Innovation Strategy After IPO: How AI Analytics Spurs Innovation After IPO

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wu, Lynn; Lou, Bowen; Hitt, Lorin M.
• 署名单位: University of Pennsylvania; University of Connecticut
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2022.01559
• 发表日期: 2025
• 关键词: AI analytics; IPO; innovation quality; Machine Learning

摘要

We examine the role of AI analytics in facilitating innovation in firms that have gone through IPO. Using patent data on over 1,000 publicly traded firms, we find that firms acquiring AI analytics capability post-IPO experience less of a decline in innovation quality compared with similar firms that have not acquired that capability. This effect is greater when only machine learning capabilities are considered. Moreover, we find this sustained rate of innovation is driven principally by the continued development of innovations that combine existing technologies into new ones-a form of innovation that is especially well supported by analytics. By examining three main mechanisms that hampered post-IPO innovation, we find that AI analytics can ameliorate the pressure to meet shortterm financial goals and disclosure requirements. However, it has limited effect in addressing managerial incentives. For firms with long product cycles, the disclosure effect is reduced to a greater extent than it is for those with short cycles. Overall, our results show the importance of examining technology as a critical input factor in innovation. We show that the increased deployment of AI analytics may reduce some of the innovative penalties suffered by IPOs and that investors and managers can potentially mitigate post-IPO reductions in innovative output by directing capital acquired in the IPO process to the acquisition of AI analytics capabilities.