Networks for Learning and Knowledge Creation in Biotechnology

A stimulating account of how multiple theoretical perspectives can be used to understand the structure of the biotechnology industry.

Amalya Lumerman Oliver (Author)

9780521872485, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 February 2009

272 pages
23.4 x 15.7 x 1.9 cm, 0.57 kg

Review of the hardback: 'This is a progress-assessing and agenda-creating book in a number of respects. It bolsters the case for the importance of university research, especially of the top scientists, in stimulating and providing the knowledge base for commercial application of biotechnology and other new breakthrough technologies. Clearly, this is a book that will be appreciated by all working in the area of new technologies for its value in setting a clear agenda for the field and in providing tools that advanced students need to understand the development of new areas in science, technology, and industry.' Lynne G. Zucker, Professor of Sociology and Public Policy, UCLA

Scientists in the biotechnology sector have developed a vast array of products and procedures, including drugs, diagnostics, agricultural products and veterinary procedures. This is made possible through various intra- and inter-organizational collaborations between the academic and private sectors, and through the establishment of networks for learning. In Networks for Learning and Knowledge Creation in Biotechnology, Amalya Lumerman Oliver shows how, in many respects, the organizational structure of the industry parallels one of its most important innovations – recombinant DNA (rDNA). She shows how the concept of recombination can be used to explain a number of organizational elements, including biotechnology firms, the form of university-based spin-offs, scientific entrepreneurship, and trust and contracts in learning collaborations and networks. The result is a stimulating account of how multiple theoretical perspectives can be used to understand the structure of the biotechnology industry.

List of figures
List of tables
Acknowledgements
1. Networks, collaborations and learning and knowledge creation
2. The biotechnology industry through the lenses of organizational and networks scholarship
3. New organizational forms for knowledge creation in biotechnology
4. Scientific entrepreneurship
5. Science and discoveries in the context of private and public knowledge creation and learning (with Julia Porter Liebeskind)
6. In search for university-industry collaborations: linear and chaotic networking processes
7. Trust in collaborations and the social structure of academic research
8. Organizational learning and strategic alliances: recombination and duality of competition and collaboration
9. Further directions for understanding interorganizational collaborations and learning
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Biotechnology industries [KNDH1], Organizational theory & behaviour [KJU], Research & development management [KJMV6]