REVIEW ARTICLE An international political economic view of the biotechnology industry

This paper uses a model developed from the international political economy (IPE) school, to address the structure of the biotechnology industry. In particular, by focusing upon four primary structural elements of the industry, knowledge, production, finance and security with key secondary considerations of biosafety, public opinion and choice of intellectual property regime, the development of biotechnology companies from developed countries fits within a triad dominated industry with specific interests towards firms from developing countries. The activities of a sample of US National Association of securities Dealers Stock Market (NASDAQ) quoted biotechnology firms are investigated to support the model which concludes by the observation of the need to include both strategic and traditionally non strategic interests when reviewing policy formulation and objectives for firms in the biotechnology industry. A cursory reading of the public press on the biotechnology industry, presents a dichotomous image. On the one hand, there are claims of unprecedented potential for growth, technological competitiveness and economic wealth to be gained from an active pursuit and investment in these areas (FCCSET, 1992; DR Report, 1996; Kyriakou and Gilson, 1998; DTI, 1999), whilst turning the page we are reminded of continuing major structural problems and ongoing difficulties in the sector (DR Report, 1997; Berliner, 1999; LaFee, 1999; Newsedge, 1999a) combined with public perceptional and biosafety concerns (Assouline, 1996