Filter-Down Theory: Location and Technology in the UK Pharmaceutical Industry

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Abstract
This paper presents an examination of filter-down theory in relation to the location and technological sophistication of manufacturing establishments within the UK pharmaceutical industry. By means of data drawn from a survey of eighty-three pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, the paper considers the technological sophistication both of firms and of plants according to their location as defined by settlement size, degree of urbanization, and their broader centre-periphery regional setting. Given the overall location of the UK pharmaceutical industry, it is shown that there is no significant technological bias in favour of firms or plants located in larger settlements, in more urbanized areas, or within more centrally located regions. In part this result was associated with the decentralized location of manufacturing units controlled by large technologically advanced corporate organizations. The survey data also revealed that on an intracorporate basis there was no evidence that more distant plants, in relation to their main innovation or headquarters location, tended to be less technologically sophisticated.
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