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Understanding Biopharmaceutical Employment Growth In North Carolina: A "Working Regions" Approach, Laura Wolf-Powers

Laura Wolf-Powers

Scholars of the life sciences industry argue that spatial linkages between research and production have been critical to the growth of the biotechnology and biopharmaceutical sectors. (Feldman and Ronzio, 2001, 2006; Pisano, 1997). More recently, work by Jennifer Clark has suggested that firms in innovation-intensive industries gain competitive advantage from localized supply chains and close control over the manufacturing process. Clark contends that the co-location of design and production makes for regional economies that are innovative and resilient as well as more socially equitable (2013).

Because it has been difficult to understand spatial relationships between manufacturing and R&D using establishment …