Title: Firm and non-firm actor collaborations as a determinant of countries' readiness, progress and success for developing COVID-19 vaccines

Authors: Jahan Ara Peerally; Claudia De Fuentes; Fernando Santiago; Julia Paranhos

Addresses: International Business Department, HEC Montreal, 3000, Chemin de la Côte Sainte Catherine, Montréal (Québec), H3T 2A7, Canada ' Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary's University, 923 Robie St., Halifax (Nova Scotia), B3H 3C3, Canada ' Vienna International Centre, UNIDO, Wagamer Strasse 5, Vienna, 1400, Austria ' Instituto de Economia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract: Using the national technological capability (NTC) approach, we examine the influence of different configurations of firm and non-firm actors' collaborations on countries' level of readiness, progress and success for developing a COVID-19 vaccine. We create a country index which captures the spectrum from readiness, progress to success. The effects of NTC macro-level determinants and the micro-level collaborations on the index are informative. Higher levels of progress and success by countries are determined by: 1) NTCs which focus on sound supporting healthcare institutions; 2) advanced NTCs and advanced biopharmaceutical sector capabilities which also lead to better global collaborations by firm and non-firm actors; 3) non-firm sector collaborations. For lower readiness and progress countries: 1) the bulk of knowledge for developing a vaccine resides in interfirm collaborations; 2) non-firm collaborations negatively impact their readiness, progress, and success. We discuss the implications of these results for policy, practice, and future research.

Keywords: COVID-19; vaccine; national technological capability; NTC; firms; non-firms; collaborations.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2024.136433

International Journal of Technology Management, 2024 Vol.94 No.3/4, pp.385 - 418

Accepted: 13 Feb 2023
Published online: 01 Feb 2024 *

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