IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finana/v81y2022ics1057521922000461.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Independent directors and patenting strategies: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Zhang, Tianyu

Abstract

Despite the burgeoning literature on the contribution of independent boards to innovation, little is known about their influence on patenting strategies. Relying on finer-grained patent data of Chinese listed firms, this study tests the causal effects of board independence on patenting strategies, specifically, technological scope, technological proximity, and technological concentration. We show that having more independent directors on a board leads to a narrower technological scope and more overlap between current and prior technological trajectories, but there is no material impact on technological concentration. These effects are more pronounced among firms with market and technological dominance. Moreover, patenting strategies seem to benefit firms' financial and innovation outcomes, which highlights the value of independent directors as advisors.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Tianyu, 2022. "Independent directors and patenting strategies: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:81:y:2022:i:c:s1057521922000461
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2022.102072
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057521922000461
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.irfa.2022.102072?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Holmstrom, Bengt, 1989. "Agency costs and innovation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 305-327, December.
    2. Renee B. Adams & Benjamin E. Hermalin & Michael S. Weisbach, 2010. "The Role of Boards of Directors in Corporate Governance: A Conceptual Framework and Survey," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 58-107, March.
    3. Michael C. Jensen, 2010. "The Modern Industrial Revolution, Exit, and the Failure of Internal Control Systems," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 22(1), pages 43-58, January.
    4. ., 2001. "Corporate Governance in Islamic Banking," Chapters, in: Islamic Banking, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    5. Balsmeier, Benjamin & Fleming, Lee & Manso, Gustavo, 2017. "Independent boards and innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 536-557.
    6. Cao, Xiaping & Cumming, Douglas & Zhou, Sili, 2020. "State ownership and corporate innovative efficiency," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    7. Vittoria G. Scalera & Alessandra Perri & T. J. Hannigan, 2018. "Knowledge connectedness within and across home country borders: Spatial heterogeneity and the technological scope of firm innovations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(8), pages 990-1009, October.
    8. Gambardella, Alfonso & Giuri, Paola & Luzzi, Alessandra, 2007. "The market for patents in Europe," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 1163-1183, October.
    9. Tristan Fitzgerald & Benjamin Balsmeier & Lee Fleming & Gustavo Manso, 2021. "Innovation Search Strategy and Predictable Returns," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(2), pages 1109-1137, February.
    10. Po-Hsuan Hsu & Hsiao-Hui Lee & Shu-Cing Peng & Long Yi, 2018. "Natural Disasters, Technology Diversity, and Operating Performance," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 100(4), pages 619-630, October.
    11. Holmström, Bengt, 1989. "Agency Costs and Innovation," Working Paper Series 214, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    12. Weisbach, Michael S., 1988. "Outside directors and CEO turnover," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 431-460, January.
    13. Michael L. Katz & Carl Shapiro, 1985. "On the Licensing of Innovations," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 16(4), pages 504-520, Winter.
    14. Parmod Chand & Lorne Cummings & Chris Patel, 2012. "The Effect of Accounting Education and National Culture on Accounting Judgments: A Comparative Study of Anglo-Celtic and Chinese Culture," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 153-182, May.
    15. Tirole, Jean, 2001. "Corporate Governance," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(1), pages 1-35, January.
    16. Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde, 2018. "On the Relationship between Cognitive Ability and Risk Preference," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 32(2), pages 115-134, Spring.
    17. Achim Buchwald & Susanne Thorwarth, 2018. "Outside directors on the board, competition and innovation," International Journal of Economics and Business Research, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 16(2), pages 210-231.
    18. Helmers, Christian & Patnam, Manasa & Rau, P. Raghavendra, 2017. "Do board interlocks increase innovation? Evidence from a corporate governance reform in India," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 51-70.
    19. Balsmeier, Benjamin & Buchwald, Achim & Stiebale, Joel, 2014. "Outside directors on the board and innovative firm performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(10), pages 1800-1815.
    20. Cashman, George D. & Gillan, Stuart L. & Jun, Chulhee, 2012. "Going overboard? On busy directors and firm value," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 3248-3259.
    21. Shao, Yuchen & Xiao, Chengrui, 2019. "Corporate tax policy and heterogeneous firm innovation: Evidence from a developing country," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 470-486.
