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Title

Venture capital, biotechnology firms and network forms of organisation in the Antipodes

Author(s)

Gilding, Michael;  Bunton, Vikki

Abstract

This paper addresses network forms of organisation among dedicated biotechnology firms (DBFs) in Melbourne, replicating the network methods of a major US study and drawing upon interviews with industry informants. It argues that the emerging body of research on biotechnology clusters and networks outside the world hubs places too much emphasis upon ‘precocious internationalization’ and ‘distant networking’ at the expense of regional clusters and networks – especially in relation to venture capital. Melbourne DBFs rely overwhelmingly upon regional finance from local and interstate financial firms. This is because venture capitalists in the industry take advantage of local knowledge, and are unwilling to consider investment in firms too far away from their homes. In turn, their investments promote experimentation with new financial conceptions of the firm and, more generally, network forms of organisation.

Publication type

Conference paper

Research centre

Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Life and Social Sciences. Australian Centre for Emerging Technologies and Society

Source

Proceedings of 'Sociology for a mobile world', the Annual Conference of the Australian Sociological Association (TASA 2006), Perth, Western Australia, Australia, 04-07 December 2006

Publication year

2006

Keyword(s)

Australia;  Biotechnology;  Venture capital

Publisher

The Australian Sociological Association

ISBN

9781740521390

Publisher URL

http://www.tasa.org.au/conferencepapers06/pages/refereed_papers.htm

Copyright

Copyright © 2006 Michael Gilding and Vikki Bunton. Published version of this paper reproduced with the kind permission of the publisher.

Research Projects

Network dynamics and field evolution: hubs, clusters and interorganisational ties in biotechnology, Australian Research Council grant number LP0990478

Full text

Peer reviewed