Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
Theory suggests R&D intensity and acquisition activity may be either directly or inversely related. However, we know relatively little about which firms are responsible for acquisition activity in high‐technology industries, which are not only R&D‐intensive, but also have substantial acquisition activity in the United States. Using a panel of 217 US electronic and electrical equipment firms from 1985–93 and limited dependent variable estimation techniques, we find a substantial negative correlation between R&D‐intensity and a firm’s propensity to acquire. This result is surprisingly robust to numerous sensitivity tests and is significant in both the ‘within’ and ‘between’ dimensions of our data.