Purpose

This paper aims to study the effect of two important marketing decisions on the extent of value capturing by the firm owners. First, it addresses the debate whether acquirers of young technology-based firms value targets that span multiple technology and market categories indicating multiples options for growth or prefer more narrowly defined targets with a clear product and market focus. Second, it investigates to what extent the use of alliances for marketing purposes contributes to value capturing and how they moderate the effect of diversification of technology and marketing.

Design/methodology/approach

To estimate the acquisition price, a linear regression model is used, including a Heckman correction controlling for the likelihood of being acquired. The hypotheses are tested in a sample of British venture capital backed firms.

Findings

Firms that convey focus in their marketing activities (either because they focus on a few market categories or because they rely on downstream alliance to market their inventions) receive higher valuations at acquisition than those that diversify. Further, also the size of the product portfolio is negatively correlated to the acquisition price. Finally, the results reveal that firms with a broad patent portfolio can reduce the negative effects on firm value by engaging in less downstream alliances.

Originality/value

This paper advances existing research on exit strategies for entrepreneurial firms by considering factors explaining acquisition prices, instead of acquisition probabilities. Further, it adds the categorization research by demonstrating how acquirers respond to complex combinations of technology and market categories.

中文翻译：

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企业通过收购退出：产品和技术组合以及营销能力异质性的影响

目的

本文旨在研究两个重要的营销决策对企业所有者价值获取程度的影响。首先，它解决了年轻的技术型公司的收购方是否重视跨越多个技术和市场类别的目标，这些目标表明有多种增长选择，还是更喜欢具有明确产品和市场重点的更狭义的目标。其次，它调查了将联盟用于营销目的在多大程度上有助于价值获取以及它们如何调节技术和营销多元化的影响。

设计/方法/方法

为了估计收购价格，使用了线性回归模型，包括控制被收购可能性的 Heckman 校正。这些假设在英国风险投资支持的公司样本中得到检验。

发现

在营销活动中传达重点的公司（或者因为他们专注于少数市场类别，或者因为他们依靠下游联盟来推销他们的发明）比那些多元化的公司在收购时获得更高的估值。此外，产品组合的规模也与收购价格呈负相关。最后，结果表明，拥有广泛专利组合的公司可以通过参与较少的下游联盟来减少对公司价值的负面影响。

原创性/价值

本文通过考虑解释收购价格的因素，而不是收购概率，推进了对创业公司退出策略的现有研究。此外，它还通过展示收购方如何应对技术和市场类别的复杂组合来增加分类研究。