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Pioneers and Challengers in the Global Plasma Protein Industry, 1915-2015
Pioniere und Herausforderer in der globalen Plasma Protein Industrie, 1915-2015
[journal article]
Abstract Entrepreneurship in the science-based industries is often the result of collective actions undergone by entrepreneurial groups. The origins of the biotech industry provide many examples. In the plasma protein industry, which has registered a continuous growth since 1910 and an accelerated process of... view more
Entrepreneurship in the science-based industries is often the result of collective actions undergone by entrepreneurial groups. The origins of the biotech industry provide many examples. In the plasma protein industry, which has registered a continuous growth since 1910 and an accelerated process of mergers and acquisitions in the last decades, there are three leading corporations whose history reflects collective entrepreneurship: Baxter with headquarters in the United States (start 1931), CSL Behring in Australia (start 1916) and Grifols in Spain (start in plasma business in 1940). This article provides a historical overview of the industry and how the making of collective entrepreneurship allowed a challenger like Grifols, from a late industrialized country such as Spain, to cross entry barriers in the plasma industry, buy many of the pioneering corporations, and establish a global leadership position. This article argues that the long-term trust-based personal and professional relationships established by the entrepreneurial Spanish family lab, with managers from the US and Japanese corporations, produced a collective entrepreneurial hub of connections that made possible a long-term sustained process of innovation and globalization in a highly specialized biomedical industry.... view less
Keywords
innovation; new technology; biomedicine; enterprise; economic success; historical development; biotechnology
Classification
Social History, Historical Social Research
Economic Sectors
Free Keywords
Biotech Industries; Plasma Protein Industry; Grifols; Baxter; CSL
Document language
English
Publication Year
2019
Page/Pages
p. 75-95
Journal
Historical Social Research, 44 (2019) 4
Issue topic
Collective Engagement in Entrepreneurship: Sociological and Historical Reflections upon Entrepreneurial Groups and Entrepreneurial Families
ISSN
0172-6404
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed