This is a quantitative thesis of the Swedish biotech industry, that intends to study what effect M&A activity has on firms R&D intensity. It is an important question as the market demand is changing rapidly and puts high pressure on companies to constantly deliver new innovations. The study is based on panel data and ordinary least squares regressions. The findings are similar to previous studies, which points towards both positive and negative directions when referring to M&A activity and its impact on R&D intensity. This thesis show lack of statistical significant results when it comes to how R&D intensity (R&D intensity is defined as the ratio of R&D expenditure to total sales) is affected by M&A activity.

Background: Management control systems (MCS) are used to control organizations and make employees behave and act in the desirable way. Performance measurement (PM) systems one type of MCS and are used to communicate company strategies throughout the organization, motivate the employees to work towards company goals, and measure the outcome. PM systems can be a powerful tool, but if used in the wrong way they can have adverse effects. Aim: This thesis focused on the use of PM systems for management control purposes in research and development (R&D) organisations with the question: How can performance measurement systems be utilized in R&D organizations? Method: The thesis is based on a literature study, complemented by a case study (metric analysis, survey and deep interviews) at a R&D department. The department was investigated at two time points, in between which the PM system was re-designed. In the metric analysis, the performance targets of the PM system were categorized into quantitative-objective, quantitative-subjective and qualitative-subjective targets. Results: The results from the case study were in line with findings from the literature. At study point 2, when the PM system had been re-designed, the employees felt more involved in shaping and influencing the goals. Also the follow-up of the goals was experienced as more implemented at study point two. The types of measured targets had shifted from quantitative to qualitative, including soft values such as team spirit, at study point 2. However, the members did not feel that the goals motivated them at any time point. . Conclusion: In the literature review it was evident from the number of publications that there is a great interest in measuring R&D performance, and that PM systems are an important tool to R&D managers. Just as the company in this case study, each organization needs to analyze its own needs and adopt the PM system thereafter. Moreover, no system should be seen as static, instead it should be continuously evaluated and adjusted to make sure it measures what it is intended to measure and that it does not cause adverse effects on the organization.

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A mandate is “a business, or element of a business, in which the subsidiary participates and for which it has responsibilities beyond its national market” (Birkinshaw, 1996, p. 467). In the past MNCs set up subsidiaries as miniature replicas of the parent firm but with a changing global market the role of the subsidiary has developed into holding specific mandates. Much has been written about how subsidiaries gain mandates, but in this paper we focus on what causes a subsidiary to lose its mandate. By using AstraZeneca’s R&D unit in Södertälje as a case we examine the loss of mandates and to what extent technological capabilities are connected to the loss of mandates. The paper shows that explaining the loss of mandates is complex and requires consideration of several perspectives. We here provide a starting point for other researchers to continue upon.

The thesis summarizes current state of art for the most recent research capabilities of innovation activities analysis. Its main goal is to assess the factors influencing pace and volume of technological innovativeness throughout the European industry and services sectors considering time span 2002-2008 using country-level Community Innovation Surveys and R&D data. It also attempts to evaluate trends in innovation policy instruments targeted to close the gap between Europe and world innovation leaders such as USA. Complex literature overview, basic empirical and extended instruments' analyses lead to recommendations of optimal governments' policy approaches towards different groups of countries divided by level of innovative performance.

Valuation of R&D projects is quite complex due to the substantial uncertainties in a project's life-cycle phases. The sequential nature of R&D projects continuously provides decision-makers with choices regarding whether and when to undertake future potential investment opportunities. This means that when valuing R&D projects decision-makers should take these factors into account. But R&D project usually takes long time to complete processes for commercialization. If the time to complete is longer, it is easier to trigger the crisis for capital shortage. So it seems very important modeling the capital shortage risk to induce the probability of failure in the pricing model. In this thesis we try to apply the analogy of financial securities subject to credit risk of Jarrow & Turnbull (1995) and attempt to value patents with capital shortage risk in an arbitrage free environment using the martingale measure technique. Furthermore, derive closed form formula for patents valuation which makes application easier than that of the theoretic option model. The major findings are: (1) when considering the effect of the failure frequency (capital shortage risk), the patent value will grow rapidly and then converge in the short run, no matter how other parameters incorporated into the robust analysis; (2) when increasing in the volatility of market revenues with synchronized higher volatility of investment cost, the volatility curve will be distorted to be U-shaped. Meanwhile, lower failure frequency could aggravate the decreasing in the option value. Another issue is when the manager exercises the project with multiple underlying assets, where the assets returns are of non-linear correlation particularly in the non-Normal environment. Non-parametric dependence measures may better employed when explaining co-movement. We focus on the value of a (such as resources development) project in general depends on the price of the multiple products; these are usually correlated to some extent. So the project was treated as having a rainbow option, whose underlying asset prices correlate with each other, and also as having uncertainties that decrease according to the project stage. Based on Cherubini and Luciano’s framework (2002), the risk-neutral copula models are derived to figure decision flexibilities out easily. The main framework studies the valuation of a project (call on Max) by determining the joint risk-neutral distribution of the underlying assets (products) using copulas. Monte-Carlo simulations show that the higher default risk and association among the assets and the expected cost to completion contributes the higher risk premium in our model with dependence structure of Archimedean copula family than traditional Black-Scholes environment. / Valuation of R&D projects is quite complex due to the substantial uncertainties in a project's life-cycle phases. The sequential nature of R&D projects continuously provides decision-makers with choices regarding whether and when to undertake future potential investment opportunities. This means that when valuing R&D projects decision-makers should take these factors into account. But R&D project usually takes long time to complete processes for commercialization. If the time to complete is longer, it is easier to trigger the crisis for capital shortage. So it seems very important modeling the capital shortage risk to induce the probability of failure in the pricing model. In this thesis we try to apply the analogy of financial securities subject to credit risk of Jarrow & Turnbull (1995) and attempt to value patents with capital shortage risk in an arbitrage free environment using the martingale measure technique. Furthermore, derive closed form formula for patents valuation which makes application easier than that of the theoretic option model. The major findings are: (1) when considering the effect of the failure frequency (capital shortage risk), the patent value will grow rapidly and then converge in the short run, no matter how other parameters incorporated into the robust analysis; (2) when increasing in the volatility of market revenues with synchronized higher volatility of investment cost, the volatility curve will be distorted to be U-shaped. Meanwhile, lower failure frequency could aggravate the decreasing in the option value. Another issue is when the manager exercises the project with multiple underlying assets, where the assets returns are of non-linear correlation particularly in the non-Normal environment. Non-parametric dependence measures may better employed when explaining co-movement. We focus on the value of a (such as resources development) project in general depends on the price of the multiple products; these are usually correlated to some extent. So the project was treated as having a rainbow option, whose underlying asset prices correlate with each other, and also as having uncertainties that decrease according to the project stage. Based on Cherubini and Luciano’s framework (2002), the risk-neutral copula models are derived to figure decision flexibilities out easily. The main framework studies the valuation of a project (call on Max) by determining the joint risk-neutral distribution of the underlying assets (products) using copulas. Monte-Carlo simulations show that the higher default risk and association among the assets and the expected cost to completion contributes the higher risk premium in our model with dependence structure of Archimedean copula family than traditional Black-Scholes environment.

