Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As), Market Structure and Inventive Activity in the Agricultural Biotechnology Industry

This article explores the relationships among mergers and acquisitions (M&A), consolidation, concentration and inventive activity in the agricultural biotechnology industry. We adapt testable hypotheses from the conceptual literature. We empirically test each hypothesis and interpret the results in terms of existing explanations of consolidation and the level of inventive activity, and antitrust policy. We find aggregate inventive activity to be related to M&A activity, but whether the effect is positive or negative is dependent on the type of M&A. Further, greater number of public sector firms in the research market, as well as increasing industry concentration, are both found to increase overall innovation.