Subsidiary Legal Entities and Innovation
研究发现，将创新资产置于子公司而非部门，能赋予创新单元经理更多自主权，因为有限责任使母公司可放弃子公司债务，从而减少内部开发投入，促使经理更努力独立开发创新用途。
Placing innovative assets in a separate subsidiary creates more autonomy for the unit manager of the innovation than a division, even when the subsidiary is wholly owned and controlled by the parent. The key driver is limited liability: unlike a division, the parent has the option to walk away from the subsidiary’s debt obligations. As a result, the parent invests less in developing internal uses for the innovation. This causes the unit manager to invest more in developing independent uses for the innovation: he must ”sink or swim” on his own effort, and his desired actions are less subject to overrule. Received June 29, 2012; editorial decision June 8, 2016 by Editor Paolo Fulghieri.