A model of R&D valuation and the design of research incentives

We develop a real options model of R&D valuation that takes into account the uncertainty in the quality (or efficacy) of the research output, the time and cost to completion, and the market demand for the R&D output. The model is then applied to study the problem of pharmaceutical under-investment in R&D for vaccines to treat diseases affecting the developing regions of the world. To address this issue, world organizations and private foundations are willing to sponsor vaccine R&D, but there is no consensus on how to administer the sponsorship effectively. Different research incentive contracts are examined using our valuation model. Their effectiveness is measured in the following five dimensions: expected cost to the sponsor, probability of development success, consumer surplus generated, expected number of successful vaccinations and expected cost per person successfully vaccinated. We find that, in general, purchase commitment plans (pull subsidies) are more effective than cost subsidy plans (push subsidies). Moreover, we find that a hybrid subsidy plan constructed from a purchase commitment combined with a sponsor research cost-sharing subsidy is the most effective.     

Are economically advanced countries more efficient in basic and applied research?

Research and development (R&D) of countries play a major role in a long-term development of the economy. We measure the R&D efficiency of all 28 member countries of the European Union in the years 2008–2014. Super-efficient data envelopment analysis (DEA) based on robustness of classification into efficient and inefficient units is adopted. We use the number of citations as output of basic research, the number of patents as output of applied research and R&D expenditures with manpower as inputs. To meet DEA assumptions and to capture R&D characteristics, we analyze a homogeneous sample of countries, adjust prices using purchasing power parity and consider time lag between inputs and outputs. We find that the efficiency of general R&D is higher for countries with higher GDP per capita. This relation also holds for specialized efficiencies of basic and applied research. However, it is much stronger for applied research suggesting its outputs are more easily distinguished and captured. Our findings are important in the evaluation of research and policy making.     

The option value of advanced R & D

Existing tools for making R&D investment decisions cannot properly capture the option value in R&D. Since many new products are identified as failures during the R&D stages, the possibility of refraining from market introduction may add a significant value to the NPV of the R&D project. This paper presents new theoretical insight by developing a stochastic jump amplitude model in a real setting. The option value of the proposed model depends on the expected number of jumps and the expected size of the jumps in a particular business. The model is verified with empirical knowledge of current research in the field of multimedia at Philips Corporate Research. This way, the gap between real option theory and the practice of decision making with respect to investments in R&D is diminished.     

Comparative evaluation of performance of national R&D programs with heterogeneous objectives: A DEA approach

The strategic importance of performance evaluation of national R&D programs is highlighted as the resource allocation draws more attention in R&D policy agenda. Due to the heterogeneity of national R&D programs’ objectives, however, it is intractably difficult to relatively evaluate multiple programs and, consequently, few studies have been conducted on the performance comparison of the R&D programs. This study measures and compares the performance of national R&D programs using data envelopment analysis (DEA). Since DEA allows each DMU to choose the optimal weights of inputs and outputs which maximize its efficiency, it can mirror R&D programs’ unique characteristics by assigning relatively high weights to the variables in which each program has strength. Every project in every R&D program is evaluated together based on the DEA model for comparison of efficiency among different systems. Kruskal–Wallis test with a post hoc Mann–Whitney U test is then run to compare performance of R&D programs. Two alternative approaches to incorporating the importance of variables, the AR model and output integration, are also introduced. The results are expected to provide policy implications for effectively formulating and implementing national R&D programs.     

零售商合作偏好下生鲜农产品供应链的政府补贴机制与优化策略

在零售商具有合作偏好行为的背景下,针对自然灾害影响产出的特性,设计基于“优先保证最大化社会福利的基础上促进农户增收”的灾害年的不同政府补贴政策,建立了政府、零售商和农户的三阶段Stackelberg博弈模型.对比分析了政府的不同补贴政策以及零售商的合作偏好行为对政府的最优补贴率、零售商的最优收购价格、农户的最优生产投入量和三方利益的影响,并给出了政府的最优补贴政策。研究结果表明:(1)当零售商的合作偏好程度低于某一临界值,且“丰收年”发生的概率适中或偏高时,政府的最优补贴政策是对农户提供补贴;否则,政府的最优补贴政策是对零售商提供补贴;(2)政府的补贴政策可以实现政府、消费者和未受补贴方三方共赢的局面,但获补贴方不一定增收。     

