Title: Skills requirements of the biotechnology industry: moving from research and development to commercialisation

Authors: Gangaram Singh

Addresses: Department of Management, College of Business Administration, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, California 92182, USA

Abstract: The biotechnology industry is undergoing a significant change from research and development to commercialisation. It is proposed that this change is likely to result in the greater importance of skills associated with business administration. In addition, there is likely to be a shortfall in the capability of achieving business administration skills. Third, the capability change index (the sum of differences of importance and capability multiplied by 100) is likely to be greater for skills associated with business administration. Finally, gaps in business administration skills are likely to be lower among organisations that are commercialised. All four propositions received support from a sample of biotechnology organisations located in one of the fastest growing biotechnology clusters in the USA. Implications of the results are identified and discussed.

Keywords: skill requirements; biotechnology; international human resource management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBT.2001.000162

International Journal of Biotechnology, 2001 Vol.3 No.3/4, pp.244-256

Published online: 13 Jul 2003 *

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