Entrepreneurship and global health: activating the ecosystem and preventing disease

Abstract

What kind of business models can be used to provide affordable healthcare on a viable basis? This paper points to new business models that attract participants in a value chain for innovation. Public-private partnerships can help to activate a supportive ecosystem and draw in participants to contribute to the innovation value chain. There are few economic incentives stimulating R&D for diseases of poverty. But policies with global reach have created new sources of financing to accelerate healthcare innovation in resource-poor settings. Combining resource-based theory of the firm with ecosystem analysis, we extend entrepreneurship theory beyond conventional applications and point to new business models to achieve global health objectives. We use case study evidence from the Meningitis Vaccine Project to show how entrepreneurial innovation can build resources and create value in the healthcare ecosystem.