Abstract
The paper examines the multiple sources of impediments to the adoption, diffusion and sedimentation of the global standard practices within pharmaceutical firms in Japan and Europe. Various factors were examined as potential sources of impediments: cognitive barriers, political barriers, institutional barriers, along with such factors as causal ambiguity, the lack of absorptive/retentive capacity, and the lack of relationship.
My empirical study of 85 Japanese and European pharmaceutical firms revealed the following trends: (1) Impediments to the adoption of the practicestend to arise from the cognitive barrier; (2) Impediments to the diffusion of the practices tend to arise from the political barrier; (3) Impediments to the sedimentation of the practices tend to arise from the institutional barrier; (4) Causal ambiguity inherent in the practices tends to impede its adoption; (5) The lack of absorptive/retentive capacity on the part of the recipient units tends to impede the diffusion of the practices; (6) The lack of absorptive/retentive capacity on the part of the recipient units also tends to impede the sedimentation of the practices; (7) The impediments to the adoption, diffusion and sedimentation of the practices seem to be more salient among the Japanese. pharmaceutical firms than their European counterparts; and (8) The impediments to the adoption, diffusion and sedimentation of the GCP-related practices are not necessarily more salient than those of other practices.
