Financial techniques, institutions and innovation

This paper reviews the relationship between financial evaluation and control techniques and innovative activity in a range of contexts. The relationship is broadly conceived to include both the financial techniques developed and deployed within the firm and the evaluative behaviour of financial institutions external to the firm such as venture capital and industrial investment banking. With innovative and investment opportunities tending to vary over time within an industry, it becomes apparent that there can be no permanent solution to the common problem of how to trade off financial control for organisational stability against the need to trust devolved organisational forms in control of innovative development projects.