Networks for Learning and Knowledge Creation in Biotechnology

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.

The biotechnology industry is based on a wide range of intra- and inter-organizational collaborations between the academic and private sectors. Amalya Lumerman Oliver provides a stimulating account of how multiple theoretical perspectives can be used to understand the structure of the industry.