The impact of delaying an investment decision on R&D projects in real option game

In a research and development (R&D) investment, the cost and the project value of such an investment are usually uncertain, which thus increases its complexity. Correspondingly, the NPV (Net Present Value) rule fails to evaluate the value of this project exactly, because this method does not take into account the market uncertainty, irreversibility of investment and ability of delay entry. In this paper, we employ the real option theory to evaluate the project value of a R&D investment. Since the cost of a R&D investment is very high and the flow of the information is crowded, an investor cannot make an immediate decision every time. So, the proposed real option model is an exchange option. At the same time, combining the real option and the game theory, we can find the Nash equilibrium which is the optimal strategy. Moreover, we also study how the delayed time influences the price of the project investment and how the different delayed times effect the choice of the optimal strategies.     

混合所有制改革背景下政府最优减排研发补贴政策研究

通过构建两阶段异质产品减排博弈模型,文章研究了混合所有制改革背景下最优的企业减排研发投资及研发补贴政策,并进一步讨论了最优减排研发补贴政策下政府实施国企混合所有制改革的环境和经济效果。结论表明：政府应主动实施减排研发补贴政策,最优减排研发补贴受技术溢出率、产品差异程度以及混合所有制改革程度的影响。当减排研发效率较低时,随着技术溢出率增大,最优的减排研发补贴水平不断提高,当减排研发效率较高时,随着技术溢出率增大,最优的减排研发补贴水平不断下降;随着产品差异化程度提高,最优减排研发补贴水平不断提高;混合所有制改革程度加深将使得最优减排研发补贴水平下降。最优减排研发补贴政策下,政府实施国企混合所有制改革能够降低整个行业的污染排放、提高行业的利润和社会福利水平,从而能够取得经济和环境的双赢。最后,结合相关结论,本文给出了混合所有制改革背景下减排研发补贴政策设计的相关建议,为政府决策提供一定参考。     

Technological change,population dynamics,and natural resource depletion

In this paper, we integrate fertility and educational choices into a scale-invariant model of directed technological change with non-renewable natural resources, in order to reveal the interaction between population dynamics, technological change, and natural resource depletion. In line with empirical regularities, skill-biased technological change induces a decline in population growth and a transitory increase in the depletion rate of natural resources. In the long-run, the depletion rate also declines in the skill intensity. A decline in population growth is harmful for long-run productivity growth, if R&D is subject to diminishing technological opportunities. The effectiveness of economic policies aimed at sustained economic growth thus hinges on its impact on long-run population growth given the sign of intertemporal spillovers in R&D with respect to existing technological knowledge. We demonstrate that an increase in relative research productivities or an education subsidy enhances long-run growth, if R&D is subject to diminishing technological opportunities, while an increase in the teacher–student ratio is preferable in terms of positive intertemporal knowledge spillovers.     

A fuzzy approach to R&D project portfolio selection

A major advance in the development of project selection tools came with the application of options reasoning in the field of Research and Development (R&D). The options approach to project evaluation seeks to correct the deficiencies of traditional methods of valuation through the recognition that managerial flexibility can bring significant value to projects. Our main concern is how to deal with non-statistical imprecision we encounter when judging or estimating future cash flows. In this paper, we develop a methodology for valuing options on R&D projects, when future cash flows are estimated by trapezoidal fuzzy numbers. In particular, we present a fuzzy mixed integer programming model for the R&D optimal portfolio selection problem, and discuss how our methodology can be used to build decision support tools for optimal R&D project selection in a corporate environment.     

基于政府补贴的养老服务市场供给研究

随着我国老龄化速度加快,养老服务的有效供给问题是政府和学者关注的焦点。考虑政府财政补贴下,引入民办与公办养老服务的替代因子,构建民办养老机构与公办养老机构的服务动态供给模型,分析不同补贴方式和补贴力度对服务均衡供给量的影响,并进一步通过补贴乘数分析政府补贴对养老服务机构最优供给决策的影响程度。结果表明:政府对民办养老机构的财政补贴可以增加养老服务市场供给量,相较于运营补贴,政府建设补贴的政策效应更加明显;财政补贴降低了民办养老机构的建设成本和投资风险,刺激社会资本投入的积极性,民办养老服务供给增加幅度大于公办养老服务供给减少幅度,养老服务市场有效供给增加。在财政预算约束下,选择恰当的财政补贴方式,可以提高财政资源的配置效率,增加养老服务市场的有效供给,缓解养老服务财政压力。     

