Technological capabilities and firm resources as determinants of export competitiveness: Evidence from Indian pharmaceutical industry using quantile regression approach

Abstract

Technological capabilities of firms and other firm resources have been researched by many researchers to assess their impact on export competitiveness of Indian industries. This study reports the findings of the influence of technological capabilities and firm resources on the export performance of Indian pharmaceutical industry. The study employs a panel data of 251 Indian pharmaceutical firms as documented by the Prowess database by Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy. The time period considered for the study was the period 2005–2013 to capture the export performance of Indian pharmaceutical industry post World Trade Organisation (WTO) era starting from 1st January 2005. Of the 11 independent variables considered for the study, 5 variables (size of the firm, import of capital goods, import of raw materials, royalty payments, and choice of technology) were found to have a significant impact on the export competitiveness of Indian pharmaceutical firms using ordinary least squares regression analysis. The study also presents a comparative analysis of the results obtained using ordinary least squares regression method and Quantile regression method. The results indicate that except selling and distribution expenses, all the 11 variables exhibited a significant impact using quantile regression method.