Firm-level capabilities technological

Pharmaceutical manufacturers face constant competitive and regulatory pressure to upgrade their technological capabilities, and the evolutionary framework of analysis emphasizes the extent to which this upgrading relies on both firm-level investment building on existing capabilities, and also on the benefits that accrue from its surrounding industrial base. Chapter 1 briefly noted that African countries broader... 

Table 15.2 Finance capabilities required by financial institutions, mapped using ball s (1992) firm-level technological capability framework... 

As collaboration succeeds and technology is used as a key improvement tool, the linked firms move into an industry leadership position where a value chain constellation begins to form. This entity is a set of firms cooperating as an extended enterprise to dominate a particular market or industry by virtue of having the delivery system of choice in the eyes of the desired business customer. Now the firm is part of a constellation of companies that represent the end-to-end value chain, with all of its complexities understood and under an overall improvement effort. Firms in this level look seriously at supply chain outsourcing to find the most capable constituent for process steps. E-procurement systems are in place and supporting Internet communication systems link the partners. 

The features of the local production of medicines are shaped by the characteristics of the Kenyan economic and industrial systems, which in turn are the product of its economic history. To analyse this shaping, this chapter briefly presents and then applies an evolutionary economic understanding of industrial capabilities, focusing particularly on technological capabilities at the firm and industrial system level, their sources and evolution. This framework of industrial analysis is also used in a number of subsequent chapters in this book. It is particularly illuminating for the analysis of the development of an industry, pharmaceuticals, that is technologically demanding relative to the industrial and economic context in a low-income country such as Kenya. 

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