Austrian Economic Chamber, Wiedner Hauptstr. 63, 1045 Vienna, Austria

Correspondence: Jörg Mahlich, E-mail: Joerg.Mahlich@wko.at

Received 12 January 2006; Revised 4 May 2006; Accepted 21 June 2006.

Abstract

We analyze here the determinants of market value for 34 listed Japanese pharmaceutical companies between 1987 and 1998. During this period, Japanese pharmaceutical firms increased their investments in basic R&D in the process of preparing for international market expansion. We provide evidence that international patents significantly contribute to a firm's market value, expressed in Tobin's q, while publications in the scientific literature do not contribute to this value. In contrast to earlier studies on the US pharmaceutical industry, such as Gambardella (1992), our findings also suggest that in Japan a firm's publications and patents are not inter-related.