In the present era, enterprises are experiencing a profound transition from closed innovation to open innovation, responding to high-quality development. As a crucial facet of open innovation, technology mergers and acquisitions (M&A) play a pivotal role in swiftly assimilating new technological knowledge for acquiring firms, and it helps to overcome the historical path dependence that previously impeded advancements in closed innovation, and foster an environment conducive to innovation and entrepreneurship across society. In this evolving landscape, the role of chief technology officers (CTOs) has gained remarkable significance. Possessing a unique blend of management acumen,expertise and technical proficiency, CTOs are increasingly instrumental in steering the innovative performance of technology M&As.
In this study, a sample of Chinese A-share listed companies engaged in technology M&As from 2000 to 2022 is collected manually. Instances of M&As within the same company across different years are treated as distinct events, yielding a total of 4 946 valid samples. The number of patents obtained by the companies annually is viewed as an indicator of their innovation performance. Executives holding titles like Chief Technology Officer, Vice President responsible for technology, Technical Director, R&D Director, Head of Research Institute, Chief Engineer, and similar positions are categorized as Chief Technology Officers (CTOs). A binary variable is set where the value is 1 if the company has any of these executives and 0 otherwise. This paper also controls for several variables related to enterprises and M&A characteristics and establishes a multiple linear regression model to explore the relationship between CTOs and the innovative performance of technology M&As.
It is found that there is a significant positive correlation between CTOs and the innovative performance of technology M&As. The continued investment in innovative resources by enterprises further amplifies the positive impact of CTOs. Specifically, the efficacy of CTOs in enhancing the innovative performance of technology M&As becomes more pronounced with increased investments in research and development (R&D) funding and human capital. This leads to a synergy between post-acquisition technological innovation and increased R&D investments. This study also explores the influence of the personal characteristics of CTOs on their role in promoting the innovative performance of technology M&As. The results show that CTOs' overseas experiences, gender, and age have no significant impacts, while a higher level of education enhances their effectiveness in advancing the innovative performance of technology M&As.
This paper makes two contributions to the literature. First, it shifts the focus to the specific role of CTOs, transcending the limitations of prior studies constrained to case analyses and questionnaire surveys. This enriches the exploration of the role of corporate executives, particularly CTOs, in driving innovation. Second, it delves into the involvement of CTOs in the context of technology M&As, expanding the literature on the motivations and performance of M&As. This enriches the theoretical foundation and empirical backing for policies aimed at enhancing the innovative performance of technology M&As.
The findings hold significant practical implications. First, it is necessary to actively recruit or cultivate senior management personnel with technical backgrounds to adapt to the swiftly evolving innovation environment.Second, enterprises should augment investments in R&D resources, nurturing essential core technological capabilities. This ensures that highly skilled technical professionals effectively contribute to significant strategic decisions and provide essential resource support. Third, the study emphasizes that CTOs with higher education exert a more substantial influence on the innovative performance of technology M&As. This finding is relevant to the rapid developments in Industry 4.0, cloud computing, mobile technologies, and software applications, where advanced knowledge necessitates a solid educational foundation beyond accumulated experience. Hence, enterprises should actively attract highly educated talents, while local governments can optimize policy environments to facilitate talent recruitment for key industries and companies, thus promoting technological innovation and fostering high-quality regional economic development.
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