This dissertation investigates three sets of research questions. First, how can partner selection be used as a mechanism to minimize R&D alliance participants’ concerns about knowledge leakage? And what is the nature of the relationship among partner selection and two previously-studied protection mechanisms – governance structure and alliance scope? Extending this research question to the international context, the second set of research questions asks how international R&D alliances differ from their domestic counterparts in partner selection to protect their participants’ valuable knowledge, and how different types of international R&D alliances vary in this regard. Distinguishing bilateral from multilateral R&D alliances, this dissertation examines a third set of questions about how multilateral R&D alliances differ from bilateral ones in partner selection for the purpose of protecting participants’ technological assets. Hypotheses are proposed and tested with a sample of 2,185 R&D alliances involving companies in high technology industries. Results indicate that the more radical the innovation an R&D alliance intends to develop, the more likely the alliance will be formed between Friends than Strangers. However, under the same situation, firms are less likely to select Acquaintances than Strangers. A substitution effect was detected among partner selection, governance structure, and alliance scope used by firms to protect their valuable technological assets from being appropriated in R&D alliances. In addition, no empirical support was found for different partner selection preferences for firms forming domestic R&D alliances versus international R&D alliances. However, results show that firms, when forming trinational R&D alliances and/or traditional international R&D alliances, are more likely to select their prior partners than when forming cross-nation domestic R&D alliances. Moreover, this study shows that when an R&D alliance is formed by multiple companies, partner firms are more likely to be prior partners. I argue that concerns about knowledge leakage explain this result.

It aims at find out the shortage of Value chain activities should be improved of Chinese little recycle companies, through a comparative analysis of value chain activities of a laggard and advanced recycle company. And set the steps to identify opportunities for little recycle companies to gain competitive from low cost and add-value. Finally try to find out the most proper way though the value chain and competitive advantage to develop recycling companies ‘competitiveness. And it also gives some useful suggestions.

The purpose with this thesis was to examine the most significant factors that affect the number of patents applications submitted on a municipality level in Sweden, with the objective to find the most significant of them. Three factors was chosen and analyzed more closely. The three factors was, investments in R&D made by firms, share of human capital and investments in R&D made by universities. Theses factors was tested against the dependent variable patent applications in three hypothesis and a stepwise regression model was conducted, with the objective to find the most significant variable. The result of the study, shows that not all of the factors had a positive effect on the number of patent applications, further the study indicated that the most significant factor for a municipality in order to have a high number of patent applications, was to have a high share of human capital.

The differences between firms‘ book values and market values has drawn attention to investigate what factors are causing this phenomenon. A considerable amount of research was dedicated to investigating the association between firms‘ innovative activity, which results in the patenting of new products or services and firms market value in the context of United States. However, not many studies of similar kind are documented in the Swedish firms context. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the previous studies, and analyze whether and how patents and R&D are associated with Swedish firms‘ market values. For this study the cross-section and time-series data were collected from publicly listed Swedish companies’ financial statements and the Amadeus database. Investigation begins with an attempt to find out whether R&D and patents are associated. Finally, the hypothesis is tested whether patents are positively associated with Swedish firms’ market values. The results partially support the expectations. There was no strong statistical association found between R&D and patents, however in the final model patents were found to be positively associated with Swedish firms’ market values. A conclusion can be drawn that the patent is a powerful device providing incentives for innovation, while innovation in products and services ensures that our quality of life is increasing.