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The Decline of Innovation in the Antibiotics Industry and the Global Threat of Antibiotic Resistance: When Entrepreneurial Efforts are Not Enough

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Entrepreneurship and the Industry Life Cycle

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Abstract

In this chapter we intend to analyze the worrisome case of the antibiotics industry, as the number of active firms, innovation output and profitability has constantly declined in the last years. With a focus on factors influencing the Entrepreneurial Orientation of firms in this industry, we analyze a number of challenges and environmental contingencies unique to antibiotic innovation and entrepreneurial activity, and discuss currently debated public policy interventions intended to reinvigorate the industry. In doing so we discuss the possibility of enhancing entrepreneurial orientation by acting on the performance side through targeted public interventions such as research grants and market entry rewards. This chapter contributes to innovation and entrepreneurship literature by presenting a unique case of a declining industry, the antibiotics field, which requires public intervention to revive and meet global societal needs to face the threat of antibiotic resistance. This industry-based case analysis presents a number of interesting implications for theory on Entrepreneurial Orientation that also allows the outlining of several avenues for future research.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Methodological note: The analysis of the antibiotics industry in this chapter is based on data collected within a larger research project in which multiple data collection methods were applied. A separate literature review of challenges facing innovation in the antibiotic industry was conducted. A focus group of experts from both academia, public health, and the pharmaceutical industry reviewed the final list of challenges. When initially analyzing the collected data we focused on facts and specific statements rather than on opinions (Eisenhardt 1989; Eisenhardt and Graebner 2007) and in our initial analysis of these challenges we did no additional interpretation of beyond that already present in the data. Our data collection efforts resulted in an exhaustive document outlining the known challenges to innovation in antibiotics. However, for the purpose of the analysis performed in this book chapter, only a subset of such challenges was used. These challenges were those most closely pertaining to the business of antibiotics, i.e., to sales market growth, competition, and innovation. These challenges are presented in the coming section in their original format to facilitate the later analysis using the entrepreneurial orientation framework.

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Acknowledgments

The authors have received support for part of the research developed and presented in this chapter from the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking under grant agreement n°115618 [Driving re-investment in R&D and responsible antibiotic use—DRIVE-AB—www.drive-ab.eu]. This grant is composed of financial contribution from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013) and EFPIA companies’ in kind contribution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Studies, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Francesco Ciabuschi & Olof Lindahl

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  1. Francesco Ciabuschi
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Correspondence to Francesco Ciabuschi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Administration, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Serena Cubico

  2. Department of Business Administration, University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Giuseppe Favretto

  3. Department of Management and Economics, University of Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal

    João Leitão

  4. Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany

    Uwe Cantner

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Ciabuschi, F., Lindahl, O. (2018). The Decline of Innovation in the Antibiotics Industry and the Global Threat of Antibiotic Resistance: When Entrepreneurial Efforts are Not Enough. In: Cubico, S., Favretto, G., Leitão, J., Cantner, U. (eds) Entrepreneurship and the Industry Life Cycle. Studies on Entrepreneurship, Structural Change and Industrial Dynamics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89336-5_9

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