The Key Factors for Survival of Biotechnology Companies. in Emerging Markets

Transcription

1 The Key Factors for Survival of Biotechnology Companies in Emerging Markets Pei-Ju Liao, Graduate Institute of Business Management, Chang Gung University Hsiao-Yuen Lin, Graduate Institute of Business Management, Chang Gung University Professor Kuang-Hung Hsu, Laboratory for Epidemiology, Department of Health Care Management, Chang Gung University Abstract Being in an emerging market biotechnology industry is listed as the first priority of future economic development in Taiwan. Owing to the exclusive features of biotechnology industry, the successful experience from electronic industry is not possible to duplicate as to ensure its prospectus. Findings have demonstrated that while many start-up companies were registered, terminated cases were more frequently occurred. The issue of how such biotech companies could not survive longer deserves further investigations. The development of Taiwan biotech industry was found to be far behind expectation by the public. Therefore, the objective of this study is set to provide analysis on factors related to survivorship of biotech companies for future strategic management by business managers and policy makers. The research design was based on retrospective case-control study, which collected information from 9 terminated biotechnology companies and 22 respective control biotechnology companies with both questionnaires and qualitative interviews. Secondary data were extracted from the open source database of department of economics in Taiwan, including age, size, locations, market share, investors, and corporate operational characteristics. Primary data were collected from questionnaire and interviews, including human resources, products and marketing, R&D, intellectual property, financial status, network, and externality of the firm. Cox proportional hazard model was applied to compare the characteristics between cases and controls. This study has demonstrated that market orientation and financial status were two critical dimensions for companies to survive longer. Suggestions were made from data analyses as follows. Firstly, pre-planned strategy and product portfolios at the beginning of start-up were important for such companies to sustain longer. Secondly, target markets were crucial for company s survival in which European and American continents were most favorable for successfulness. Thirdly, the introduction of new fund into the next development stages was a leading indicator for company to carry on in the next two years. Finally, recruiting managers who posted backgrounds from related professional fields and over six-year experiences of business management will help to ensure the fulfillment of milestone goal and company s mission. In addition to findings from quantitative analysis, several features were indentified from qualitative interviews to facilitate a biotech company s sustainability. Expectations of investors, corporate finance, management sense of CEO, competitive advantage of core technology, and adaptation to policy/regulations were also found to be crucial for biotech companies to keep going. The primary contributions of this study were classified into three parts: 1) providing criteria for corporate diagnosis of companies in emerging markets such as biotechnology industry; 2) offering guideline of strategic management for managers; 3) presenting principle for investors and technology holders to evaluate further collaborative actions. Keywords: Biotechnology Industry, Strategic Management, Survival, Key Factors, Emerging Market 1

2 Introduction According to previous researches, features of biotech industry compared to computer, software, and semiconduct industries are as followings: Similarities: 1) intensive technology & knowledge requirement; 2) R&D orientation; 3) internationalized products. Differences: 1) in premature stage; 2) strictly regulatory control in production processes and products; 3) long-term & continual investment; 4) taking long time to commercialization; 5) small market demand so far. Although biotech industry shares some common features with other high-tech industries, this industry has more different features among them. Therefore, further analysis is necessary for academic and practice societies to better under biotech industry. For decades, Taiwan government continued prioritizing biotech industry as the focus industry to develop, the current development status of biotech industry in Taiwan are as followings: 1. Most biotech companies are SMEs and in the early stage of development 2. Few products on markets, 3. Poor financial performance, 4. Limited capital s and capabilities, 5. Small local market, 6. Immature regulatory system, 7. Lack of success stories. In addition, the composition of Taiwan biotech industry in 2008 is showed as the figure 1. Figure 1. The composition of Taiwan biotech industry in

3 Regarding to the growth of emerging biotech industry in Taiwan, since the first biotech company set up on 1984, but until 1996, the biotech industry started to rapidly grow up. However, the growing trend slowed down since 2003.(Figure 2.) The growth and decline trends of Taiwan biotech companies (Figure 3.) reminded us to consider: 1. What difficulties does Taiwan biotechnology industry face? 2. What contributes to biotech companies going out of business? Figure 2. The growth trends of sales and number of firms of emerging biotech industry Figure 3. The growth and decline trends of Taiwan biotech companies 3

