The decline of science in corporate R&D

Research summary: In this article, we document a shift away from science by large corporations between 1980 and 2006. We find that publications by company scientists have declined over time in a range of industries. We also find that the value attributable to scientific research has dropped, whereas the value attributable to technical knowledge (as measured by patents) has remained stable. These trends are unlikely to be driven principally by changes in publication practices. Furthermore, science continues to be useful as an input into innovation. Our evidence points to a reduction of the private benefits of internal research. Large firms still value the golden eggs of science (as reflected in patents), but seem to be increasingly unwilling to invest in the golden goose itself (the internal scientific capabilities). Managerial summary: There is a widespread belief among commentators that large American corporations are withdrawing from research. Large corporations may still collaborate with universities and acquire promising science-based start-ups, but their labs increasingly focus on developing existing knowledge and commercializing it, rather than creating new knowledge. In this article, we combine firm-level financial information with a large and comprehensive data set on firm publications, patents and acquisitions to quantify the withdrawal from science by large American corporations between 1980 and 2006. This withdrawal is associated with a decline in the private value of research activities, even though scientific knowledge itself remains important for corporate invention. We discuss the managerial and policy implications of our findings

Trademark and patent applications are structurally near-identical and cointegrated: Implications for studies in innovation

Objective. This paper seeks to test the existence of a “long-run” equilibrium (LRE) dynamic between trademarks and patents, as it would suggest that similar exogenous pressures concomitantly drive these metrics. The restraint in the divergence of the two indices supports an important aspect of the Innovation Agenda, a normative intellectual property (IP)-centric model of the firm, whereby the corporate strategy of science and technology firms is defined by constructing and communicating IP. Design/Methodology/Approach. Empirical analysis using descriptive statistics, wavelet, cointegration, and structural break analysis is applied to monthly US trademark and patent applications from 1977-2016 to test the potential for LRE. Results/Discussion. This work finds that the indices have similar (identical) structural attributes (including distribution characteristics, seasonal variation, and short-term cross-periodicity) and are cointegrated (I(1)). Further, structural breakpoints were (near) simultaneous (Trademarks: 1987, 1993, 1999, 2005, 2011; Patents: 1988, 1994, 2000, and 2011). A discussion of potential triggers causing these breaks and the concept of equilibrium in the context of these proxy measures is presented. Conclusions. From the study, likely, US trademark and patent applications are intimately linked; thus, increasing the likelihood that the Innovation Agenda may correctly capture at least one aspect of the firm. As a corollary, this work further supports the inclusion of trademark analysis in innovation studies. The limitations of the approach including study design are presented. Originality/Value. To the author’s knowledge, the existence of an LRE of trademarks and patents in the framework of the Innovation Agenda is a novel contribution

A bibliometric analysis of the global value chains research field

This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of the global value chains (GVC) research field. To identify the most influential authors and contributions, potential collaboration networks, most discussed topics, and areas of further research opportunities within or related to the GVCresearch field, we applied the five most common bibliometric methods, namely citation, co-citation, co-author, and co-word analysis, and bibliometric coupling method. Our dataset for quantitative analysis of available articles, authors, and publication outlets in the GVC research field includes 2,506 articles, book chapters, books, and conference papers from 1,047 different sources in the Web of Science database published between the years 1999 and 2021. Our analysis provided a structured and thorough bibliometric overview of the GVC research field, including the years of the COVID -19 pandemic. The results show that the most frequently researched topics include GVC governance, trade, innovation, and production networks. We also identified future GVC-related bibliometric research streams, such as linking GVCs to international sourcing, corporate functions, and firm performance

Mergers and acquisitions transactions strategies in diffusion - type financial systems in highly volatile global capital markets with nonlinearities

