2013 Volume 22 Pages 75-89
This study mainly discusses factors that cause small and medium-sized firms to join collaborative efforts between medical professionals and industry in Japan, and our research question is, “What kind of small and medium-sized firms participate in collaborative efforts?” The research framework of this study includes quantitative and qualitative approaches. For the quantitative approach, we conducted a quantitative analysis based on an original questionnaire. As a result, we found that firms that tend to join the collaborative efforts between medical professionals and industry are younger and smaller in terms of numbers of employees, and have much experience collaborating with other firms. However, our findings cannot be sufficiently explained by the resource based view theory. In the qualitative approach, we conducted interviews with some of the firms that replied to the questionnaire in order to explore intrinsic factors. As the result, we found out that small and medium-sized firms joining collaborative efforts between medical professionals and industry have an entrepreneurial orientation. Our findings suggest that firms should try aggressively to join collaborative efforts without worrying about one's own lack of capabilities and the negative image of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law.
