Alliance-driven governance: applying a global commodity chains approach to the UK biotechnology industry

As the economy has globalized it has also regionalized leading to the integration of different spaces across different scales. A number of theories contend that the endogenous assets of these locations provide them with the means to compete in this globalizing economy, especially in relation to knowledge-based sectors like biotechnology. Amongst these theories, the cluster concept stands out. However, there is little support for the arguments that local linkages are the central contributors to innovation. Extra-local linkages have also been highlighted suggesting that other theories accounting for these linkages may prove useful in the discussion of knowledge-based sectors generally and biotech in particular. One such theory is the concept of global commodity chains which explicitly concerns the inter-connections within and across different geographical scales. As yet it has seldom been applied to the biotech industry. This article seeks to use the approach to explore the UK biotech industry.