Developing a Model of Incentives for Creating and Implementing Industrial Coexistence Networks in Iranian Pharmaceutical Companies
Authors: Sepehri Shafigh Ebrahim , Taghizadeh Houshang , Iranzadeh Soleyman 
Published: April 2022

Background and Objectives The goal of industrial coexistence is accessing cheaper resources, avoiding disposal costs or making extra profit from selling by-products. As far as the environment is concerned, its benefits include less consumption of natural resources, less wastage disposal, and less diffusion of gases resulting from raw material production, polluting the air, soil and water. Considering the theoretical and experimental gap in the field of using industrial coexistence networks, the purpose of this study was to develop a a model of incentives for creating and implementing industrial coexistence networks in the country's pharmaceutical companies.Material and Methods This research was applied-developmental. The statistical population of this research consisted of all pharmaceutical companies in the country. Based on Krejcie and Morgan’s table, we picked 165 companies as our the statistical sample, whose managers were given the questionnaires used in this research study. A researcher-made questionnaire was distributed among the participants after its validity and reliability were confirmed. Structural-interpretive modeling and path-structural modeling were used in order to analyze the data. Results Generally, ten main components were found effective to be considered in using industrial coexistence networks in country's pharmaceutical companies. Also, the results of structural-interpretive modeling method revealed that infrastructure and technological readiness as well as the government’s policies are two effective variables among the main components. Conclusion Based on the research findings, it can be concluded that the two important measures to take for creating industrial coexistence in the country's pharmaceutical companies include strengthening the required infrastructure and technologies and adopting appropriate policies for the implementation and enforcement of industrial coexistence networks in pharmaceutical companies. Developing industrial coexistence among companies is a complicated and dynamic process and has been extensively worked on recently to facilitate this trend through coexistence network. Industrial coexistence increases resource productivity through producing more output of raw materials. With regard to the environment, its benefits include less consumption of natural resources, less wastage disposal and less diffusion of gases which result from raw material production, polluting the air, soil and water. Taking into account the theoretical and experimental gap in the field of using industrial coexistence networks, the purpose of this study was to develop a model of incentives for creating and applying industrial coexistence networks in Iranian pharmaceutical companies. Material and Methods This research was applied in term of purpose and descriptive with respect to research method. The statistical population of this research consisted of all Iranian pharmaceutical companies. In the first part of the research, initially, our statistical sample comprised three groups of experts: a) those who were familiar with the subject of research, b) thosewho were at least production managers of a certain company, and c) professors who had written or translated books or papers about industrial coexistence. Then, ten experts were selected from these three groups. In the second part, the statistical sample consisted of 165 pharmaceutical companies. Sampling was conducted on a random basis. Two questionnaires were used to collect data. In the first one, following ISM method (structural-interpretive method), the incentives of creating industrial coexistence networks and applying them were used and paired comparisons of the stimuli of creating industrial coexistence networks and applying them were conducted for the purpose of rating and developing the pattern of imprinting. The second questionnaire was developed by the present researchers to test the appropriateness of the pattern of stimuli for creating and applying industrial coexistence networks developed in the previous stage. The validity of the questionnaire was established through mean variance, and its reliability was calculated using Cronbach alpha coefficient. Additionally, the compositional reliability was calculated for each component separately. To analyze the data of research, the structural-interpretive modeling was used to provide a pattern for the incentives of creating and applying industrial coexistence networks in the studied population. Also, path-structural modeling was used to test the developed pattern. Results The findings of structural-interpretive modeling showed that preparing infrastructure is the main and the most effective factor in creating and applying industrial coexistence networks which is unfortunately placed as the last level. So, to create industrial coexistence networks and to apply them in Iranian pharmaceutical companies, the first step is preparing the required infrastructures. At the 7th level, two factors were placed: government policies for creating the initial motivation of industrial coexistence and education for the execution of industrial coexistence. Athough they are not as effective as preparing infrastructures for creating industrial coexistence networks and applying them, they are, nevertheless, considered important. The primary reason is because government policies for creating the initial motivation of industrial coexistence are not usually affected by other factors, but education can be directly affected by infrastructure preparation. The 6th level included constitutional support for the coalition, coordination and proper relations and being aware of the concepts of industrial coexistence. These two factors are affected by government policies and education directly and also affect knowledge exchange cooperation at the 5th level directly. The 4th level included budget allocation for promoting industrial coexistence which is affected by government policies and at the same time, affects directly the confidence among the participants of industrial coexistence at the 3rd level who have to be assured that budget allocation is fair. The 2nd level included sharing information among the participants of industrial coexistence and willingness to cooperate. This is affected directly by the confidence among the participants of industrial coexistence and their willingness to cooperate, which in turn affects top management support at the same time. The most effective part of the pattern is management support. At the 2nd part, the developed pattern was tested. The relationship between the structures and references were studied and verified based on loads factor. Also, the coefficients path and their significance showed that the acquired relations for the developed pattern is verified.ConclusionAccording to the findings of this research, the first steps of developing industrial coexistence for Iranian pharmaceutical companies were found to be reinforcing infrastructures and technologies, and adopting proper politics for executing and implementing industrial coexistence networks in pharmaceutical companies. The companies used as our research sample might be able to increase the productivity of resources through producing more output using the same amount of raw materials. Environmentally, its advantages are as follows: the consumption of natural resources is reduced, wastage is disposed, and the emission of polluted gases resulting from raw material storage is reduced. So, the managers and policy makers of the industrial sector in the field of pharmaceutics are advised to attend to this matter seriously, taking into account the limitation of resources and environmental pollutions; they should also support studies seriously to create such networks. Practical Implications of Research The nature of industrial coexistence is based on the development of functional relationships between industrial activities. Thus, industrial coexistence is a type of network that consists mainly of private companies. Networks may be considered as a special type of inter-organizational relationship. Inter-organizational relationships "are relatively stable transactions, flows, and communications that occur between an organization and one or more other organizations in its environment." Inter-organizational relationships are considered as an alternative to the market or organizational hierarchy. They can significantly add value to companies by combining resources and sharing knowledge (two central aspects of the network). The goal of industrial coexistence is to access the benefits of this cooperation in various dimensions. Companies benefit economically by accessing cheaper resources, avoiding disposal costs or making extra profit from selling by-products. In general, industrial coexistence increases resource productivity by producing more output from the same amount of raw materials. From an environmental point of view, reducing the consumption of natural resources, disposing of waste and emitting polluted gases into air, water and soil are among the benefits of industrial coexistence. Accordingly, in view of limited resources on the one hand and environmental pollution and on the other hand it is suggested managers and policy makers of the industrial sector in the field of pharmacy pay due attention to this point and and develop a plan to create these networks. Ethical Considerations The authors state that research ethics have been observed in this research. The respondents voluntarily participated in this study. The data were also honestly reviewed and analyzed. This article is extracted from the doctoral dissertation with the confirmation code 102482971033181162314244 and the research code 162314244 taken from Vice Chancellor of Research of the Islamic Azad University of Tabriz. Conflict of Interest The authors hereby declare that this work is the result of an independent study and has no conflict of interest with other organizations and individuals. Aknowledgment The authors of the article consider it necessary to express their appreciation and gratitude to the participants for their cooperation in responding to the research questionnaires.