Ownership structures and R&D in Europe: the good institutional investors, the bad and ugly impatient shareholders

Olivier Brossard (1) , Stéphanie Lavigne (1) , Mustafa Erdem Sakinc (2)

1 LEREPS - Laboratoire d'Etude et de Recherche sur l'Economie, les Politiques et les Systèmes Sociaux
2 GREThA - Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée

This study examines the relationship between ownership structures in large European companies and their innovative activity in terms of R&D spending. The analysis is performed on a sample of 324 large innovative companies over 8 years. Contrary to the view that institutional investors can have a negative influence on R&D spending, we report a positive impact of these investors. Our study also tests the impact of 'impatient' institutional investors and provides evidence of their negative influence on R&D spending.

Mots clés: ownership structures; institutional ownership; innovation; R&D intensity

Domaines: Economies et finances

Olivier Brossard, Stéphanie Lavigne, Mustafa Erdem Sakinc. Ownership structures and R&D in Europe: the good institutional investors, the bad and ugly impatient shareholders. Industrial and Corporate Change, 2013, 22 (04), pp.xx-xx. ⟨10.1093/icc/dtt018⟩. ⟨halshs-00843984⟩