Crafting network competence for pharmaceutical innovation of Chinese pharmaceutical companies

The competitiveness of pharmaceutical firms in the new economy zone is not only related to advance their own technological capability to add value to products and processes, but also linked to develop network competence to combine their organization to other players in the pharmaceutical market to allow interactions beyond organizational boundaries. While the impact of network competence on firm performance has been widely acknowledged, how to cultivate network competence has not been satisftorily addressed. Based on contemporary literature and a qualitative case study using data of one Chinese pharmaceutical company, we take effort to advance understanding of network competence by studying the establishment, maintenance, and utilization of network. Our results suggest significant effect of business strategy and technological capability. Such findings implied that the understanding and implementation of network competence should be collectively crafted at organizational and personal level.