Anti-Poaching Agreements, Innovation and Corporate Value: Evidence from the Technology Industry
18 Mar 2025
13:00 -14:15
Times are shown in local time.
Open to: All
Room W2.02 (Cambridge Judge Business School)
Trumpington St
Cambridge
CB2 1AG
United Kingdom
Join our Finance seminar, in collaboration with the Cambridge Corporate Governance Network
Speaker: Dr Gaurav Kankanhalli, University of Pittsburgh
About the seminar
In 2010, major Silicon Valley technology firms faced antitrust action for engaging in anti-poaching agreements. We show that firm-pairs with active bilateral agreements to not poach each other’s employees experienced lower inventor cross-flow rates than concurrent cross-flows with comparable non-collusive firms. Accordingly, anti-poaching firms produced superior innovation output along diverging paths, particularly in technology areas covered by the agreements.
These dynamics were reversed following the agreements’ dissolution. Event-study tests around the dissolution show a negative stock returns response. Our results reveal important linkages between reduced employee turnover arising from firms’ anticompetitive labour market conduct and their innovation and market valuations.
Speaker bio
Gaurav Kankanhalli is an Assistant Professor of Finance and Ben L Fryrear Early Career Faculty Fellow at the Joseph M Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh. He obtained his PhD in Finance (2020) from the SC Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.
Prior to that, he completed a BA (Hons) in Economics and Management (2013) and an MSc (with Distinction) in Financial Economics (2014) from the University of Oxford. His research is in empirical corporate finance, with a focus on the effects of uncertainty on corporate decisions, as well as innovation and entrepreneurship.
Agenda
12:15 – 13:00
Light lunch
13:00 – 14:15
Break
Register
No registration required. If you have any questions about this seminar, please email Khanti Tsui.