HETEROGENEOUS INFORMATION ARRIVAL AND R&D OPTION PRICING

The paper models the arrival of heterogeneous information during R&D stages as a doubly stochastic Poisson process(DSPP). The new product market introduction is considered as a timing option(an American perpetual option). Investment in R&D can be thought of as option on an option(a compound option). This paper derives an analytic approximation valuation formula for the R&D option, and demonstrates that the accounts for heterogeneous information arrival may reduce the pricing biases. This way, the gap between real option theory and the practice of decision making with respect to investment in R&D is diminished.