A Methodological Approach to the Marketing Process in the Biotechnology-based Companies

main research interests are: management of technological innovation, academic-industry relationships and technological entrepreneurship.editor of several books and author of several scientific papers in the area of energy and environment and related fields, with emphasis on fluid mechanics and combustion. He this context, he has led the Organizing Committee of a series of International Conferences on " Technology Policy and Innovation, " which began in 1997 in Macau. ABSTRACT: The paper addresses the commercialisation activities of biotechnology-based companies in a European context and discusses whether these companies are able to gain adequate market perceptions and set adequate marketing processes, taking into account three analytical steps: strategic marketing definition, marketing implementation, and evolution of strategy and implementation. A methodological approach was developed, considering the specific nature of the technology and the companies. The case of Portuguese companies was used to test this methodology. The findings support the hypothesis that marketing issues constitute a problem for these companies, since most of them had serious difficulties in going through the marketing process. Marketing deficiencies were largely connected to the access to human resources with relevant management and marketing capabilities and were particularly fe lt by companies introducing discontinuous innovations. The research confirms that this methodology is useful in the assessment of the marketing management process in biotechnology-based companies.