751-Sabar Institute Of Management, Tajpur - Gujarat Technological ...

substantial governmental support for science, and – last but not least – the emergence of
industrial research laboratories (Landes, 1999: 290-291; Cameron / Neal, 2003: 242-243).
More specifically, the invention of the company-sponsored research organisation was
identified as the undoubtedly greatest single contribution of the German dyestuff industry
(Beer, 1959: 73). This path-breaking organisational revolution transformed the firms from
fellow-runners to market leaders in synthetic dye production. At least since Beer’s
observation, the research laboratories of the dyestuff industry itself had been the object of
scientific research. The focus of these studies had been the development at Bayer (e.g., Beer,
1959; Meyer-Thurow, 1982; Murmann, 2006) whereas the two other major dyestuff
producers, BASF and Hoechst, were much less intensively investigated (Homburg, 1992;
Reinhardt 1997).Yet, the evidence of a science-based second industrial revolution is much
less clear for other industries.
The German Biotechnology Sector
Unlike the majority of other industries, German biotechnology has actually grown during the
crisis. In 2009, the number of employees exceeded the 30,000 mark for the first time. In
terms of turnover, biotech companies managed to maintain their course, even at the height of
the crisis. As with the previous year, this figure stood at two billion Euros. Moreover,
investments in the future have not been scaled back. At one billion Euros, research spending
remained at the same level as the previous year. The effect of this was that the drug candidate
pipeline continued to grow in 2009. Nevertheless, concerns remain about the difficult
financial environment. These are the central results of the company survey carried out at the
beginning of 2010 by the information platform biotechnologie.de on behalf of the Federal
Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The data are in compliance with the guidelines
laid out by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD; see pages
27 ff for methodology). According to the survey, at 531, the number of companies occupied
primarily with biotechnology in 2009 is higher than the 2008 figure (501).
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