Pharmaceuticals, money and the health care organisational field

Abstract

Using an institutional theory framework, this article discusses the place of the pharmaceutical industry within the health care organizational field, and the wideranging effects the industry has on the other organizations in the field. It then provides a snapshot of the discourse that has emerged about the pharmaceutical industry, and about commercialization and marketization of the health care more generally. This paints a picture of deep ambivalence towards the pharmaceutical industry, both within and between stakeholder groups. The article ends with an effort to explain this ambivalence as the effect of competing institutional logics. This, in turn, points to some suggestions as to how the pharmaceutical industry might be better accommodated within the health care organizational field, without losing sight of the need for ongoing critique of industry behavior. KEYWORDS Pharmaceutical industry, institutional theory, organizational field, institutional logic, commercialization, marketization