Real R&;D options with time-to-learn and learning-by-doing

We model R&D efforts to enhance the value of a product or technology before final development. Such efforts may be directed towards improving quality, adding new features, or adopting technological innovations. They are implemented as optional, costly and interacting control actions expected to enhance value but with uncertain outcome. We examine the interesting issues of the optimal timing of R&D, the impact of lags in the realization of the R&D outcome, and the choice between accelerated versus staged (sequential) R&D. These issues are also especially interesting since the history of decisions affects future decisions and the distributions of asset prices and induces path-dependency. We show that the existence of optional R&D efforts enhances the investment option value significantly. The impact of a dividend-like payout rate or of project volatility on optimal R&D decisions may be different with R&D timing flexibility than without. The attractiveness of sequential strategies is enhanced in the presence of learning-by-doing and decreasing marginal reversibility of capital effects.     

产学研合作创新方式下政府补贴策略选择

创新补贴策略是政府鼓励企业创新的一种常见政策,考虑到企业内在的吸收能力与外部不同政府补贴策略方式的存在,本文以产学研合作创新方式为基础,通过建立三阶段博弈模型,利用模型解析与仿真分析讨论吸收能力与创新投入分配比例系数对政府补贴策略选择的影响。研究结果表明:无论政府采取哪一种补贴方式,均可以有效激励企业加大创新投入规模,并且企业的吸收能力与R&D投入、产量及社会福利均呈正相关关系;但是,吸收能力对利润及政府补贴的影响受限于补贴方式和企业的创新投入分配比例系数;此外,在创新产品补贴下,创新难度系数对政府补贴额度的影响并不明显,而创新产品补贴总体优于创新投入补贴。     

Terrorism deterrence in a two country framework: strategic interactions between R&D, defense and pre-emption

In this paper, we analyze the equilibrium responses (in terms of defense, R&D and preemption) to a potential terrorist attack in a two-country framework (Home and Foreign) using a multi-stage game with imperfect information. We highlight three different types of strategic interactions: (a) how the choice of defense, R&D and pre-emption affects the choice of the same in the other country (strategic interdependence across countries); (b) the strategic interaction between the instruments of terrorism deterrence, namely, defense, R&D and pre-emption in a given country and (c) the strategic interaction between the terrorist and the defender. Our main results are as follows: (i) defense effort in Home is a strategic complement to the defense effort in Foreign. (ii) Even without R&D sharing between countries, we find that R&D effort in one country is a strategic substitute to that in the other; (iii) similar results hold for pre-emption because of its public good nature; (iv) for a given country, defense and R&D efforts may be strategic substitutes or complements depending on the magnitude of the ratio of weighted expected damage between Foreign and Home; (v) R&D and pre-emption may be strategic substitutes or complements depending on the magnitude of the elasticity of damage and (vi) an increase in the likelihood of the terrorist being weak reduces defense effort, may increase or decrease R&D depending on the magnitude of elasticity of damage but increases pre-emptive effort in both countries.     

Modelling of technology lifetime based on patent citation data and segmentation

Stakeholders faced with decisions on whether or not to invest in Research & Development (R&D) are increasingly in need of R&D supporting information. As such, the social demand for reliable methods to collect and assess such data continues to grow. In terms of technology appraisal and valuation, the economic life span is a particularly important factor that affects the size of the profit resulting from that technology. Here, we propose a new methodology for quantitatively estimating the technology lifetime based on patent citation data and segmentation. Using the proposed methodology, we are able to estimate the mean or median patent lifetime at both the technology group level and the individual patent level. The estimated technology lifetime may be used as an index for supporting decision-making on strategic investments related to R&D activities and for managing technology throughout its lifecycle, including R&D planning, development, and application. We have applied the proposed methodology to US patent data for the period 1976–2004 for four communications areas.     

