Abstract
The main objective of this master thesis is to investigate how changes in the IPR environment
in the Indian pharmaceutical sector affect the business models of multinational firms. The
students take also into consideration the fundamental problem of social welfare versus
innovator's incentives. To answer the problem formulation, a theoretical framework interlinking
concepts such as Innovation System (IS) (more precisely the notion of National Innovation
System (NIS) and Sectoral System of Innovation (SSI), Intellectual Property Rights (IPR),
Open Innovation (OI) and Business Models (BM) is developed. Three cases that concerns
MNEs` losses on patent cases in the Indian pharmaceutical sector are analysed. The master
thesis uses Yin`s single embedded case study methodological approach. The main findings of
the study work underpin that changes in the IPR environment in India affect differently the
business model of foreign and domestic MNEs. The key implication of the thesis is that
developing countries should educe their institutional environment (as the Indian case) in order
to comply with the global IPR regulations, but not on the expense of their own economic and
social interest. To improve the reliability of the research, there is a need for investigating more
case studies from the developing countries, which concerns this master thesis. Future research
could focus on developing new business models in the pharmaceutical sector which aims to
solve the fundamental question: social welfare versus inventor's incentive.