How do Business Networks Influence the Commercialisation of Innovative New Technologies? A Study of the Australian Biotechnology Sector A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Avni Misra B. (University of Rajasthan, India) MBM (RMIT University, Australia) School of Economics, Finance and Marketing College of Business RMIT University August 2018 Jai Baba Saccha Fakir Jai Baba Makhdum Declaration I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; and, ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed. I acknowledge the support I have received for my research through the provision of an Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. Avni Misra Date of Submission: August 2018 ii Acknowledgements From the outset, this research has been a joy and privilege, made possible by the generous help and support of countless people both at RMIT University and beyond.
First, I would like to thank the Almighty, my parents (Mr Jitendera Misra and Mrs Neelam Misra) and my special friends Baba (Mr Surinder Sharma) and Ms Bindu Ahuja for giving me their rock-solid support and blessings in every form to help me achieve my goals. Many people have supported and enriched my PhD journey, and this thesis is a result of the faith they showed in me and the support they provided during the ups and downs. From the beginning, my supervisors—Professor Mike Reid and Dr Marion Steel—have provided me with incredible support and guidance. I do not have enough words to thank you both for making this possible for me.
I can proudly say I had the best supervisory team at RMIT University. You have challenged my thinking collaboratively and constructively and have helped in shaping my career towards becoming an academic. I would also like to thank you both for being so patient and supportive during the hard times—you always encouraged me and motivated me to aim higher and see the light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you for sharing your personal and professional experiences to provide solutions for any issues that I faced during this journey.
In addition, I thank Professor Tim Fry and the RMIT School of Economics, Finance and Marketing for providing me with the financial support and facilities that made this journey possible, especially the support provided for conference-related travel and stay. The experiences were very inspiring. I have valued the wise counsel of many, including Associate Professor Angela Dobele, Professor Lisa Farrell, Kathleen Griffiths, Dr Bernardo Figueiredo, Dr Kieran Tierney, Jane Fry, Associate Professor Aston De Silva, Dr Sandy Fitzgerald and others at RMIT University. I am grateful for their time and generous advice to help me solve issues I was facing while writing my thesis.
They were also very motivational and provided me with encouragement, inspiration and whiskey and beer. One of the highlights of conducting this research was the opportunity to meet and work with many talented experts from the Australian biotechnology industry. Their generosity, iii kindness and time is highly appreciated. In particular, I thank Mr Glenn Cross, Ms Tanya Daw and Ms Jo Beamsley from AusBiotech.
There are also many who cannot be named in the thesis for the sake of confidentiality, but I am deeply indebted to them all for their contributions. My thesis would not have been possible without the support and humour that was generously contributed by my friends Manish, Anshuli, Karan, Alexander, Parineeta, Pooja, Claudia, Robyn, Saskia, Aman, Shekhar, Akash, Brijesh, Nupur, Sally, Jonathan, Alla, Walla and many more. You all know who you are and I thank you for your understanding while I have been absent. In addition, I thank Mohit and Anjali, members of my extended family, for constant support and inquiries about my progress and the encouragement to ‘get it done’—without which completing this thesis would not have been possible.
I would also like to thank the person who was there when I started but did not make it with me to the end of this journey. His contributions to support me at the beginning of this journey are appreciated. Lastly, I would like to thank Elite Editing for doing a great job in editing this thesis and editorial intervention was restricted to Standards D and E of the Australian Standards for Editing Practice iv To Mum, Dad and Baba. v Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction to Research .1 Context and Questions .3 Thesis Three-Paper Format.
19 Chapter 2: A Conceptual Model of the Required Network Effects for Commercialisation of new Biotechnology Innovations (Paper 1) .2 Theoretical Focus and Key Concepts .4 Analysis and Results .5 Conclusion and Implications. 55 Appendix A: Journal Articles Analysed For Content Analysis. 61 Business Articles for Content Analysis. 69 Appendix B: Percentage distribution of selected articles.
70 Chapter 3: Network-Based Barriers and Promoters from Biotechnology Labs to Australian Markets (Paper 2). 122 Chapter 4: Ecosystem Mechanics and Their Effects on the Process of Biotechnology Commercialisation (Paper 3) .3 Development of the Conceptual Framework .7 Conclusions and Implications. 163 Chapter 5: Discussion and Conclusion.1 Purpose of the Study .3 Implications for Industry. 234 Interview Instrument for Biotechnology Industry Experts.
235 Interview Instrument for Venture Capitalists. 237 Letter of ethics approval for this research. 237 vii List of Figures Figure 1: Figure of Inductive Content Analysis. 38 Figure 3: Biotechnology Commercialisation Process.
42 Figure 3: Conceptual model showing different network effects on the biotechnology commercialisation process. 51 Figure 4: Conceptual model showing different network effects on the biotechnology commercialisation process. 78 Figure 5: Revised framework showing network barriers and promoters during different stages of the biotechnology commercialisation process. 110 Figure 6: Preliminary framework showing the effects of network dynamics on the process of biotechnology commercialisation.
