IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v82y2023ics0929119923000949.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cybersecurity risk and corporate innovation

Author

Listed:
  • Lattanzio, Gabriele
  • Ma, Yue

Abstract

Using a text-based metric of firms' ex-ante exposure to cybersecurity risk, we document that the rise of cyber threats is redesigning corporate innovation and appropriation strategies. As firms' exposure to cybersecurity risk increases, managers' reliance on trade secrets declines, as they seek to protect their firms' intellectual capital under the umbrella provided by patent and intellectual property laws. In particular, we document that firms exposed to cyber threats file for simpler patents to accelerate their innovation cycle. This strategic adjustment is not costless, as it causes firms' returns to research and development (R&D) investments to decline significantly.

Suggested Citation

  • Lattanzio, Gabriele & Ma, Yue, 2023. "Cybersecurity risk and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:82:y:2023:i:c:s0929119923000949
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2023.102445
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929119923000949
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2023.102445?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. I. P. L. Png, 2017. "Secrecy and Patents: Theory and Evidence from the Uniform Trade Secrets Act," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(3), pages 176-193, September.
    2. Chris Florackis & Christodoulos Louca & Roni Michaely & Michael Weber, 2023. "Cybersecurity Risk," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 36(1), pages 351-407.
    3. Lamont, Owen & Polk, Christopher & Saa-Requejo, Jesus, 2001. "Financial Constraints and Stock Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(2), pages 529-554.
    4. Crass, Dirk & Garcia Valero, Francisco & Pitton, Francesco & Rammer, Christian, 2016. "Protecting innovation through patents and trade secrets: Determinants and performance impacts for firms with a single innovation," ZEW Discussion Papers 16-061, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    5. Klasa, Sandy & Ortiz-Molina, Hernán & Serfling, Matthew & Srinivasan, Shweta, 2018. "Protection of trade secrets and capital structure decisions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(2), pages 266-286.
    6. Mann, William, 2018. "Creditor rights and innovation: Evidence from patent collateral," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(1), pages 25-47.
    7. Paul Belleflamme & Francis Bloch, 2004. "Market sharing agreements and collusive networks," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 45(2), pages 387-411, May.
    8. Stoffman, Noah & Woeppel, Michael & Yavuz, M. Deniz, 2022. "Small innovators: No risk, No return," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1).
    9. Peters, Ryan H. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2017. "Intangible capital and the investment-q relation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 251-272.
    10. Glaeser, Stephen, 2018. "The effects of proprietary information on corporate disclosure and transparency: Evidence from trade secrets," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 163-193.
    11. Murillo Campello & Long Chen, 2010. "Are Financial Constraints Priced? Evidence from Firm Fundamentals and Stock Returns," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(6), pages 1185-1198, September.
    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. Chang, Tsung-Sheng & Hsieh, Yao-Chian, 2024. "Applying the analytic hierarchy process for investigating key indicators of responsible innovation in the Taiwan software service industry," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. Tang, Haodan & Liang, Jiaxuan & Fang, Senhui, 2024. "The innovation effect of digital M&As: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    3. Guohong, Zheng & Zhongwei, Xia & Feng, He & Zhongyi, Xiao, 2025. "The audit committee’s IT expertise and its impact on the disclosure of cybersecurity risk," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(PA).
    4. Mauro Caselli & Edwin Fourrier-Nicolai & Andrea Fracasso & Sergio Scicchitano, 2024. "Digital Technologies and Firms’ Employment and Training," CESifo Working Paper Series 11056, CESifo.
    5. Abukari, Kobana & Dutta, Shantanu & Li, Chen & Tang, Songlian & Zhu, Pengcheng, 2024. "Corporate communication and likelihood of data breaches," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 94(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. Dai, Yanke & Du, Ting & Gao, Huasheng & Gu, Yan & Wang, Yongqin, 2024. "Patent pledgeability, trade secrecy, and corporate patenting," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    2. Dan Hu & Eunju Lee & Bingxin Li, 2023. "Trade secrets protection and stock price crash risk," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 58(2), pages 395-421, May.
    3. Tseng, Kevin, 2022. "Learning from the Joneses: Technology spillover, innovation externality, and stock returns," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2).
    4. Yan Li & Yutao Li, 2020. "The effect of trade secrets protection on disclosure of forward‐looking financial information," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3-4), pages 397-437, March.
    5. Wang, Yanzhi, 2023. "Trade secrets laws and technology spillovers," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(7).
    6. Bradley, Daniel & Hu, Dan & Yuan, Xiaojing & Zhang, Chi, 2023. "Trade secret protection and product market dynamics," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    7. Farzad Saidi & Alminas Žaldokas, 2021. "How Does Firms’ Innovation Disclosure Affect Their Banking Relationships?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(2), pages 742-768, February.
    8. Glaeser, Stephen & Lang, Mark, 2024. "Measuring innovation and navigating its unique information issues: A review of the accounting literature on innovation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2).
    9. Robin Döttling & Tomislav Ladika & Enrico Perotti, 2016. "The (Self-)Funding of Intangibles," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 16-093/IV, Tinbergen Institute.
    10. Almaghrabi, Khadija S., 2023. "Non‐operating risk and cash holdings: Evidence from pension risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    11. Cao, Sean & Jiang, Wei & Wang, Junbo & Yang, Baozhong, 2024. "From Man vs. Machine to Man + Machine: The art and AI of stock analyses," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    12. Hegde, Shantaram P. & Mishra, Dev R., 2023. "Patented knowledge capital and implied equity risk premium," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    13. Lambrinoudakis, Costas & Skiadopoulos, George & Gkionis, Konstantinos, 2019. "Capital structure and financial flexibility: Expectations of future shocks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 1-18.
    14. Davidson Heath & Giorgo Sertsios, 2022. "Profitability and Financial Leverage: Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(11), pages 8386-8410, November.
    15. Mostafa Monzur Hasan & Grantley Taylor & Grant Richardson, 2022. "Brand Capital and Stock Price Crash Risk," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(10), pages 7221-7247, October.
    16. Almaghrabi, Khadija S., 2023. "Local product market competition and investment home bias," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    17. Kang, Youngho & Kim, Ryoonhee & Whang, Unjung, 2023. "International knowledge transfers and capital structure of multinational affiliates: Evidence from expatriate managers as the transfer agents," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    18. Chu-hsuan Chang & Woan-lih Liang & Yanzhi Wang, 2024. "Trade secret laws and initial public offering underpricing," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 325-353, July.
    19. Giovanni Dell’Ariccia & Dalida Kadyrzhanova & Camelia Minoiu & Lev Ratnovski, 2021. "Bank Lending in the Knowledge Economy," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(10), pages 5036-5076.
    20. Rahman, Dewan & Kabir, Muhammad & Oliver, Barry, 2021. "Does exposure to product market competition influence insider trading profitability?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cyber risk; Hacking; Corporate innovation; Patents; Trade secrets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • M15 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - IT Management
    • M48 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:corfin:v:82:y:2023:i:c:s0929119923000949. 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/jcorpfin .

    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.