This article uses the experience of the Japanese pharmaceutical industry to show how Japan's national system of innovation evolved from a closed, firm-based domestic system toward a more open, networked, global system. This occurred in the face of a crisis of economic and technological...

1. Introduction : why didn't Japan become a global leader in pharmaceuticals? -- 2. A historical overview of Japan's pharmaceutical industry -- 3. Developing a modern industry : the antibiotics sector -- 4. What went wrong? : the anticancer drug sector -- 5. Conclusion : reconsidering Japan's...