Life Sciences Sector

The same research questions apply to the life sciences sector and a similar data collection strategy has been utilised to the one outlined above for the video games sector. A list of firms in this sector already existed in a consultancy document that was passed onto me via Liverpool Vision. It should be noted that the list of firms at the time was 3 years old and contained firms that no longer existed. However, it was a very useful entry point. This part of the research took place between March 2012 and August 2012. Unlike the video game sector, emails were not the preferred intermediate for approaching all life science firms. Instead, an approach letter and information sheet was sent via the post and was followed by a phone call. A postal strategy was chosen for this sector due to the nature of the web sites design that was explicitly directing predominantly sales traffic via e-mail. Additionally, given the larger size of many of the firms and the formal structures

105 that were in place, such as executive boards, a postal strategy would allow the approach letter and information sheet to be delivered directly to the targeted respondent. However, some firms were contacted via e-mail when a direct e-mail address was available. This was due to the life science industry having a very diverse range of firms from large multinationals to micro-enterprises. In order to target the correct person within the larger firms, a letter was preferred followed by a phone call. For some of the smaller firms an e-mail did prove to be an effective way of establishing contact. However, some firms only provided an ‘[email protected]’ email address. These e-mail addresses did not prove to be as effective as a letter targeted at a specific person via their name or job role. After the letter was sent and a phone call arranged, some respondents requested I send them an e-mail to arrange further a time and date for participation.

During the research, there were 53 active companies in the life science sector in Liverpool City Region. Of these, 25 have been interviewed. In all but the medical devices sector, approximately half of firms were interviewed. The medical devices firms in Liverpool were very small operations and seemed to be very apprehensive about participating in the research. It was later noted from secondary research, that many of the medical device firms operated only as wholesale suppliers with a registered address in Liverpool. Others refused to participate without financial incentive. This explains why just short of half the total identified population of life science firms have been interviewed. Compared to the video games sector the life science prove to be a less accessible group, especially the larger the organisation became. Response times were also an issue when trying moving the research along. To overcome the access issues faced with several firms, I had to use established networks in order to get my research approach letters in front of the desired participant. Other strategies such as follow up telephone calls where used to negotiate access to participants. Not all where successful as reflected in the number of interview conducted. In many cases of qualitative interview based methods the research is in a position of a relative lack of ‘power’. The participant takes the role of the expert informant in the cases noted here.

106 Interviews lasted approximately 60 to 90 minutes with participants. The life science sector can be broken down into several different sub-sectors in order to make the sector easier to understand. Table 6 represents the number of firms and the number of interviews conducted in each sub sector. Table 7 shows a further breakdown into the size of firms and how many of each size were interview in brackets.

Table 6 Life science activity in Liverpool

Activity Number of Firms Interviewed

Consultancy 7 4 Diagnostic 7 4 Discovery 13 6 Drug Manufactures 9 6 Medical Devices 8 1 Other 9 4 Total 53 25

The life science sector differed considerably to the video games sector in terms of the size and age of firms. The life science sector had considerably more multinational and medium to large sized firms, compared to the dominance of small and micro enterprises in the digital sector (See Table 7). Firms in the life science sector had also been operating in Liverpool for a considerably longer amount of time.

Table 7 Composition of the Industry

Activity Number of

Firms

MNE Medium Small Micro

Consultancy 7 0 0 3(2) 4(2) Diagnostic 7 2(1) 1(1) 2(1) 2(1) Discovery 13 3(1) 2(1) 7(3) 1(1) Drug Manufactures 9 4(4) 2(1) 3(1) 0 Medical Devices 8 1 1(1) 4 2 Other 9 1 1 7(4) 0 Total 53 11 7 26 9

107 For the life sciences sector, contextual industry data was collected and verified from four conferences and networking events at a local and national scale. In Liverpool, two events were attended that had been arranged by two local firms. These events were used to gain background information on the sector as well as access to guest lists and an opportunity to approach people and invite them to participate in the research. It was an opportunity for them to meet me and place a face on the approach letter that was sent previously. This did help to ease the access issues that I was facing in this sector. Welch et al (2002) argued that business elites do have the power and influence to be invisible inside and outside the organisation. This was particularly true for the larger firms in the sector. A further two conferences were attended in London, hosted by The Department for Business Innovation and Skills, specifically for the UK life sciences sector. These conferences differed considerably from the local events, as no firms were present from Liverpool. However, these conferences added to the national context that Liverpool firms are working within, but also how firms are competing internationally. This supplemented the secondary quantitative data that has been collected and discussed below.