Using a unique data set tracking inventors' careers around mergers and acquisitions (M&As) over the period 19812012, we first show a steep increase postmerger in the frequency of collaboration between acquirer and target inventors, and that such collaboration is associated with more radical,...

We examine the organizational choice and innovative activity of technology conglomerates—firms that explore different technology fields with heated inventive activity. We develop a measure of firm-to-economy technological proximity to capture the extent of a firm's technology conglomeration....