Abstract
The innovation and development practices of the pharmaceutical industry are of great importance for the continual enhancement of public health. Industrial clusters are one of the important means by which the pharmaceutical industry can be transformed and developed, but there is a lack of research on the evolutionary path and development innovation of pharmaceutical industrial clusters. As a country with a major pharmaceutical industry, the transformation and development path of traditional pharmaceutical industrial clusters in China has important reference value for the sustainable development of the global pharmaceutical industry. Through an analysis of the evolution of traditional pharmaceutical industrial clusters in Shijiazhuang, this study explores the law of the dynamic evolution of pharmaceutical industrial clusters and the associated mechanisms. Specifically, we conclude that the evolutionary path of traditional pharmaceutical industrial clusters can be divided into the government-led pharmaceutical industrial cluster start-up stage, the government-guided pharmaceutical industrial cluster development stage, and the government-served pharmaceutical industrial cluster transformation stage. The operating mechanisms include a self-organization mechanism, an innovation-driven mechanism, and an outward associated mechanism, each of which plays different roles in the different stages of the dynamic evolution of the cluster, and the synergistic operation of the three mechanisms forms an important basis for the evolution of pharmaceutical industrial clusters. We found that the innovation development of traditional pharmaceutical industrial clusters is influenced by the synergy of the self-organization, innovation-driven, and outward associated mechanisms. The self-organization mechanism is a necessary condition for pharmaceutical industrial clusters to realize the transition from disorder to order. The innovation-driven mechanism is the core driving force for the innovative development of pharmaceutical industrial clusters. Finally, the outward associated mechanism is the main means by which pharmaceutical industrial clusters integrate into the global value chain.
Highlights
As a typical technology-intensive industry, the pharmaceutical industry is one of the fastest developing industries in the world
We mainly explore the mechanisms of development and innovation for traditional pharmaceutical industrial clusters, considering “how” and “why” questions, which are appropriate for case study methods
Through a case study of the pharmaceutical industry cluster in Shijiazhuang—which was transformed from a traditional industrial cluster into an innovative industrial cluster—we found that the government plays different roles in different stages of industrial cluster development
Summary
As a typical technology-intensive industry, the pharmaceutical industry is one of the fastest developing industries in the world. We rely on new technologies, industries, and models to replace the traditional business models based on resource consumption, and seek to replace old growth drivers with new ones In this process, the development of pharmaceutical industrial clusters has become an important link in the context of economic growth. Scholars have mainly analyzed the mechanism of innovation development of industrial clusters based on Porter’s diamond model, new industrial zone theory, and global value chain theory. Based on the diamond model, many factors affecting cluster development have been proposed, including human resources, trade costs and technological differences between industries, service level, and the strength of industry chain governance; it is believed that industry linkages and self-reinforcing mechanisms influence the innovative development of clusters [7]. Using a longitudinal case study, we analyze the internal logic of the evolution of the traditional medicine industry cluster to the innovation cluster, as well as the innovative development process of pharmaceutical industrial clusters, and explore the path and internal mechanism of pharmaceutical industrial cluster innovative development
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