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Effects of foreign acquisitions on R&D and high-skill activities

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Using Swedish micro data we find no evidence for the concerns circulating in the public debate that foreign acquisitions lead to reductions in R&D expenditures and high-skilled activities in targeted domestic firms, neither in MNEs nor in non-MNEs. Previous studies have only focused on larger firms. In this paper we are able to study the impact on smaller firms (less than 50 employees). This is important since 90 percent of the firms acquired by foreign enterprises have less than 50 employees. For this group of firms there is no information on R&D, but by using the register of educational attainment we have data on the share of high-skilled labor in all Swedish firms, irrespective of size. Interestingly, we find that among smaller firms foreign enterprises tend to acquire high-productive, skill-intensive firms (cherry-picking) and after the acquisitions skill upgrading appears in acquired smaller, non- MNE firms.

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  • Eliasson, Kent & Hansson, Pär & Lindvert, Markus, 2015. "Effects of foreign acquisitions on R&D and high-skill activities," Working Papers 2015:10, Örebro University, School of Business.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:oruesi:2015_010
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    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Victor Zitian & Shapiro, Daniel M. & Li, Jing, 2022. "Cross-border acquisitions and R&D: Unpacking the impact on acquirers and targets," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB).
    2. Burger, Anže & Hogan, Teresa & Kotnik, Patricia & Rao, Sandeep & Sakinç, Mustafa Erdem, 2023. "Does acquisition lead to the growth of high-tech scale-ups? Evidence from Europe," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    foreign acquisitions; skill upgrading; R&D; intensity; propensity score matching;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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