    22. Yuval Deutsch, 2007. "The Influence of Outside Directors' Stock‐Option Compensation on Firms' R&D," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 816-827, September.
    23. Duchin, Ran & Matsusaka, John G. & Ozbas, Oguzhan, 2010. "When are outside directors effective?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 195-214, May.
    24. Merendino, Alessandro & Sarens, Gerrit, 2020. "Crisis? What crisis? Exploring the cognitive constraints on boards of directors in times of uncertainty," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 415-430.
    25. Yu, Wei & Zhu, Keying & Huang, Huiqin & Teklay, Belaynesh, 2021. "Does confucianism influence corporate earnings management?," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    26. Baker, Scott & Mezzetti, Claudio, 2005. "Disclosure as a Strategy in the Patent Race," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 48(1), pages 173-194, April.
    27. Novelli, Elena, 2015. "An examination of the antecedents and implications of patent scope," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 493-507.
    28. Kim, Jungho & Lee, Chang-Yang & Cho, Yunok, 2016. "Technological diversification, core-technology competence, and firm growth," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 113-124.
    29. Puay Khoon Toh & Taekyu Kim, 2013. "Why Put All Your Eggs in One Basket? A Competition-Based View of How Technological Uncertainty Affects a Firm’s Technological Specialization," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(4), pages 1214-1236, August.
    30. Albie Brooks & Judy Oliver & Angelo Veljanovski, 2009. "The Role of the Independent Director: Evidence from a Survey of Independent Directors in Australia," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 19(3), pages 161-177, September.
    31. Fu, Yishu, 2019. "Independent directors, CEO career concerns, and firm innovation: Evidence from China," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    32. James G. March, 1991. "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 71-87, February.
    33. Jaffe, Adam B, 1986. "Technological Opportunity and Spillovers of R&D: Evidence from Firms' Patents, Profits, and Market Value," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 984-1001, December.
    34. Anil Shivdasani & David Yermack, 1999. "CEO Involvement in the Selection of New Board Members: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(5), pages 1829-1853, October.
    35. Ongsakul, Viput & Jiraporn, Pornsit, 2019. "How do independent directors view powerful executive risk-taking incentives? A quasi-natural experiment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    36. Nguyen, Bang Dang & Nielsen, Kasper Meisner, 2010. "The value of independent directors: Evidence from sudden deaths," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(3), pages 550-567, December.
    37. Fisch, Christian & Sandner, Philipp & Regner, Lukas, 2017. "The value of Chinese patents: An empirical investigation of citation lags," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 22-34.
    38. Renée B. Adams & Daniel Ferreira, 2007. "A Theory of Friendly Boards," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(1), pages 217-250, February.
    39. Brickley, James A. & Coles, Jeffrey L. & Terry, Rory L., 1994. "Outside directors and the adoption of poison pills," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 371-390, June.
    40. Jürgen Mihm & Fabian J. Sting & Tan Wang, 2015. "On the Effectiveness of Patenting Strategies in Innovation Races," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(11), pages 2662-2684, November.
    41. Li, Yanlin & Tian, Gary Gang & Wang, Xin, 2021. "The effect of Guanxi culture on the voting of independent directors: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    42. Joshua Lerner, 1994. "The Importance of Patent Scope: An Empirical Analysis," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(2), pages 319-333, Summer.
    43. Yin‐hua Yeh & Tsun‐siou Lee & Tracie Woidtke, 2001. "Family Control and Corporate Governance: Evidence from Taiwan," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 2(1‐2), pages 21-48.
    44. Steven Boivie & Michael C. Withers & Scott D. Graffin & Kevin G. Corley, 2021. "Corporate directors' implicit theories of the roles and duties of boards," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(9), pages 1662-1695, September.
    45. Kim, Kyonghee & Mauldin, Elaine & Patro, Sukesh, 2014. "Outside directors and board advising and monitoring performance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 110-131.
    46. Steven A. Lippman & Richard P. Rumelt, 2003. "A bargaining perspective on resource advantage," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(11), pages 1069-1086, November.
    47. Bargeron, Leonce L. & Lehn, Kenneth M. & Zutter, Chad J., 2010. "Sarbanes-Oxley and corporate risk-taking," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1-2), pages 34-52, February.
