decisions and Contrived Deterrence to New Competition*The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 1977