TY - JOUR
T1 - Brokering knowledge in networks
T2 - Institutional intermediaries in the Taiwanese biopharmaceutical innovation system
AU - Chen, Shih-Hsin
AU - Egbetokun, Abiodun A.
AU - Chen, Duen Kai
PY - 2015/1/1
Y1 - 2015/1/1
N2 - The literature maintains that in the development models of the Asian tigers in the 1980s, policy-induced intermediaries played the key mediating roles in acquiring technology from abroad to enhance local capabilities. In this paper, we examined how the intermediaries fare in terms of their expected brokerage roles in the context of the Taiwanese biopharmaceutical sector. By applying social network methods to data on this specific sub-sector, we demonstrate that the intermediary organisations under-performed in terms of brokering the transfer and diffusion of foreign technologies. Two factors underlie this result: intermediaries need to possess sufficient capabilities to be able to drive the strategy of stimulating a science-intensive sector through foreign technology, and intermediaries alone are not sufficient for the success of this strategy. We conclude that, instead of heavily relying on intermediaries to act as brokers, enabling research organisations and firms to play more effective brokerage roles may be a more successful strategy to develop a science-intensive sector such as biopharmaceuticals.
AB - The literature maintains that in the development models of the Asian tigers in the 1980s, policy-induced intermediaries played the key mediating roles in acquiring technology from abroad to enhance local capabilities. In this paper, we examined how the intermediaries fare in terms of their expected brokerage roles in the context of the Taiwanese biopharmaceutical sector. By applying social network methods to data on this specific sub-sector, we demonstrate that the intermediary organisations under-performed in terms of brokering the transfer and diffusion of foreign technologies. Two factors underlie this result: intermediaries need to possess sufficient capabilities to be able to drive the strategy of stimulating a science-intensive sector through foreign technology, and intermediaries alone are not sufficient for the success of this strategy. We conclude that, instead of heavily relying on intermediaries to act as brokers, enabling research organisations and firms to play more effective brokerage roles may be a more successful strategy to develop a science-intensive sector such as biopharmaceuticals.
KW - Biopharmaceutical industry
KW - Brokerage
KW - Intermediaries
KW - Social network analysis
KW - Systems of innovation
KW - Taiwan
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84947444924&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1504/IJTM.2015.072978
DO - 10.1504/IJTM.2015.072978
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84947444924
VL - 69
SP - 189
EP - 209
JO - International Journal of Technology Management
JF - International Journal of Technology Management
SN - 0267-5730
IS - 3-4
ER -