The Contraception Innovation Double Bind: Family Planning in Between Commercial and Sustainability Logics

Amaya Debal

Student thesis: Master thesis

Abstract

Family planning is central to achieving sustainable development by supporting individuals’ sexual and reproductive health. An estimated 218 million women worldwide have an unmet need for family planning, meaning they are not using effective contraception. Dissatisfaction with current contraception products is the prevailing reason behind the lack of uptake. Somewhat surprisingly, developments in contraception drugs have so far focused on women despite a dormant demand for novel male methods. In fact, there have been no new disruptive technologies since the introduction of female hormonal methods in the 1960s despite technological advances. This study seeks to better understand the reasons behind this neglect. Reasons for the lack of contraception innovation cannot be explained purely by innovation theory nor by the pharmaceutical industry. Hence, other conditions must be considered to explain this phenomenon. Contraception development needs to be viewed as an effort by a collective of the market and non-market actors. Innovation, or rather the lack thereof, is thereby a result of the interactions between activities performed by various actors. Since these components are crucial to the processes of innovation, ‘institutions’ and their dynamics will be at the centre of this study. Because institutional dynamics are not linear and multiple logics may prevail, an exploratory case study employing a Big Pharma company as the starting point for the research was deemed appropriate. Methodologically, the study followed the interpretative tradition of case studies and relied on the principles of problematisation. Based on the analysis of the empirical material, the results of this study led to three narratives that can help us better understand the lack of innovation in the field of contraception: 1) the narrative of impossibilisation, whereby perceptions of contraception only as a means of addressing unintended pregnancies coupled with commercial logics has led to the belief that substantial or radical innovation is impossible; 2) the narrative of family planning, whereby market and non-market actors impede innovative progress through dysfunctional systems interactions in which contraception primarily becomes an issue of access for sustainable development; 3) the narrative of domination, which illustrates actors’ feelings of disempowerment due to a hostile environment within and outside of institutions for contraception innovation.
This thesis suggests that rather than a market failure, the lack of innovation in contraception products is a systems failure in which both commercial and sustainability logics disincentivise progress. The findings of this study contribute to integrating institutional perspectives into innovation processes—a field that remains in its infancy despite the fact that issues are global. Finally, this study inquires about why innovation does not occur in the first place within a field of study that has been overshadowed by a current research bias toward innovation.

EducationsMSc in International Business and Politics, (Graduate Programme) Final Thesis
LanguageEnglish
Publication date2022
Number of pages80
SupervisorsVerena Girschik