Innovation Search Strategy and Predictable Returns

in Management Science (2021), 67(2), 1109-1137

Because of the intangible and highly uncertain nature of innovation, investors may have difficulty processing information associated with a firm’s innovation search strategy. Due to cognitive and strategic ... [more ▼]

Because of the intangible and highly uncertain nature of innovation, investors may have difficulty processing information associated with a firm’s innovation search strategy. Due to cognitive and strategic biases, investors are likely to pay more attention to unfamiliar explorative patents rather than incremental exploitative patents. We find that innovative firms focusing on exploitation rather than exploration tend to generate superior subsequent short-term operating performance. Analysts do not seem to detect this, as firms currently focused on exploitation tend to outperform the market’s near-term earnings expectations. The stock market also seems unable to accurately incorporate information about a firm’s innovation search strategy. We find that firms with exploitation strategies are undervalued relative to firms with exploration strategies and that this return differ-ential is incremental to standard risk and innovation-based pricing factors examined in the prior literature. This result suggests a more nuanced view on whether stock market pressure hampers innovation, and may have implications for optimal firm financing choices and corporate disclosure policy. [less ▲]

Is This Time Different? How Digitalization Influences Job Creation and Destruction

in Research Policy (2019), 48(8),

With the process of digitalization now in full swing, many are wondering how the adoption of new technologies influences job creation and destruction. Much hinges upon the specific tasks that machines ... [more ▼]

With the process of digitalization now in full swing, many are wondering how the adoption of new technologies influences job creation and destruction. Much hinges upon the specific tasks that machines take on and how many new tasks are created through the adoption of new digital technologies. Some argue that most tasks that are at risk of automation are those performed by rather low- to medium-skilled employees, while most new tasks that emerge from the adoption of digital technologies complement high-skilled labor. We present evidence derived from representative survey data from Switzerland that is consistent with this view. Specifically, we find that increased investment in digitalization is associated with increased employment of high-skilled workers and reduced employment of low-skilled workers, with a slightly positive net effect. The main effects are almost entirely driven by firms that employ machine-based digital technologies, e.g. robots, 3D printing or the Internet of Things. We do not find any significant employment effects when non-machine-based digital technologies are considered, e.g. ERP, e-commerce or cooperation support systems. [less ▲]

Machine learning and natural language processing on the patent corpus: data, tools, and new measures

in Journal of Economics and Management Strategy (2018), 27

Independent Boards and Innovation

in Journal of Financial Economics (2017), 123

Gewerkschaftlicher Einfluss auf F&E-Investitionen in KMU

in ZfKE: Zeitschrift für KMU und Entrepreneurship (2017), 65

How Much Does It Cost to be a Scientist?

in Journal of Technology Transfer (2016), 41

Employment Growth Heterogeneity under Varying Intellectual Property Rights Regimes in European Transition Economies: Young vs. Mature Innovators

in Journal of Comparative Economics (2015), 43

Executive Turnover and Outside Directors on Two-Tiered Boards

in Managerial and Decision Economics (2015), 36

Who Makes, Who Breaks: Which Scientists Stay in Academe?

in Economics Letters (2014), 122

Corporate Governance and Employee Power in the Boardroom – An Applied Game Theoretic Analysis

in Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization (2013), 91