    48. Wu, Yihan & Dong, Bin, 2021. "The value of independent directors: Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    49. Mao, Connie X. & Zhang, Chi, 2018. "Managerial Risk-Taking Incentive and Firm Innovation: Evidence from FAS 123R," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(2), pages 867-898, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lin, Nan & Li, Ao & Ke, Jinjun & Yuan, Jiayue & Chen, Han, 2023. "The governance role of corporate party organization on innovation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 657-670.
    2. Zhang, Tianyu, 2023. "Peer effects in R&D investment based on interlock network: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Catarina Fernandes & Jorge Farinha & Francisco Vitorino Martins & Cesario Mateus, 2018. "Bank governance and performance: a survey of the literature," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(3), pages 236-256, July.
    2. Balsmeier, Benjamin & Fleming, Lee & Manso, Gustavo, 2017. "Independent boards and innovation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(3), pages 536-557.
    3. Kuang, Yu Flora & Lee, Gladys, 2017. "Corporate fraud and external social connectedness of independent directors," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 401-427.
    4. Matteo P. Arena & Michaël Dewally & Sarah W. Peck, 2020. "Fight or flee: Outside director departures prior to contested management buyout offers," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 274-293, September.
    5. Mark Humphery‐Jenner & Emdad Islam & Lubna Rahman & Jo‐Ann Suchard, 2022. "Powerful CEOs and Corporate Governance," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(1), pages 135-188, March.
    6. Balachandran, Balasingham & Williams, Barry, 2018. "Effective governance, financial markets, financial institutions & crises," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-15.
    7. Ching-Hung Chang & Qingqing Wu, 2021. "Board Networks and Corporate Innovation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(6), pages 3618-3654, June.
    8. Catarina Fernandes & Jorge Farinha & Francisco Vitorino Martins & Cesario Mateus, 2017. "Supervisory boards, financial crisis and bank performance: do board characteristics matter?," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(4), pages 310-337, November.
    9. Md Arafat Hossain & Elaine Yen Nee Oon, 2022. "Board leadership, board meeting frequency and firm performance in two‐tier boards," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(3), pages 862-879, April.
    10. Masulis, Ronald W. & Wang, Cong & Xie, Fei, 2012. "Globalizing the boardroom—The effects of foreign directors on corporate governance and firm performance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 527-554.
    11. Dahya, Jay & Golubov, Andrey & Petmezas, Dimitris & Travlos, Nickolaos G., 2019. "Governance mandates, outside directors, and acquirer performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 218-238.
    12. Lamoreaux, Phillip T. & Litov, Lubomir P. & Mauler, Landon M., 2019. "lead Independent Directors: Good governance or window dressing?," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 47-69.
    13. Masulis, Ronald W. & Zhang, Emma Jincheng, 2019. "How valuable are independent directors? Evidence from external distractions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(3), pages 226-256.
    14. Mamdouh Abdulaziz Saleh Al-Faryan, 2021. "The effect of board composition and managerial pay on Saudi firm performance," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 57(2), pages 693-758, August.
    15. Lu, Jun & Wang, Wei, 2018. "Managerial conservatism, board independence and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-16.
    16. Subramanian R. Iyer & Harikumar Sankaran & Yan Zhang, 2020. "Do Well‐Connected Boards Invest Optimally In R&D Activities?," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 43(4), pages 895-932, December.
    17. Lim, Jesslyn & Do, Viet & Vu, Tram, 2020. "Co-opted directors, covenant intensity, and covenant violations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    18. Hedy Jiaying Huang & Ahsan Habib & Sophia Li Sun & Ying Liu & Huiting Guo, 2021. "Financial reporting and corporate innovation: a review of the international literature," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(4), pages 5439-5499, December.
    19. Jiao Ji & Oleksandr Talavera & Shuxing Yin, 2018. "The Hidden Information Content: Evidence from the Tone of Independent Director Reports," Working Papers 2018-28, Swansea University, School of Management.
    20. Sandra Cavaco & Patricia Crifo & Antoine Rebérioux & Gwenael Roudaut, 2014. "Independent directors: less informed, but better selected? New evidence from a two-way director-firm fixed effect model," Working Papers hal-04141284, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:81:y:2022:i:c:s1057521922000461. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620166 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.