Publication Date

1-1-1980

Abstract

This paper presents the insight that R&R investments are "natural" options, and examines the extent to which they can be valued using currently available option pricing models. The nature of the industrial research effort determines whether the appropriate model is based on a diffusion process or a jump process. The option model based on the former is sufficiently developed to satisfactorily deal with the direct benefits of R&D, while the model base on the latter presents several problems. Furthermore, indirect benefits are not captured in these models. These applications and shortcomings are examined in detail in the hope of not only indicating a new direction for analysis of R&D investment decisions, but also pointing out the need for further scholarly research to deal more fully with this very interesting problem.

Document Type

Article

Keywords

investment, option model, jump process, optimization, decision variables

Disciplines

Business

Extent

23 pages

Format

.pdf

Rights

The files in this collection are protected by copyright law. No commercial reproduction or distribution of these files is permitted without the written permission of Southern Methodist University, Cox Business School. These files may be freely used for educational purposes, provided they are not altered in any way, and Southern Methodist University is cited. For more information, contact ncds@smu.edu.

Language

English

Included in

Business Commons

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