Création et développement de pme dans le secteur des biotechnologies: le cas français

Based on a survey on French biotech SMEs in France, this article analyses the different development trajectories of biotech SMEs. The typology is based on the main internal characteristics of firms and on the way in which they manage their environment Four trajectories are described: success stories represent only a minority of firms. A large majority of small independent SMEs are growing but not sky rocketing. Firms are mostly subsidiary companies to large groups involved in agri and agrobusiness. The last group is composed by firms which have bee bought out after an independent start up.