Acquisition as a means for external technology sourcing: Complementary, substitutive or both?

This paper addresses the question of how a target firm's innovation activities relate to the acquiring firm's R&D characteristics, and more specifically, if the former substitute for, or complement the acquirer's activities. It investigates this question in three narrowly defined high technology industries by analysing the association of three R&D characteristics of acquiring firms with different measures of acquisition extent and content. The...