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Научно-исследовательские экосистемы в инновационном арсенале компаний «Большой фармы»
Purpose: identify the key drivers of R&D ecosystems creation by Big Pharma companies, analyze the specifics of their emergence in pharmaceutical industry and define archetypes of governance mechanisms employed in these ecosystems. Methodology: qualitative content-analysis of international empirical studies to find out similar patterns of innovation activity and forms of collaboration between the global pharmaceutical firms and their external partners in the area of drug development; strategic analysis of organizational behavior of these companies to identify the main archetypes of governance mechanisms applied in the ecosystem environment. Findings: the study defined the main types of ecosystems created by companies, including their specific characteristics; the key drivers of Big Pharma transition to the ecosystem model of corporate science were identified; three main archetypes of governance mechanisms were distinguished – investment-related, contractual and platform-based – which are used by Big Pharma giants to coordinate collaborative activities in R&D ecosystems. Originality and contribution: the novelty of the paper relates above all to the definition of R&D ecosystems including the set of their distinguishing features. Another notable contribution relates to the conclusions on the multi-level governance architecture in the R&D ecosystems, characteristic of the global pharmaceutical industry, where Big Pharma companies simultaneously apply different types of governance mechanisms.