The Importance of Innovation R&D Alliances and Evaluation of the Structure and Nature of the Alliance Relationship: A Case Study Approach Using the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry

ABSTRACT With the execution of the strengthening IPR and patents act there has been an increased awareness within the pharmaceutical industry throughout the world on the use of inter-firm relationships or strategic alliances in order to gain consumer value. Despite the amount of research done on alliances globally, there is still a lot to learn about why alliances are formed and what is the structure and nature of these alliances, especially in the developing nations. Based upon a case-study approach this research argues that the formation of strategic alliances in the Indian life-science industry occurs due to the incumbent firms seeking to fill their drug pipelines through innovative ideas of others, in order to explore new market opportunities under conditions of increased uncertainty and competition. By collaborating with each other firms merge their complementary assets to cover their weaknesses and at the same time combine their strengths. This research points out as to how the resource dependent innovative firms collaborate with the commercially settled incumbent firms and form alliances having a typical structure and relationship characteristics