Do General Managerial Skills Spur Innovation?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Custodio, Claudia; Ferreira, Miguel A.; Matos, Pedro
• 署名单位: Imperial College London; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; European Corporate Governance Institute; Universidade Nova de Lisboa; University of Virginia
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2017.2828
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 459-476
• 关键词: general human capital; INNOVATION; patents; R&D; risk taking

摘要

We show that firms with chief executive officers (CEOs) who gain general managerial skills over their lifetime of work experience produce more patents. We address the potential endogenous CEO-firm matching bias using firm-CEO fixed effects and variation in the enforceability of noncompete agreements across states and over time during the CEO's career. Our findings suggest that generalist CEOs spur innovation because they acquire knowledge beyond the firm's current technological domain, and they have skills that can be applied elsewhere should innovation projects fail. We conclude that an efficient labor market for executives can promote innovation by providing a mechanism of tolerance for failure.