To explore or to exploit? An empirical investigation of acquisitions by large incumbents

Innovation in high technology industries poses considerable challenges, frequently forcing firms to consider using acquisitions as a means of sourcing technology. This paper investigates such behaviour in a major high technology sector, namely the semiconductor industry. The paper focuses on differential effects of technology-related versus nontechnological acquisitions on exploratory and exploitative research and innovation. Most importantly, it confirms the important role of technology-related acquisitions for exploratory innovation.

► Technology-related acquisitions benefit exploratory innovation output.
► Nontechnological acquisitions negatively affect innovation output in general.
► Nontechnological acquisitions have a particularly negative effect on exploitative innovation output.