創新品質對控制溢酬之影響：美國高科技併購案之研究

Abstract

過去有研究發現，高科技產業併購溢價平均高於其他產業併購案；再者，另有研究認為目標公司研發支出的投入是影響高科技產業併購溢價較高之因素，由於研發支出隱含著未來可能轉成公司現金流量的價值，主併公司願意付出相對較高的溢價。然而，研發支出轉成創新成果依賴許多因素，並非所有投入都有實際的研發成果產生，相較於研發支出，企業申請核准之專利更能代表企業本身創新能力，專利被引證數進一步衡量企業創新品質。因此，本文以專利被引證數來衡量企業創新品質，討論企業創新品質是否為併購案控制溢酬的決定因素。

本文以1998到2008年美國高科技產業併購案為研究對象，我們發現目標公司創新品質為併購溢價的決定因素。當目標公司創新能力越高時，即專利被引證數越多時，主併公司願意付出較高的溢價。而主併公司本身創新品質則對於溢價沒有顯著影響。我們進一步討論目標公司與主併公司創新能力差距對於溢價的影響，發現當目標公司與主併公司差距越大，併購溢價也會相對越高。此外，過去研究顯示專利技術價值能有效並即時反應於市場價值。本文進一步區分目標公司併購宣告日前專利被引證數以及併購宣告日後專利被引證數對於溢價的影響，發現併購宣告日後專利被引證數與併購溢價顯著為正向關係，顯然併購溢價能有效反應目標公司專利技術的價值。

Prior research on acquisition premium has shown that the highest premium have been paid for firms in high-tech industry and has shown that a target firm’s R&D expenditures are related to the acquisition premium. However, whether high R&D expenditures are likely to result in successful innovation depends on many inputs. Therefore, an output measure of successful innovation is a less noisy measure of firm’s innovation capabilities and citations per patent assesses the quality of a firm’s innovation. This study uses patent citation to measure the innovation quality of a firm and shows that firm’s innovation quality is the determinants of acquisition premium.

Using the data from the U.S. high-tech industry set over the period 1998 to 2008, we find that the innovation capabilities of target firm is one of the determinants of acquisition premium. It is shown that a target firm’s patent citations are positively related to the acquisition premium, while the acquirer’s innovation capabilities are not obviously related to the premium. Further, we find that the larger the difference of innovation capabilities between target firm and acquirer is, the higher acquisition premium might be. We also show that acquisition premium is positively associated with future citations rather than those that have been received before the announcement date. This implies that the value of the target firms’ patents is effectively reflected by acquisition premium.