Influence of government R&D support and inter-firm collaborations on innovation in Korean biotechnology SMEs

The Role of Venture Capital on Innovation in the Korean Biotechnology Industry

“…Porter's concept of a value chain was based on "the process view of organizations, the idea of seeing a manufacturing or service organization as a system," comprising "subsystems each with inputs, transformation processes and outputs"; a product passes through all activities of the chain in order and gains some value at each activity [8]- [10]. In the VIS framework, firms are divided into upstream and downstream companies [1], [10].…”

“…The biotechnology industry can use VIS analysis because biotech industries are "comprised of a value chain of highly interrelated but distinguishable activities" including R&D, clinical trials, evaluation, manufacturing and sales [1], [10].…”

“…universities) and downstream partners (e.g. established enterprises), taking on "a dual role of knowledge transformation and commercialization" [1], [10]- [16]. Firms receiving venture capital are able to tap into their investors contacts, benefitting from a larger network of potential new customers (e.g.…”

“…The primary source of the study data was the firm survey conducted in January and February of 2009 [1]. In the survey, we collected the 3-year data from 2005 through 2007 except for information about patent application that was collected from the Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service [1].…”

“…The biotechnology industry is one of the most important industries in a knowledge-based economy, whose development is important for national competitive advantage [1]. The development of the biotechnology sector is based on the emergence of a large number of small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).…”