nep-ppm New Economics Papers
on Project, Program and Portfolio Management
Issue of 2010‒07‒31
four papers chosen by
Arvi Kuura
Parnu College - Tartu University

  1. Success in Pharmaceutical Research: The Changing Role of Scale and Scope Economies, Spillovers and Competition By Tatiana Plotnikova
  2. Productivity and Heterogeneous Knowledge: Exploring the Relationship in a Sample of Drug Developers By Giulio Bottazzi; Tatiana Plotnikova
  3. The importance of Intermediaries organizations in international R&D cooperation: an empirical multivariate study across Europe By Aurora A.C. Teixeira; Margarida Catarino
  4. Bundling development services with agricultural finance By Campaigne, Jonathan; Rausch, Tom

  1. By: Tatiana Plotnikova (DFG Research Training Program "The Economics of Innovative Change", Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany)
    Abstract: This paper investigates the determinants of success in the development of new drugs. In specific, it explores the factors of success in drug development programs at different stages of innovation process. We use economies of scale, scope, R&D competition and technological spillovers as explanatory variables and test whether the effect of these variables on the success of a project differs in relation to the discovery and development stages of innovation, respectively. Our main finding is that spillovers, including spillovers from collaboration, are important in explaining the success of projects during the discovery stage of innovation, while in the later development stage, the effects of competition outweigh any benefits from spillovers.
    Keywords: economies of scale and scope, spillovers, competition, R&D, innovation process
    JEL: O32 L25 L65
    Date: 2010–07–26
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2010-045&r=ppm
  2. By: Giulio Bottazzi (Sant'Anna School for Advanced Studies, Pisa); Tatiana Plotnikova (DFG Research Training Program "The Economics of Innovative Change", Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany)
    Abstract: This paper aims to investigate the effect of knowledge characteristics on the total factor productivity of firms developing drugs in the pharmaceutical industry. We decompose knowledge into knowledge associated with the technological firm portfolio and knowledge related to R&D projects, which represent drug development at the clinical testing stage. The latter is attributed to the knowledge of relevant markets where the drugs will be sold. The results show that the effect of technological coherence vs. market coherence and of accumulated knowledge on the productivity of firms differs. Productivity increases with the number of patents and decreases with the patent diversity and project portfolio coherence. When considering only the project knowledge, the diversity of the project portfolio positively affects productivity.
    Keywords: total factor productivity, diversity,,coherence, knowledge
    JEL: D24 O32 L25 L65
    Date: 2010–07–26
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2010-044&r=ppm
  3. By: Aurora A.C. Teixeira (CEF.UP, Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto; INESC Porto; OBEGEF); Margarida Catarino (IAPMEI; Faculdade de Economia, Universidade do Porto)
    Abstract: Despite the large number of publications related to business cooperation in R&D and the wide perception of the importance of intermediary institutions in the R&D cooperation process, empirical studies on its role are scarce, scattered and fragmented. Moreover, the academic work developed in this area is basically of a theoretical nature, whereas the international perspective of R&D cooperation is seldom approached. Departing from a unique database that includes 473 R&D cooperation projects developed within the 6th Framework Programme, involving firms and intermediaries from all European Union countries, this paper gauges the determinants of the importance attached to Intermediaries, through a direct survey to the organizations involved. Based on an estimation of the multivariate model, this study demonstrates that the importance given to Intermediaries depends more on project features than on the characteristics of the participating organizations. In particular, the nationality of participating organizations and the promoter emerged with a strong explanatory power: ceteris paribus, projects with at least one participant from the United Kingdom tend to assign greater importance to intermediaries in international R&D cooperation. Unambiguously, results evidence that the innovating capacity of an organization emerges (both positively and significantly) associated with a greater importance attached to Intermediaries.
    Keywords: R&D Cooperation; Intermediaries; International projects; Europe
    Date: 2010–07
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:por:fepwps:385&r=ppm
  4. By: Campaigne, Jonathan; Rausch, Tom
    Abstract: Agriculture is the largest economic sector in most African countries and remains the best opportunity for economic growth and poverty alleviation on the continent. Yet, sadly, the sector has been in decline over the past 40 years, and poor farmers have largely remained poor. This failure is due to many factors, including collapsed agricultural development banks, corruption, inadequate infrastructure, and poor soils and seeds. It has also occurred because smallholder farmers lack access to critical information, market facilitation, and financial intermediation services. This brief reviews the DrumNet Project and its approach to improving farmers’ access to finance in Kenya. The project has found that financing small-scale farmers is challenging given the cost and risk associated with serving rural, relatively isolated clients. Lending becomes increasingly feasible, however, in a supply-chain approach in which farmers are connected to a formal network of buyers, retailers, and financiers.
    Keywords: agriculture finance, DrumNet, economic growth, Poverty reduction, Small-scale farmers, Supply chain management,
    Date: 2010
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:2020br:18(14)&r=ppm

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