In 2020, the new crown pneumonia epidemic will sweep the world, and the medical and health level and carrying capacity of countries will be severely tested. Residents’ awareness of health care has risen sharply, and the demand for health products and services has exploded. This has brought new opportunities for the development of the big health industry. Different from the traditional pharmaceutical industry, the big health industry aims at maintaining, improving, and promoting health. It is a collection of production activities that promotes people’s physical and mental health and subjective feelings as the service standard and provides all health-related products and services. It is a production and service closely related to human health, with a long industrial chain and a wide range of radiation.
At present, the general health industry has developed into one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing emerging industries. It is an important force for developed countries to promote economic growth and optimize the economic structure. According to their own needs and resource conditions, countries have worked out different development paths for the health industry, and participate in international competition with their comparative advantages.
Under the trend of globalization, the big health industry needs to centrally allocate various resources to reduce transaction costs and resource acquisition costs between enterprises in the cluster, improve the efficiency of public resource utilization, and gain competitive advantages in the international market. Therefore, the major health industries in various countries have shown a trend of agglomeration development. In the process of agglomeration, different countries mainly present two different development paths. One is dominated by the concentration of medical resources; the other is dominated by some kind of superior resources other than medical resources, integrating certain medical resources.
It needs to be pointed out that the two paths are not completely isolated, but at the same time in a primary and secondary intersection. Countries that choose the first development path generally start their health industry earlier, and have already accumulated a certain scale and strength in medicine, and have a first-mover advantage. Because other countries are restricted by entry barriers from first-mover countries, it is difficult for other countries to gain a competitive advantage in medicine within a short period. Therefore, most of them rely on their superior resources, through the integration of superior resources and medical resources, and obtain differentiated and innovative advantages in products and services.
1 Concentrated development path of medical resources
The development path led by medical resources is to drive the development of related industries with medical services as the leading role with strong scientific research capabilities. Specifically, due to the challenge and stimulation of the epidemic or disease, a large-scale medical demand has arisen. For this reason, the government has promoted the development of medical care to the national strategic level. By attracting capital investment, promoting life science and medical research, and gradually establishing a strong medical service system and pharmaceutical production supply chain. The development path led by medical resources is to drive the development of related industries with medical services as the leading role with strong scientific research capabilities. Specifically, due to the challenge and stimulation of the epidemic or disease, a large-scale medical demand has arisen. For this reason, the government has promoted the development of medical care to the national strategic level. By attracting capital investment, promoting life science and medical research, and gradually establishing a strong medical service system and pharmaceutical production supply chain.
1.1 United States
Modern medical research in the United States was born during the Independence War and the Civil War, which was caused by the huge demand for medicines by the residents. At the end of the 19th century, the Medical Production Association and the Medical Association were established one after another. Biochemical drugs such as acetaminophen and aspirin have been developed. And the emergence of pharmaceutical giants.
In the 1930s, the United States began to enter the golden age of R&D and production, and R&D capabilities were greatly enhanced. A large number of new biochemical theories have been discovered and confirmed. Coupled with an effective patent protection system, the health industry has become an industry with a high return on investment. This has attracted a lot of capital and talents, and various resources have gradually flowed to the health industry. In the 1960s, due to the aging of the population and the new demand for chronic diseases, new commercial forms of related industries such as elderly care and health management emerged in the United States. Health resources were gradually gathered and the health industry system was gradually improved. As a result, five major industrial areas in Boston, Washington, North Carolina, San Francisco, and San Diego were formed. And with universities, research bases, and pharmaceutical giants as the center, large-scale industrial clusters such as “medicine valley” and biotechnology research parks have been formed. So far, the health industry has gradually become a pillar industry of the US economy.
In 2016, the output of the health industry accounted for 7.6% of the output structure of the US economy, second only to the real estate, manufacturing, and financial and insurance industries. It has become an important force to promote the development of the US economy. After years of technological iteration and industrial development, in 2016, the U.S. biotechnology sector accounted for 75% of the world’s revenue, and biotechnology R&D results accounted for 82% of the world’s total. Medical resources, especially medical R&D resources, are in an absolute leading position in the world.