The M and A transactions represent a wide range of unique business optimization opportunities in the corporate transformation deals, which are usually characterized by the high level of total risk. The M and A transactions can be successfully implemented by taking to an account the size of investments, purchase price, direction of transaction, type of transaction, and using the modern comparable transactions analysis and the business valuation techniques in the diffusion type financial systems in the finances. We developed the MicroMA software program with the embedded optimized near-real-time artificial intelligence algorithm to create the winning virtuous M and A strategies, using the financial performance characteristics of the involved firms, and to estimate the probability of the M and A transaction completion success. We believe that the fluctuating dependence of M and A transactions number over the certain time period is quasi periodic. We think that there are many factors, which can generate the quasi periodic oscillations of the M and A transactions number in the time domain, for example: the stock market bubble effects. We performed the research of the nonlinearities in the M and A transactions number quasi-periodic oscillations in Matlab, including the ideal, linear, quadratic, and exponential dependences. We discovered that the average of a sum of random numbers in the M and A transactions time series represents a time series with the quasi periodic systematic oscillations, which can be finely approximated by the polynomial numbers. We think that, in the course of the M and A transaction implementation, the ability by the companies to absorb the newly acquired knowledge and to create the new innovative knowledge bases, is a key predeterminant of the M and A deal completion success as in Switzerland.Comment: 160 pages, 9 figures, 37 table

Complementary Resources and the Exploitation of Technological Innovations

Technological innovation often results when the resources of a small firm are combined with those of a large one. This is because small and large firms characteristically possess complementary resources whose combination can facilitate innovation success. The possession of complementary innovation-producing resources by small and large firms helps explain patterns of interaction among firms in dynamic, technology-based industries. Propositions are developed that outline how typical resources of small and large firms can be used to explain industry-level phenomena surrounding technological change

Effects of innovation types on firm performance

Innovation is broadly seen as an essential component of competitiveness, embedded in the organizational structures, processes, products, and services within a firm. The objective of this paper is to explore the effects of the organizational, process, product, and marketing innovations on the different aspects of firm performance, including innovative, production, market, and financial performances, based on an empirical study covering 184 manufacturing firms in Turkey. A theoretical framework is empirically tested identifying the relationships amid innovations and firm performance through an integrated innovation-performance analysis. The results reveal the positive effects of innovations on firm performance in manufacturing industries

Effects of innovation types on firm performance

Innovation is broadly seen as an essential component of competitiveness, embedded in the organizational structures, processes, products, and services within a firm. The objective of this paper is to explore the effects of the organizational, process, product, and marketing innovations on the different aspects of firm performance, including innovative, production, market, and financial performances, based on an empirical study covering 184 manufacturing firms in Turkey. A theoretical framework is empirically tested identifying the relationships amid innovations and firm performance through an integrated innovation-performance analysis. The results reveal the positive effects of innovations on firm performance in manufacturing industries

Count on Your Subordinates: Young Managers and Innovation Efficiency

We investigate the relationship between executives’ horizons and firms’ innovation efficiency. Motivated by Acharya, Myers, and Rajan’s (2011, JF) theory, we devise a measure of internal governance based on the difference in expected horizons between a CEO and her subordinates. Consistent with our conjecture, we find robust evidence that subordinate managers with longer horizon compared to the CEO can improve firm’s innovation efficiency. Internal governance has a stronger effect on innovation efficiency for firms with elder, generalist CEOs and when the number of subordinates on the board is higher. However, while the presence of powerful CEOs attenuates the effect, overconfident CEOs do not negate the internal governance effect. Our proposed internal governance mechanism seems to be able to address the managerial myopia issue in corporate settings

Innovation determinants in manufacturing firms

In this paper the findings of an empirical study concerning the innovation determinants in manufacturing firms is presented. The empirical study covers 184 manufacturing firms located in the Northern Marmara region of Turkey. The types of innovation considered here are product, process, marketing and organizational innovations. An extensive literature survey on innovation determinants is provided. A model is proposed to explore the probable effects and the amount of contribution of the innovation determinants to firm’s innovativeness level. Among all possible determinants considered, intellectual capital has the highest impact on innovativeness followed by organization culture