Determinants of Internationalization as Levers for Sustainability: A Study of the Portuguese Pharmaceutical Sector

Jorge Vieira,Domingos Martinho,Raquel Ascenso,Rui Frade,Filipa Martinho

doi:10.3390/su13179792

Jorge Vieira, Domingos Martinho + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179792

Copy DOI

Abstract

The pharmaceutical industry is facing the pressure of a global economy, loss of value in local markets and the highly intense innovation that characterizes this sector. This has a heavy impact, particularly in smaller economies. With this investigation, we intend to identify the determinants of internationalization as levers for sustainability in the pharmaceutical export sector of a small economy. Data was collected from a sample representing 63% of the total universe, Portuguese pharmaceutical organizations with exporting activity. A contextualization of the sector and a bibliographic review were previously carried out, which laid the groundwork for the empirical framework. This study revealed a deeply internationalized sector conditioned by a few shortcomings, namely a certain lack of sustainable competitive advantages, relatively low investment in research and development (R&D), insufficient innovation in internationalization strategies as well as scarce institutional support. Our findings may help pave the way for a more complete understanding of the dynamics of internationalization in highly competitive sectors.

Highlights

This was complemented by a burst in generic medicines sales across the global market, setting the stage for the development of companies with local or regional dimension that rapidly adapted their activities to the manufacture and commercialization of this type of products
The Portuguese pharmaceutical export sector is composed of companies with a significant annual turnover, number of employees and international experience
We have shown that these companies have significantly larger perception of competitive advantages (CA) and higher revenues, confirming what was stated in the literature review [40,48]

Summary

Introduction

In the last twenty-five years, the majority of blockbuster medicines that supported the sustainability of Big Pharma, saw a drastic decrease in sales volume as a direct consequence of expiring patents. This was complemented by a burst in generic medicines sales across the global market, setting the stage for the development of companies with local or regional dimension that rapidly adapted their activities to the manufacture and commercialization of this type of products. In the last twenty-five years, research and development (R&D) costs have tripled in Europe [1,5]

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion