Absorptive capacity and post-acquisition inventor productivity

Katrin Hussinger

No 10-066, ZEW Discussion Papers from ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Abstract: Inventors often experience a low productivity after their company has been subject to a merger or acquisition (M&As). It is of central managerial interest to identify factors facilitating the integration of new inventive staff and thereby counteracting innovation declines after M&As. This paper provides empirical evidence into the role of acquiring firms' absorptive capacity for the post-merger patent productivity of the acquired inventors. Based on a sample of 544 inventors employed by European acquisition targets in the period 2000-2001 it is shown that the post-merger productivity of acquired inventors is significantly higher within acquiring firms with a distinct absorptive capacity. It can be concluded that absorptive capacity is a firm capability that enhances the integration of inventors after firm takeovers.

Keywords: M&As; absorptive capacity; inventor productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G34 O30 O32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff and nep-ino
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Journal Article: Absorptive capacity and post-acquisition inventor productivity (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:zewdip:10066

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