IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/respol/v49y2020i3s0048733319302318.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When do firms get ideas from hiring PhDs?

Author

Listed:
  • Buenstorf, Guido
  • Heinisch, Dominik P.

Abstract

Hiring new PhDs allows firms to access recent scientific advances. We develop new measures based on correlated topic models to estimate the similarity of patents and dissertations, and apply these measures to PhD-invented firm patents in the German laser industry. Patents are more exploratory for the firm if the underlying dissertation work is less similar to the firm’s prior knowledge stock. Patents filed prior to dissertation submission are more exploratory. PhD-invented patents did not become less exploratory when Germany adopted university ownership in academic inventions.

Suggested Citation

  • Buenstorf, Guido & Heinisch, Dominik P., 2020. "When do firms get ideas from hiring PhDs?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(3).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:49:y:2020:i:3:s0048733319302318
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2019.103913
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733319302318
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.respol.2019.103913?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. Hans K. Hvide & Benjamin F. Jones, 2018. "University Innovation and the Professor's Privilege," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(7), pages 1860-1898, July.
    2. Ejsing, Ann-Kathrine & Kaiser, Ulrich & Kongsted, Hans Christian & Laursen, Keld, 2013. "The Role of University Scientist Mobility for Industrial Innovation," IZA Discussion Papers 7470, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Buenstorf Guido & Geissler Matthias, 2014. "Like Doktorvater, like Son? Tracing Role Model Learning in the Evolution of German Laser Research," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 234(2-3), pages 158-184, April.
    4. Guido Buenstorf, 2007. "Evolution on the Shoulders of Giants: Entrepreneurship and Firm Survival in the German Laser Industry," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 30(3), pages 179-202, May.
    5. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    6. Jasjit Singh & Ajay Agrawal, 2011. "Recruiting for Ideas: How Firms Exploit the Prior Inventions of New Hires," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(1), pages 129-150, January.
    7. Francesco Lissoni, 2018. "International migration and innovation diffusion: an eclectic survey," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(5), pages 702-714, May.
    8. Kaiser, Ulrich & Kongsted, Hans Christian & Rønde, Thomas, 2015. "Does the mobility of R&D labor increase innovation?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 91-105.
    9. Broström, Anders, 2019. "Academic breeding grounds: Home department conditions and early career performance of academic researchers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(7), pages 1647-1665.
    10. Ajay Bhaskarabhatla & Steven Klepper, 2014. "Latent submarket dynamics and industry evolution: lessons from the US laser industry," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 23(6), pages 1381-1415.
    11. Czarnitzki, Dirk & Doherr, Thorsten & Hussinger, Katrin & Schliessler, Paula & Toole, Andrew A., 2016. "Knowledge Creates Markets: The influence of entrepreneurial support and patent rights on academic entrepreneurship," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 131-146.
    12. Sarah Kaplan & Keyvan Vakili, 2015. "The double-edged sword of recombination in breakthrough innovation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(10), pages 1435-1457, October.
    13. Grün, Bettina & Hornik, Kurt, 2011. "topicmodels: An R Package for Fitting Topic Models," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 40(i13).
    14. Lissoni, Francesco, 2010. "Academic inventors as brokers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 843-857, September.
    15. Hicks, Diana, 1995. "Published Papers, Tacit Competencies and Corporate Management of the Public/Private Character of Knowledge," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 4(2), pages 401-424.
    16. Cockburn, Iain M & Henderson, Rebecca M, 1998. "Absorptive Capacity, Coauthoring Behavior, and the Organization of Research in Drug Discovery," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 157-182, June.
    17. Yan, Erjia & Ding, Ying & Milojević, Staša & Sugimoto, Cassidy R., 2012. "Topics in dynamic research communities: An exploratory study for the field of information retrieval," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 140-153.
    18. Sidonia von Proff & Guido Buenstorf & Martin Hummel, 2012. "University Patenting in Germany before and after 2002: What Role Did the Professors' Privilege Play?," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 23-44, January.
    19. Stefan Krabel & Choni Fl�ther, 2014. "Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? Regional Labour Mobility of German University Graduates," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(10), pages 1609-1627, October.
