Decay, Shock, and Renewal: Operational Routines and Process Entropy in the Pharmaceutical Industry

In this study, we examine decay in adherence to operational routines over time. Our empirical setting is the worldwide pharmaceutical industry, and we focus on operational routines used to maintain product quality. Based on an analysis of longitudinal data from U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspections, we find that the tendency of operational routines to decay is widespread. Our results also illustrate that FDA inspections act as...