4 To clarify these questions, one of the aims of this study was to explore characteristics which threaten the survival of biotech companies in emerging market. The other was to provide authorities in concern strategic suggestions to cultivate biotech industry based on study findings. And the study research framework and the processes were outlined in the figure 4 and figure 5. Figure 4. Research framework Figure 5. Research Processes 4

5 Material and methods Questionnaire development Standard procedures were followed to develop the questionnaire, including: 1) Literature review and item generation 2) Expert content validation 3) Pretest and item modification The contents of final questionnaire included company basic information and operation situation. Structured questions and perceived importance of selective factors in business sustainment (with 7 point Likert scale) were utilized. The information gathered in this questionnaire included a) human resource; b) product marketing; c) technology and R&D; d) intellectual property; e) finance; f) networks; g) external environment. Research method The study is a retrospective case-control study. The structured questionnaire and in-depth interview were used. The research sample and research target were emerging biotechnology companies in Taiwan. The sample list were obtained from 1) Taiwan Biotech Industry Directory 2006; 2) Taiwan Biotechnology Industry Directory 2006 & 2007; 3)Taiwan Biotechnology Industry Year Book (all editions prior to 2006); 4)Biopharmaceutical Industry Year Book (all editions prior to 2006). The criteria of sample selection was based on the following prerequisites: 1) Emerging biotech firms with Taiwan nationality 2) A company which has removed its register in Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs, or had no tax payment records in Taiwan Ministry of Finance before July ) Companies do not have office or hardware equipment 4) There is no person in charge or only/under one employee in companies 5) No R&D activities, product selling, or running projects 6) Employees have no residences in Taiwan 7) Employees, superintendents, and stockholders have been replaced. As to the control group, companies which have registered in Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs and had tax payment records in Taiwan Ministry of Finance before July 2008 were qualified as control group. 5

6 Analysis methods The study utilized both quantitative analysis and qualitative in-depth interview. The methods used in quantitative analysis included: 1) Chi-square test or Fisher s exact test 2) Two sample t test or Mann-Whitney U test 3) Cox regression analysis (survival analysis) Results The basic information of case and control groups was showed in table 1. Table 1. Basic information about study samples 6

7 Survival analysis 1. Survival analysis- Products on market 2. Survival analysis- SEO 7

8 3. Survival analysis- Market orientation 4. Survival analysis- Professional seniority 8

9 5. Multiple survival regression: factors affecting the sustainment of biotech companies 6. Qualitative Results derived from in-depth interview The contributive factors of business termination were inducted as followed. 9

10 Discussion Integrating the qualitative and quantitative results, market, financial control, experience, and products were proposed as key factors affecting sustainment of biotech companies in emerging markets. 1. Market Compared to firms with foreign market orientation, local-market-oriented firms showed 6 folds of risk in business termination. Since demands in Taiwan are limited, and hence expanding to foreign markets is necessary. Further, international strategic alliances might be a means to increase foreign demand. 2. Financial control Executives with technology background are enthusiastic with R&D, and do not pay much attention to investment control, including research projects, human resource cost, and etc. However, the amount of capital is not determined factor in business termination. Inappropriate operation practice and resource allocation, and no constant income are the very factors. 3. Experience Executives management experience matters. Hence, recruiting a CEO who has better understanding the biotech industrial environment would help to operate biotech companies more efficiently and effectively. The higher the R&D personnel seniority, the earlier the project accomplishments. 4. Product Companies which have single product on market is risky to survive in rapidly changing environment. Therefore, constructing a multi-product development platform, and accelerating commercialization process are critical points. Practice suggestions 1. Global market expansion. 2. Improving financial and R&D schedule control. 3. Hiring personnel who are experienced at biotech industries and management affairs. To obtain constant income through product sales, setting a multi-product development portfolio is necessary. 10

11 Research limitation Because of the nature of a retrospective research, memory bias may existed in this study. Moreover, small sample might reduce the effectiveness of statistical testing results. The factors to sustain in emerging markets were inducted from different sub-industries, but different characteristics of sub-industries might raise result bias. Finally, the generality problem due to insufficient sampling representiveness. 11