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Diffusing knowledge-based core competencies for leveraging innovation strategies: modelling outsourcing to knowledge process organizations (KPOs) in pharmaceutical networks

journal contribution
posted on 2009-02-01, 00:00 authored by S Gupta, A Woodside, Chris DubelaarChris Dubelaar, D Bradmore
As pharmaceutical firms try to market their products and reduce costs, vertically integrated structures hamper innovation processes. Yet, pharmaceutical firms must innovate to compete. Outsourcing knowledge intensive activities to knowledge process organizations (KPOs) serves to reduce innovation process obstacles. Grounded in diffusion theory and strategic management literature, this conceptual paper explores four interrelated strategic concepts: core competencies, economies of scale and scope, knowledge sharing, and learning. This paper claims that (a) accumulated core competencies of multinational pharmaceutical companies (MPCs) erode over time and these companies become dependent on KPOs (b) MPCs must understand how KPOs manage core competencies (c) economies of scope benefit KPOs enabling them to sustain competitive advantages for their MPC partners, meanwhile the benefits from economies of both scale and scope shift from MPCs to KPOs (d) KPOs need to monitor their rate of learning to remain competitive. The paper identifies implications for industrial managers and directions for future research.

History

Journal

Industrial marketing management

Volume

38

Pagination

219-227

Location

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

ISSN

0019-8501

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal, C Journal article

Copyright notice

2009, Elsevier

Issue

2

Publisher

Elsevier