(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007-07-12)
Chauhan, Lokendra Pratap Singh
This thesis attempts to analyze a part of the big and complex process of how intellectual
property ownership and technological innovation influence the performance of firms and
their revenues. Here I analyze a firm's stock market performance as a function of the
quantity and quality of intellectual property (patents) owned by the firm in context of the
three US high-technology sectors, Pharmaceuticals, Semiconductors and Wireless. In
these sectors, value of a firm is predominantly driven by the technologies which a firm
owns. I use citation based indicators and number of claims to measure the quality of
patents. This research presents empirical evidence for the hypothesis that in high-tech
sectors, companies which generate better quality intellectual property perform better than
average in the stock market. I also posit that firms which are producing better quality
technologies (good R&D) invest more in R&D regardless of their market performance.
Furthermore, though smaller firms get relatively less returns on quality and quantity of
innovation, they tend to invest a bigger fraction of their total assets in R&D when they
are generating high quality patents. Larger firms enjoy the super-additivity effects in
terms of market performance as the same intellectual property gives better returns to
them. In addition, returns to R&D are relatively higher in the pharmaceutical industry
than semiconductor or wireless industries.
(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2006-04-12)
Bhaskarabhatla, Ajay Sivaram
This thesis investigates the structure and location of the nanotechnology enterprise in the United States. Nanotechnology merits focus because of the high degree of innovative activity associated with it and due to its promise for regional economic development. I consider the particular sectoral and technical characteristics of nanotechnology. Building on insights from theories of high-technology industrial evolution, this thesis examines contrasting hypotheses about the location of nanotechnology firms. I find that regional academic R and D, availability of venture capital promote entry of nanotechnology firms.