129 Figure 7: Revised framework showing the interactions related to the effects of network dynamics. 160 viii List of Tables Table 1: Effect of ARA Network Components on the Innovation Process. 28 Table 2: Effect of ARA Network Components on the Commercialisation Process. 31 Table 3: Network Effects and its Components.
40 Table 4: The Phases and Stages of Biotechnology Commercialisation Process. 43 Table 5: Types of Network Influences. 46 Table 6: Types of Network Outcomes. 47 Table 7: List of Participant Profiles.
85 Table 8: The Codes and Frequency of Key Codes from the Data. 89 Table 9: Respondent Profiles Showing Differences in Motivation. 97 Table 10: Characteristics of Rigid and Fluid Structures. 135 Table 11: Overview of Interview Participant Profiles.
144 Table 12: Outcomes of Thematic Analysis of the Interview Data. 148 Table 13: Showing Theoretical Contributions for Study 1. 172 Table 14: Showing Theoretical Contributions of Study. 175 Table 15: Showing Theoretical Contributions of Study 3.
179 ix List of Abbreviations ARA Actor-Resource-Activity BCP Biotechnology commercialisation process DCO Definite Commercial Outcome ECO Expected Commercial Outcome IPRs Intellectual Property Rights MNC Multi-national Companies PPP Public–Private Partnership TCO Technology Commercialisation Office TTO Technology Transfer Office VC Venture Capitalist x Thesis-Related Conference Presentations Misra, A. A conceptual model of the required network effects for commercialization of highly innovative technologies. Paper presented at the 2015 ANZMAC Conference: Innovation and Growth Strategies in Marketing Info, Sydney, NSW. Speed bumps on the road from biotech labs to market: An investigation of biotechnology networks in Australia.
2016 Innovation and Product Development Management Conference, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom., (2018), Ecosystem Mechanics and Their Effects on the Process of Biotechnology Commercialisation. Paper Accepted for Paper presented at the 2018 ANZMAC Conference: CONNECT. University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA. xi Abstract The commercialisation of Biotechnology is the process of taking innovations to market through different pathways.
There is strong involvement by business networks that play a key role during the process of biotechnology innovation and commercialisation. Theoretical developments in the network-based commercialisation management literature have challenged our understandings of the effects of network interactions during the process of technology commercialisation. This study focuses on exploring the effects of networks on the process of commercialisation in the biotechnology industry. The biotechnology industry itself has a specific position in the industrial markets because of its capability of successfully employing network knowledge to innovate products and services.
However, the industry struggles to implement the resource networks to take innovations to market. Despite a significant body of available research regarding the role of networks in innovation and commercialisation processes, there is still a need to understand more about how networks influence the biotechnology commercialisation process. It is shown through the literature and through industry publications that managers still lack important empirical insights regarding network-based interactions that would assist them in designing strategies and roadmaps for the commercial success of biotechnology innovations. Thus, the overarching questions guiding this research are: 1.
How do networks influence the commercialisation of new biotechnologies? 2. How does network configuration inhibit or promote the biotechnology commercialisation process? 3. How do the networks dynamic interactions affect the process of biotechnology commercialisation? The thesis adopts a qualitative approach and a three-paper structure to help answer the questions. The structure of this thesis has been adapted to fulfill RMIT University’s thesis publication criterion that allows a thesis to be written in a three-paper format.
RMIT states that the eligibility for submission does not demand the three papers to be submitted or published. An ethics approval was received by RMIT University before this study was persued. 1 In the first paper, the network-based commercialisation process is conceptualised as the process of taking innovation through to different commercial outcomes under the influence of the different types of network effects. A content analysis approach has been adopted for this study.
This provides theoretical clarity on the units of analysis regarding the network actors, resources, activities, types of network influences and outcomes, and links with the stages of the commercialisation process. In the second paper, the aim is to understand the dual nature of networks and how it affects the stages of the biotechnology commercialisation process. Eight types of network-based barriers and eight types of network-based promoters have been identified that affect the different stages of the commercialisation process. A qualitative approach was adopted for this study, with 30 semi-structured in-depth interviews with experts in the field of biotechnology.
The findings will help managers and researchers in developing strict selection criteria for taking network-based decisions and assist in designing strategies to overcome barriers that inhibit the progression of the process. In the third paper, the aim is to identify the mechanics of interactions within a network ecosystem that generate the dynamics around the process of biotechnology commercialisation. Thirty network-based interactions were identified, which were further grouped under four key network-based influences (network movements, structure, relationships and acuity). A qualitative approach with 30 semi-structured interviews with biotechnology experts was adopted for this study.
The 30 semi-structured interviews were the same as study 2 however; the interviews were re-analysed with a different perspective to understand the underlying dynamic network interactions. The findings suggest that these influences generate dynamics around the biotechnology commercialisation process that may affect the process positively or negatively at different stages. This will assist the managers mapping resource development pathways and relationship development techniques. The findings from this research, undertaken in the context of the Australian biotechnology industry, provide empirical evidence for how different network components within a commercialisation ecosystem influence the stages of the commercialisation process.
Overall, the findings show how biotechnology innovation organisations can implement network knowledge to improve the process for successful commercialisation of innovations. 2 Chapter 1: Introduction to Research 1.1 Context and Questions 1.