Corporate Restructuring and R&D: A Panel Data Analysis for the Chemical Industry

Abstract

We contribute a novel approach to the existing literature on the effects of restructuring on R&D investment by focussing on a single industry, chemicals. The chemical industry is very research intensive and has experienced thorough restructuring since the early 1980s. By focussing on a single industry we are able to identify the technological and R&D features of its segments. This is important, since there is evidence that restructuring affects R&D differently in businesses with different technological features. However, no study so far has provided a systematic inquiry into this link. Using a panel of 535 European, American, and Japanese firms for the years 1987-1997 we find restructuring to be an important component in the observed changes in R&D intensity. We show that restructuring affects R&D both through changes in size and through changes in the composition of business portfolios, and that these effects differ across industry segments.

JEL Classification: G34, L65, O32