Prof. Jerry Thursby; Prof. Marie Thursby (Georgia Tech)

 Programm

• Datum: 23.06.2010
  Zeit: 17:15 - 18:45
  Ort: Raum 024, Ludwigstr. 28, RG

CAMS Seminar mit Prof. Jerry Thursby, Ph.D.:

Conveying Quality and Value in Emerging Industries: Star Scientists and the Role of Signals in Biotechnology

This paper addresses the role that scientific status plays in initial public offerings of technology focused firms.  The paper builds on the literature of the sociology of science as well as the work of Spence (1975) and Podolny (1993) and argues that the presence of a Nobel laureate affiliated with a firm making an IPO provides a signal of firm quality to potential investors.  Moreover, and building on the work of Podolny and Scott Morton (1999) and Stuart et al. (1999) we hypothesize that the importance of status diminishes as other measures of firm quality become available.  We test our hypothesis for two periods of initial public offerings in biotechnology.  We document that there is a clear difference in “maturity” of the firms across the two windows on a number of metrics.  Consistent with our hypothesis that Nobel laureates play an important role as a non-financial signal of firm quality, we find that first-window firms with a Nobel laureate affiliate realize greater IPO proceeds in the amount of $24 million.  In the second window the amount of money raised is not significantly different between Nobel and non-Nobel firms.  This finding is consistent with the signaling literature that argues that the importance of a signal is inversely related to the availability of cogent information on firm quality.  Consistent with this view, we also find a change between the two windows in the importance of other non-financial metrics used to convey value.  Our research is one of the first to demonstrate the dynamic nature of signals across distinct equity financing windows.

• Datum: 30.06.2010
  Zeit: 17:15 - 18:45
  Ort: Raum 024, Ludwigstr. 28, RG

CAMS Seminar mit Prof. Jerry Thursby, Ph.D. und Prof. Marie Thursby, Ph.D.:

University Licensing: Harnessing or Tarnishing Faculty Research?
(Academic version: Faculty Participation in Licensing: Implications for Research)

We exploit a unique database on research and invention disclosure of faculty at 11 major US universities over a period of 17 years to explore the extent to which faculty involvement in license activity has affected their research profiles. We relate faculty disclosures to their industry and government-sponsored research, publications, and citations. Recent disclosure by faculty has a positive effect on industry and government funding, but, if they disclose multiple times, the positive effect on government funding can be negative. Recent and repeated disclosures increase the faculty member’s publication count as well as the importance of these publications in terms of citations. We also examine life cycle effects and find that the ability to attract funding and the rate of publication increase as the faculty member ages but at a decreasing rate. We also find that post tenure, both types of funding decrease.