This proposal describes an ambitious investigation into connections between corporate control activities (acquisitions, divestments), commitment to innovation (research and development -- R&D), and performance measures (such as a decline in competitiveness). Acquisitions, for instance, take considerable corporate effort and promote a short-run view. In turn, this draws attention away from longer-run emphasis on corporate R&D, which may make a firm less competitive. Similarly, corporate restructuring can lead to increased debt, which inhibits R&D commitments. Although plausible, these ideas have yet to be addressed in the economics, finance, or management literature. The principal investigators propose a combination of primary and secondary data sources to provide insights into internal corporate dynamics. The primary data source will be based on a large-scale survey of almost 1000 companies, with detailed interviews at 30 companies. The secondary data source will involve analysis of longitudinal records available from COMPUSTAT and other sources. The integration of these two data sources offers the opportunity to gain theoretical and empirical advances in understanding corporate response to restructuring.
