Growth and Diversification Patterns of the Worldwide Pharmaceutical Industry

In this paper we present a description of growth and diversification patterns of the top firms in the worldwide pharmaceutical industry. We apply parametric and non parametric methods to the analysis of firms size distribution and its dynamics. Our study confirms the results of previous empirical analyses of the growth dynamics of firms but also reveals structural features of the pharmaceutical industry that have never been investigated before. Moreover, using firm sales at a high level of disaggregation, we are able to analyze the firm diversification pattern and study its relation with the aggregate firm size.