Collective Action and Institutional and Technological Change: A case study of Iran Bio-Pharmaceutical Industry

There is a diverse range of evidence which emphasis on the role of collective action in the process of institutional change. Collective collaboration as well as individualistic profit seeking activities of Entrepreneurs are two complementary wings of institutional and technical change in innovation systems. In this article, based on empirical evidence from Iran Bio-pharmaceutical sector, we developed a framework to link institutional change of innovation systems to practices and institutional Entrepreneurs (IEs). Then we examined to what extent IE's practices are collective.
We analysed Institutional change as a shift from supplier dominated governmental firms to science based private firms. Then we analysed four practices as mainly influential practices with institutional change effects, and finally we elaborate IEs who are actively involved in directing practices. Our analysis showed that in all practices, collective action has been influential. We also find that there is a network of entrepreneurs who are involved in all practices. These IEs are from both governmental and non-governmental organizations and they played formal as well as informal roles in directing practices. Our analysis criticizes both government-centric as well as individualistic views of institutional and technical change in catching up innovation systems.