    20. Dominik P. Heinisch & Guido Buenstorf, 2018. "The next generation (plus one): an analysis of doctoral students’ academic fecundity based on a novel approach to advisor identification," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 117(1), pages 351-380, October.
    21. Kenney, Martin & Patton, Donald, 2009. "Reconsidering the Bayh-Dole Act and the Current University Invention Ownership Model," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(9), pages 1407-1422, November.
    22. Pierpaolo Parrotta & Dario Pozzoli, 2012. "The effect of learning by hiring on productivity," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 43(1), pages 167-185, March.
    23. Francesco Lissoni, 2018. "International migration and innovation diffusion: an eclectic survey," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(5), pages 702-714, May.
    24. Lee, Hsing-fen & Miozzo, Marcela & Laredo, Philippe, 2010. "Career patterns and competences of PhDs in science and engineering in the knowledge economy: The case of graduates from a UK research-based university," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 869-881, September.
    25. Zellner, Christian, 2003. "The economic effects of basic research: evidence for embodied knowledge transfer via scientists' migration," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(10), pages 1881-1895, December.
    26. Iain M. Cockburn & Rebecca M. Henderson, 1998. "Absorptive Capacity, Coauthoring Behavior, and the Organization of Research in Drug Discovery," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 157-182, June.
    27. James G. March, 1991. "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 71-87, February.
    28. Dahl, Michael S. & Sorenson, Olav, 2010. "The migration of technical workers," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 33-45, January.
    29. 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.
    30. Neus Palomeras & Eduardo Melero, 2010. "Markets for Inventors: Learning-by-Hiring as a Driver of Mobility," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(5), pages 881-895, May.
    31. Francesco LISSONI, 2016. "Migration and Innovation Diffusion : An Eclectic Survey," Cahiers du GREThA (2007-2019) 2016-11, Groupe de Recherche en Economie Théorique et Appliquée (GREThA).
    32. Herstad, Sverre J. & Sandven, Tore & Ebersberger, Bernd, 2015. "Recruitment, knowledge integration and modes of innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 138-153.
    33. Matt Marx & Deborah Strumsky & Lee Fleming, 2009. "Mobility, Skills, and the Michigan Non-Compete Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(6), pages 875-889, June.
    34. Lori Rosenkopf & Paul Almeida, 2003. "Overcoming Local Search Through Alliances and Mobility," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(6), pages 751-766, June.
    35. Lynne G. Zucker & Michael R. Darby & Maximo Torero, 2002. "Labor Mobility from Academe to Commerce," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(3), pages 629-660, July.
    36. Perkmann, Markus & Tartari, Valentina & McKelvey, Maureen & Autio, Erkko & Broström, Anders & D’Este, Pablo & Fini, Riccardo & Geuna, Aldo & Grimaldi, Rosa & Hughes, Alan & Krabel, Stefan & Kitson, Mi, 2013. "Academic engagement and commercialisation: A review of the literature on university–industry relations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 423-442.
    37. Jaeyong Song & Paul Almeida & Geraldine Wu, 2003. "Learning--by--Hiring: When Is Mobility More Likely to Facilitate Interfirm Knowledge Transfer?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 49(4), pages 351-365, April.
    38. Stefano Breschi & Francesco Lissoni, 2009. "Mobility of skilled workers and co-invention networks: an anatomy of localized knowledge flows," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 9(4), pages 439-468, July.
    39. Philippe Larédo & Hsing-Fen Lee & Marcela Miozzo, 2010. "Careers and competences of PhDs in science and engineering in the knwoledge economy : The case fo graduates from a UK research-based university," Post-Print hal-00583826, HAL.
    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. Plantec, Quentin & Cabanes, Benjamin & le Masson, Pascal & Weil, Benoit, 2023. "Early-career academic engagement in university–industry collaborative PhDs: Research orientation and project performance," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(9).
    2. Quentin Plantec & Benjamin Cabanes & Pascal Le Masson & Benoit Weil, 2021. "Market-Pull Or Research Push? Effects Of Research Orientations On University-Industry Collaborative Ph.D. Projects' Performances," Post-Print halshs-03190142, HAL.
    3. Martínez, Catalina & Parlane, Sarah, 2023. "Academic scientists in corporate R&D: A theoretical model," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(5).
    4. Quentin Plantec & Benjamin Cabanes & Pascal Le Masson & Benoit Weil, 2023. "Caractérisation et performances des thèses Cifre," Working Papers hal-04099283, HAL.
    5. Tânia Pinto & Aurora A. C. Teixeira, 2020. "The impact of research output on economic growth by fields of science: a dynamic panel data analysis, 1980–2016," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 123(2), pages 945-978, May.

