This paper aims to investigate the effect of knowledge characteristics on the total factor productivity of firms developing drugs in the pharmaceutical industry. We decompose knowledge into knowledge associated with the technological firm portfolio and knowledge related to R&D projects, which...

We examine how R&D portfolios of drug pipelines affect pharmaceutical licensing, controlling firm size, diversity, and competitors in R&D and product markets. The data collected comprises 329 license-outs and 434 license-ins closed by 54 Japanese pharmaceutical companies between 1997 and 2007....