Catching-Up Pattern Among Countries in Science-Based Industries: A Case Study in Pharmaceutical Industry

Abstract

The existence of catching-up countries is an ever-lasting phenomenon in history. It is also a popular topic that the academy is studying on. This paper studied catching-up cases among countries in the pharmaceutical industry. We initially proved “the catching-up pattern” in science-based industries by analyzing the similarities in successful cases and differences between successful and unsuccessful ones. We found that the catching-up pattern in science-based industries is quite different from technology-based industries, because the former relies on the interaction between industry and the corresponding science field. In science-based industries, manufacturing capacity can hardly transform into product innovation capacity, for product innovation relies heavily on new scientific findings. Catching-up in such industries requires catching-up in knowledge creation. The paper tries to give some insights into government’s science and technology policies and national economy developing strategies.