<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This paper studies possible complementarities and substitution effects between such strategic choices as alliances, acquisitions and internal R&amp;D investments. The findings indicate that a firm’s absorptive capacity affects the presence of complementarities and substitution effects among those strategic choices. Firms with high absorptive capacity exhibit substitution effects between alliances and acquisitions and between alliances and internal R&amp;D investments. Firms with high absorptive capacity also exhibit complementarities between acquisitions and additional R&amp;D investments. These results were obtained from panel data of large and medium U.S. companies spanning the years 1998-2009. The results are robust to the use of different measures of performance: profitability, market-to-book value, and sales growth. This paper contributes to our understanding of the role of absorptive capacity for the optimal choice of inter-organizational strategy vs. greater internal R&amp;D investments.</p></abstract>

This paper studies possible complementarities and substitution effects between such strategic choices as alliances, acquisitions and internal R&D investments. The findings indicate that a firm’s absorptive capacity affects the presence of complementarities and substitution effects among those strategic choices. Firms with high absorptive capacity exhibit substitution effects between alliances and acquisitions and between alliances and internal R&D investments. Firms with high absorptive capacity also exhibit complementarities between acquisitions and additional R&D investments. These results were obtained from panel data of large and medium U.S. companies spanning the years 1998-2009. The results are robust to the use of different measures of performance: profitability, market-to-book value, and sales growth. This paper contributes to our understanding of the role of absorptive capacity for the optimal choice of inter-organizational strategy vs. greater internal R&D investments.

Do Strategic Alliances, Acquisitions, and R&amp;D Investments Act as Complements or Substitutes?

University of Houston Clear Lake, Houston, Texas United States

Foundations of Management

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Do Strategic Alliances, Acquisitions, and R&D Investments Act as Complements or Substitutes?

This paper studies possible complementarities and substitution effects between such strategic choices as alliances, acquisitions and internal R&D investments....

Do Strategic Alliances, Acquisitions, and R&D Investments Act as Complements or Substitutes?

Published Online: Mar 26, 2016

Page range: 7 - 20

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/fman-2016-0001

Keywords
alliances, acquisitions, R&D investments, absorptive capacity, firm performance, panel data

© 2016 Aleksey Martynov

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Do Strategic Alliances, Acquisitions, and R&D Investments Act as Complements or Substitutes?

Published Online: Mar 26, 2016

Page range: 7 - 20

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/fman-2016-0001

Keywordsalliances, acquisitions, R&D investments, absorptive capacity, firm performance, panel data

© 2016 Aleksey Martynov

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
alliances, acquisitions, R&D investments, absorptive capacity, firm performance, panel data