Evaluating pharmaceutical R&D under technical and economic uncertainty

This study sets up a compound option approach for evaluating pharmaceutical R&D investment projects in the presence of technical and economic uncertainties. Technical uncertainty is modeled as a Poisson jump that allows for failure and thus abandonment of the drug development. Economic uncertainty is modeled as a standard diffusion process which incorporates both up-and downward shocks. Practical application of this method is emphasized through a case analysis. We show that both uncertainties have a positive impact on the R&D option value. Moreover, from the sensitivity analysis, we find that the sensitivity of the option with respect to economic uncertainty and market introduction cost decreases when technical uncertainty increases.     

Analysis of the effectiveness of manufacturer-sponsored retailer gift cards in supply chains

Some manufacturers sponsor “free” retailer gift cards to be given to consumers who purchase their products. These gift cards are paid for by the manufacturer and are redeemable on all products at the retailer. We develop a model of such a supply chain. We analyze cases in which the gift cards’ redemption rate is constant or increasing in gift card value. The results indicate that in addition to the redemption rate and consumers’ valuation for gift card dollars, the profitability of manufacturer-sponsored gift cards depends on the average gross margin of the retailer and the type of purchases consumers make with gift cards. Furthermore, we show that under certain conditions, free gift cards will increase the expected profits of the retailer and manufacturer as well as decrease the retail price of the product. These conditions include a retailer with large average gross margin and consumers using gift cards to purchase products they would not buy with cash otherwise. Furthermore, all consumers, including those who do not redeem the gift card, are more likely to benefit from a reduced retail price when their probability of redeeming the gift card after purchase is equal to their estimated redemption probability at purchase time. We show the conditions under which gift cards are more profitable than cash mail-in rebates. We develop an incentive scheme to improve the performance of supply chains with gift cards.     

Technology lock-in with horizontal and vertical innovations through limited R&D spending

In this paper we analyze an inter-temporal optimization problem of a representative firm that invests in horizontal and vertical innovations and that faces a constraint with respect to total R&D spending. We find that there can exist two different steady-states of the economy when the amount of research spending falls short of an endogenously determined threshold: one with higher productivities and less new technologies being developed, and the other with more technologies being created and lower productivities. But, for a higher amount of R&D spending the steady-state becomes unique and the firm produces the whole spectrum of available technologies. Thus, a lock-in effect may arise that, however, can be overcome by raising R&D spending sufficiently.     

政府对科技保险的最优财政补贴规模研究

运用机制设计理论建立信息激励模型,在完全信息、不完全信息、不完全信息加入可调整项三种情形下,对科技保险进行险种划分,得到在不同信息激励影响下的政府对保险公司的最优补贴规模.运用期望收益理论,针对科技研发成功或不成功、科技企业投保或不投保的情形,建立政府补贴投保企业的最优补贴规模模型,得出政府对投保企业补贴规模的限制范围.     

Optimal Expenditure Patterns of a Double-Path Engineering Project

The optimal expenditure pattern for a double-path engineering project, i.e., a project composed of a nonroutine risky R&D path and a routine nonrisky preparatory path, manufacturing related or marketing related, is studied via the calculus of variations to derive a set of twin second-order nonlinear differential equations whose solution yields the optimal joint expenditure. Assuming independence between the risky and nonrisky paths, a constant return per unit time, a gamma-type unimodal conditional-completion density function for the R&D activity, and the principle of diminishing returns on the effort, we find an interesting interplay between the two paths for the peak position and termination of the expenditures. Counterintuitively, we find that the peak expenditure of the R&D path does not necessarily precede that of the preparatory path, although both path expenditure peaks obey the well-known Kamien–Schwartz theorem. That is, for both paths, the expenditure peak positions precede always the peak of the conditional-completion density function of the R&D path.     

Development of weapon systems in developing countries: a case study of long range strategies in Taiwan

A long period of economic and industrial development has allowed developing countries to evolve into newly industrialised countries (NICs). Simultaneously, the development of their major weapon systems has evolved from foreign weapons acquisition to independent development due to establishing research and development (R&D) capabilities. However, competitive pressures in the international arms market has finally led these countries to return to foreign acquisition, consequently rapidly eroding their R&D capability. Balancing foreign acquisition and independent development is a long-term strategic problem for NICs. This study applies the system dynamics methodology to construct a weapon systems development model for Taiwan. This model is used to analyse the impact of acquisition policy. The results here indicate three major possible growth curves for weapon systems R&D capability based on alternative weapon systems acquisition policies.