    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. Braunerhjelm, Pontus & Ding, Ding & Thulin, Per, 2020. "Labour market mobility, knowledge diffusion and innovation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    2. Simeth, Markus & Mohammadi, Ali, 2017. "The impact of open innovation on employee mobility and entrepreneurship," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 449, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    3. Pontus Braunerhjelm & Ding Ding & Per Thulin, 2018. "The knowledge spillover theory of intrapreneurship," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 1-30, June.
    4. Jaana Rahko, 2017. "Knowledge spillovers through inventor mobility: the effect on firm-level patenting," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 42(3), pages 585-614, June.
    5. Varshney, Mayank & Jain, Amit, 2023. "Technology acquisition following inventor exit in the biopharmaceutical industry," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    6. Sarah Kaplan & Keyvan Vakili, 2015. "The double-edged sword of recombination in breakthrough innovation," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(10), pages 1435-1457, October.
    7. Fernandez-Zubieta, Ana & Geuna, Aldo & Lawson, Cornelia, 2015. "What do We Know of the Mobility of Research Scientists and of its Impact on Scientific Production," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201522, University of Turin.
    8. Herrera, Liliana & Nieto, Mariano, 2015. "The determinants of firms' PhD recruitment to undertake R&D activities," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 132-142.
    9. Burak Dindaroglu, 2010. "Intra-Industry Knowledge Spillovers and Scientific Labor Mobility," Discussion Papers 10-01, University at Albany, SUNY, Department of Economics.
    10. Varshney, Mayank, 2023. "Learning-by-hiring: How do rival firms learn from focal firm's hiring," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(2).
    11. Jasjit Singh & Ajay Agrawal, 2011. "Recruiting for Ideas: How Firms Exploit the Prior Inventions of New Hires," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(1), pages 129-150, January.
    12. Varshney, Mayank & Jain, Amit, 2023. "Understanding “reverse” knowledge flows following inventor exit in the semiconductor industry," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    13. Michael Roach & Wesley M. Cohen, 2012. "Lens or Prism? Patent Citations as a Measure of Knowledge Flows from Public Research," NBER Working Papers 18292, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Yang, Chia-Hsuan & Nugent, Rebecca & Fuchs, Erica R.H., 2016. "Gains from others’ losses: Technology trajectories and the global division of firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 724-745.
    15. Louise Lindbjerg & Theodor Vladasel, 2021. "Hiring Entrepreneurs for Innovation," Working Papers 1309, Barcelona School of Economics.
    16. Joel Blit, 2017. "Learning remotely: R&D satellites, intra‐firm linkages, and knowledge sourcing," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 757-781, December.
    17. Wagner, Stefan & Goossen, Martin C., 2018. "Knowing me, knowing you: inventor mobility and the formation of technology-oriented alliances," IRTG 1792 Discussion Papers 2018-007, Humboldt University of Berlin, International Research Training Group 1792 "High Dimensional Nonstationary Time Series".
    18. Veugelers, Reinhilde & Cassiman, Bruno & Arts, Sam, 2012. "Mind the gap: capturing value from basic research: boundary crossing inventors and partnerships," CEPR Discussion Papers 9215, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Martin Ganco & Rosemarie H. Ziedonis & Rajshree Agarwal, 2015. "More stars stay, but the brightest ones still leave: Job hopping in the shadow of patent enforcement," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 659-685, May.
    20. Crescenzi, Riccardo & Gagliardi, Luisa, 2018. "The innovative performance of firms in heterogeneous environments: The interplay between external knowledge and internal absorptive capacities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 782-795.

    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:respol:v:49:y:2020:i:3:s0048733319302318. 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/respol .

    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.