Capital structure decisions in the biotechnology industry: the role of R&D collaborations with pharmaceutical incumbents

Abstract

This study focuses on the importance of collaborative R&D attitudes of biotech firms in the capital structure determination. Specifically, we investigate the short term impact of R&D agreements on financial leverage and we analyze whether this relationship depends on alliances’ features and the type and characteristics of the partners involved. Our results suggest that agreements with established pharmaceutical incumbents are followed by a reduction in the level of debt, while collaborations with biotech firms do not play a significant role, at least in the short term. However, different explanations are plausible. Our findings could be consistent with an “extension” of the pecking order theory that takes into account the role of financial resources coming from partners. Alternatively, they could be in line with previous works that stressed the importance of financial slack in innovative environments or with papers that discussed the impact of the relationships with customers and suppliers in capital structure decisions.