Abstract:
The paper analyses innovation strategies of bio-pharmaceutical companies and relates them to context features, open innovation adoption and financial performances. Innovation strategies are defined through the use of patent data as the combination of five elements: patent applications, body of knowledge, patent scope, technological strategy and technological focalization/differentiation. Open innovation adoption is evaluated through an accounting approach by examining all the costs, revenues, new investments and divestments of intangibles related to open transactions. The work relies on empirical data on a sample of 102 R&D intense bio-pharmaceutical companies. Results show that patent applications, body of knowledge and technological differentiation are positively correlated each other. Further, they exhibit a positive correlation with firm size, age and financial performances and a negative one with open innovation adoption, in particular as to operational outbound practices. The paper contributes to the research on innovation by providing a comprehensive framework for the definition of innovation strategies through the use of standardized and objective data.
