Failure in R&D efforts are fairly common and with many factors that contribute to the outcome. This book focuses on the role of principal investigators (PIs) in R&D project failures and provides a theoretical model explaining how firm characteristics, including those of the PIs, impact the probability of failure. The theoretical model also serves as a structural form model to motivate the empirical analysis which assesses the probability of failure in small technology-based firms. The author uses data from the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program to build a new and informative tool to assess R&D projects and demonstrate the strengths of the theoretical model. The association between PIs and R&D failure not only provides insights that can have a downstream impact to economic growth, but it can also provide policymakers with valuable information to aid decisions in allocating funds for R&D.
Author(s): Morgan Boyce
Series: Academic Entrepreneurship, Scientists, and Scientific Careers
Edition: 1
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: xiii; 122
City: Cham
Tags: Business and Management, general; Economics, general; Small Business ; R&D projects; Principal investigators;
Preface
Acknowledgments
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: R&D Project Failure and Principal Investigators
2.1 R&D Project Failure
2.1.1 Defining Success and Failure
2.1.2 Measuring Business Failure
Why Businesses Fail
2.2 Principal Investigators
2.2.1 Multifaceted Responsibilities
2.2.2 The Goal of Commercialization
2.3 Conclusion
Part I: Contextual Setting
Chapter 3: Publicly Funded Collaborative R&D: The Case of the US Department of Energy
3.1 Introduction
3.2 The Early History of DOE
3.3 DOE Is Formalized
3.4 Current Organization of the DOE and Support for PIs
3.5 Conclusion
Chapter 4: Legislative History of the SBIR Program
4.1 Introduction
4.2 The SBIR Program
4.3 The Empirical Literature on the SBIR Program
4.4 SBIR and the Department of Energy
4.5 Conclusion
Chapter 5: A Theoretical Model of R&D Project Success or Failure
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Revenue and Costs of a New Technology
5.3 Profit-Maximizing Choice of R&D Inputs
Chapter 6: Department of Energy and SBIR Data
6.1 Background
6.2 Survey Data
6.3 Measures of Failure
6.4 Conclusion
Chapter 7: Collaborative R&D Firm and Project Characteristics: Empirical Insights
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Initial Probit Model
7.2.1 Independent Variables Considered
7.2.2 Descriptive Statistics
7.2.3 Relationships Between Independent Variables and Failure
7.2.4 Relationships Between Independent Variables and TechFailure
7.3 Initial Probit Model Results
7.3.1 Set One Model Results
7.3.2 Set Two Model Results
7.3.3 Set Three Model Results
7.3.4 Variance Inflation Factors
7.4 Conclusion
Chapter 8: Principal Investigators’ Experience in Collaborative R&D: Empirical Findings
8.1 Introduction
8.1.1 PI Hypothesized Relationships with Project Failure
8.2 PI Demographics
8.2.1 Descriptive Statistics
8.2.2 Model Results with PI Demographics
8.3 PIs as CEOs/Firm Founders
8.3.1 Descriptive Statistics
8.3.2 Model Results with PI as Firm Leaders
8.4 Homophilic Gender Composition
8.5 Conclusion
Part II: Reflections and Future Perspectives
Chapter 9: PIs and R&D Project Failure: Reflections and Future Research Avenues
9.1 Introduction
9.2 Discussion
9.2.1 DOE’s SBIR Program
9.2.2 R&D Project Failure and the Role of PIs
9.2.3 Review of Empirical Results
9.3 Limitations
9.4 Implications for Policy and Practice
9.5 Future Research
9.6 Conclusion
References
Index
