Managing to make markets: Marketization and the conceptualization work of strategic nets in the life science sector

Abstract

This paper presents one of the first studies to identify and explain the marketization work of a strategic net. Through a study of the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst -a strategic net formed to support the marketization of Life Science Discoveries -we generate insights into the everyday work that makes marketization happen. Marketization is understood as the process that enables the conceptualisation, production and exchange of goods. Our findings focus on one specific form of marketization work found to be core to the strategic net: conceptualisation work. Three forms of conceptualisation work are identified: conceptualising actors' roles, conceptualising markets and conceptualising goods. These manifest as routinized, recursive practices. Our analysis reveals how these practices gather together multiple forms of scientific, technical and market knowledge to generate new market devices that transform market rules and conventions, and introduce new methods and instruments of valuation that change the market. In contrast to extant studies that claim a strategic net's activities influence markets; our findings position the conceptualisation work of the strategic net as constitutive of markets and the broader system of provision for 'healthcare' and 'health futures'.

Managing technological uncertainty in science incubation: a prospective sensemaking perspective

“…This paper forms part of a larger, longitudinal study of bioscience incubation at SBC (Mason et al, , forthcoming). For the purpose of this paper, we only used those parts of the data set that provide insights into prospective sensemaking regarding technology convergence and the background of SBC.…”

Realising the value of open innovation in policy making: Equipping entrepreneurs for valuation work

“…In April 2017, two of the authors (Mason and Ford) were invited to the Cabinet Office to present findings from their study of open innovation in a bioscience catalyst (see Mason, et al 2017;Mason et al 2018) and to explore opportunities to use these insights to inform the practices of the newly established OIT. The authors presented open innovation as the organisation, configuration and management of resources through which the innovation process happens, and making use of Chesbrough's (2003) definition as 'the purposive inflows and outflows of knowledge to accelerate innovation, and expand the markets for external use of innovation, respectively'.…”

“…We present interdisciplinary research that bridges the traditions of Management and Collaborative Design, to intervene in the work of an entrepreneurial open innovation team. Through ethnography, this paper explains how 'open innovation' and 'entrepreneurial' theories are used in practice (Mason et al 2017) to identify and characterise the need for valuation work within the practice of an open innovation team, then problematise this transformation in practice. We describe an interventional co-design initiative to collaboratively equip them for current and future valuation work.…”

Market Architecture as trigger of regional development

“…For example, the air transportation market has high entry barriers, as it requires huge financial resources for buying / leasing / leasing the fleet, as well as hiring personnel, while the tutoring market has low entry barriers, as it is enough to have the knowledge to start this activity. Of course, the number of market participants is of great importance, since a large number of them speak of a highly competitive market, where achievement of the aboveaverage profit indicators involves a search for a complex strategy [9,11,13].…”