1.2 United Kingdom
The British health industry is also driven by medical resources. Its biology and medical technology rank second only to the United States in the world. The top research institutions represented by Oxford University and Cambridge University directly serve the basic technology research and development of bioengineering and are at the forefront of gene sequencing and “gene targeting” technology. At the same time, the British government has implemented a high tax reduction and exemption policy for biotechnology companies, which has created good conditions for the transformation of scientific research results. One-third of Europe’s biotech companies are located in the United Kingdom. In 2006, the UK’s income from exports of health products and services alone exceeded 14 billion pounds. The health industry has become one of the pillars of its national economy. According to statistics from the World Bank, the UK’s health industry reached US$234.1 billion in 2014, ranking second in the world.
2 Development path of advantageous resource integration
The development path of the integration of advantageous resources is led by the entry of advantageous industries into the health field (such as health tourism, health food, health finance, etc.), which reversely drives the development of health-related scientific research, pharmaceutical production, and medical services. Specifically, as residents’ demands for health, elderly care, beauty, etc. increase, a large amount of capital is attracted to enter the health industry and is supported by the government. This has promoted the cross-integration of the original advantageous industries and the health field, forming a superior health field. Relevant research will be driven by the demand for scientific research in the field of superior health, and the development of pharmaceutical products and medical services will be promoted in the opposite direction. This path mainly occurs in late developed or developing countries, such as South Korea and India. In the international competition, these countries are restricted by the technical barriers of the first-mover countries’ medical research, avoiding the combination of superior resources and the health industry to form a superior health field.
2.1 South Korea
The development of the Korean health industry stems from the people’s pursuit of a healthy lifespan, coupled with a higher pursuit of appearance, which has given birth to a series of health needs such as health care, beauty, and recuperation. In order to meet these health needs, the health food industry represented by kimchi, Korean ginseng, fish oil, etc., and the beauty industry represented by cosmetic services, medical beauty equipment, and cosmeceutical products have entered the health industry and gradually developed. At the same time, tourism products such as plastic surgery tours, beauty tours, and recuperation tours have been launched to form Seoul’s “plastic surgery tourism” gathering area.
Based on its advantages, the Korean government formulated a five-year plan and investment strategy for the development of Korean medicine in the late 1990s to promote the development of Korean medicine. And gradually incorporate the long-term recuperation insurance system into one of the supplementary systems of the national medical insurance to promote the development of the recuperation service industry. According to statistics from the World Bank, Korea’s health industry has grown at an average annual rate of over 12% since 2010 and is in a stage of rapid development.
2.2 India
The Indian pharmaceutical industry originated from the low domestic payment ability and the people’s demand for cheap medicines. It mainly takes advantage of its low cost of raw materials and labor, does not impose product patent restrictions on food and medicine, and invests capital in the field of pharmaceutical production. On the one hand, it develops drug manufacturing commission processing at a low cost and becomes a processing base for multinational companies in Asia. On the other hand, relying on patent policies to vigorously develop generic drugs and become a global generic drug center.
The Indian government raised the limit on the foreign ownership rate of pharmaceutical companies from 51% to 74%, attracting a large amount of external capital. At the same time, tax incentives, research and development subsidies, and export incentive policies are implemented for pharmaceutical production. In 2000, India’s generic drug exports reached 1.6 billion U.S. dollars. In 2004, the Indian pharmaceutical market was valued at approximately 5.1 billion U.S. dollars. The amount of medicines accounts for 1% of the global pharmaceutical market (ranking 13th). Pharmaceutical consumption accounts for 8% of the global market (ranking No. 4). Indian medical bases such as Bangalore were formed. After the pharmaceutical market has formed a large scale, R&D and innovation are supported. In 1996, the R&D expenditure of the top ten pharmaceutical companies in India accounted for only 1.5% of sales. In 2002, it increased to 3.2%. In addition, India is actively building a world clinical research base, which has reversely promoted the development of medical and health undertakings.
2.3 Other countries
The two typical paths for the development of the big health industry are not an either-or relationship, but cross-cutting. For example, Danish Pharmaceutical Valley has driven the development of health tourism, health care, and other industries with its advantages in pharmaceutical production. German Medical Valley has developed rapidly in medicine and medical services from the very beginning, and at the same time, combined with its advantages in mechanical manufacturing, it has achieved development advantages in the manufacturing of medical instruments and equipment. In the early stage of the development of the health industry, Japan has set the goal of national health. It not only has strong strength in biomedicine, medical technology, etc., but also has a good integration in health care products, food, cosmeceuticals, and medical tourism. Form industrial clusters in Tokyo, Kansai, Hokkaido, and other regions.
