Can you relate a firms performance and its technological capability?
The latest issue of R and D Management (Volume 36, Issue 4, Sep 2006) has a paper by Joseph E. Coombs and Paul E. Bierly III on the "Measuring technological capability and performance".
"The relation between technological capability and firm performance is more complex than what is generally assumed," they say.
Lots of points in their analysis:
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"Our results highlight the often tenuous relationship between technological capability and performance."
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"One of the most interesting findings was that [R&D intensity] either had a negative or non-significant effect on performance."
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"We find no significant relationship between patents and the majority of our performance measures..."
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"It is also important to realize that some measures of technological capability may be measuring a stock of technology, while others may be measuring a flow of technology."
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