Objectives:

• To gain insights on the challenges faced in academic-industrial collaboration in the pharmaceutical industry
• To understand and explore the theories of collaboration and their themes that supplement Academic- Industry collaborations
• To analyse and determine the degree of applicability of the theories in academic-industry collaborations in the pharmaceutical industry 

Methodology:

The paradigm and philosophical approach was chosen to be Interpretivist, as the nature of the study had involved interpreting the data collected in the primary research by the use of a narrative analysis approach. The responses of the interviewees selected were taken in the forms of their stories, which was composed of the knowledge and experiences that they had as professionals involved in academic-industry collaborations in the pharmaceutical industry. The strategy involved was to frame questions for the interview in a manner that enabled me to receive responses in the form of stories of the interviewees that have been interviewed.

Findings:

i. Every theme in different theories of collaboration is connected and related, in terms of specific applicability in dealing with the listed challenges The themes used in the theories were used as codes for application to the transcripts generated from the interviews conducted for the participants in the dissertation study.

ii. Knowledge sharing, networking and stakeholder focus are more prevalent and applicable than their corresponding counterparts at resolving specific challenges in academic-industry collaborations. The codes generated were compared after generating their relations map via creative coding. The data tools of MAXQDA revealed that these themes were more omnipresent than the other selected themes, making them desirable for being used in combined theme applications.

iii. Combinational themes generated better outcomes than individual themes: An analysis of the codes used was generated and the codes were compared to understand their utilisation and need, as per the in-depth interviews conducted.

Analysis:

The data analysis approach included producing a coding system based on the theories of collaboration explored in the literature review. Transcripts from the interview were generated from each participant, and the codes produced for each theory were matched with the responses provided by the participants. This approach led to understanding the application of the chosen theories to the experiences of the academic and industry professionals with collaborative experience and revealed the utilisation of said theories in specific circumstances in academic-industry collaborations. MAXQDA was applied as an analysis tool, using its transcription mode to transcribe the recordings of the interviews and were coded using the same. All the findings coded produced a pattern of the different uses of theories under a variety of circumstances in the collaborations coded and analysed by using a narrative analysis approach. A creative coding function was used visualize the coded system produced.

Conclusion:

The findings determined by me will be essential in assisting academic and industry professionals involved in academic-industry collaborations to conduct collaborations that utilize the themes determined, and their principles explored. The collaborations conducted on a global scale will benefit from the findings produced as a result of the analysis conducted. The themes should be inculcated in the training period for personnel and awareness of the same should be checked routinely for those involved in collaborations by experienced and knowledgeable collaborators involved in the collaboration. Future research should focus extensively on developing new theories in line with emerging trends and arising challenges. Also, a variety of theories developed by theorists that are not directly focusing on collaboration but on the themes identified should be explored, in order to rummage through for knowledge that can be translated into a novel practice, one that has not been discovered thus far.