Organisational form and the economic impacts of innovation: the case of patent grant announcements.

This study investigates the impact of corporate diversification on the value creation of patent grants. We find that focussed firms experience significantly greater market reactions to patent announcements than diversified firms. Diversification into related industries has little effect on the wealth gains of granted patents, while diversification into unrelated industries significantly reduces the wealth gains. We further find that post-announcement operating performance is significantly associated with the degree of diversification. Overall, our findings suggest that the selection of diversification as a firm's organisational structure has a negative influence on the value creation of innovation, and this influence is exacerbated when this diversification involves unrelated industries.