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Industrial biotechnology is an emerging industry in which firms are developing novel alternatives to petroleum-based goods. Canadian-based firms have an opportunity to capitalise on the availability of biomass from Canadian agriculture and Canada's broad resource base. However, complexity of the product development process coupled with immaturity of this industry means little is currently known about these firms, their innovation activities and decision making. This study uses data from the 2003 and 2006 bioproduct development surveys to examine the Canadian bioproducts industry, focusing on factors conducive to innovative activity for bioproduct producing firms. Several factors are important in facilitating innovation, such as intellectual property, collaborations, focus on bioproducts relative to other business activities, the dominant product type and region in which the firm operates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between regulatory changes, returns on equity and stock market valuations for Canadian food and non-food agribusinesses. Design/methodology/approach – Two empirical approaches are employed. First, an event study is used to evaluate the impact of official regulatory announcements on the stock market valuations of selected Canadian agribusinesses. Next, an approach introduced by Mishra et al. using the Du Pont expansion is applied to investigate the effect of regulations on firms' accounting profits. Data on Canadian food and non-food agribusinesses are collected from Bloomberg, Thompson One Banker and SEDAR. Findings – The event study demonstrates that official regulatory announcement dates do not correspond with abnormal stock market returns for Canadian firms, while the Du Pont model yields mixed evidence with respect to their accounting profits. Research limitations/implications – This paper only considers publicly traded companies. As a result, survivorship bias may exist. Future research should include privately held and cooperative firms. Social implications – Food regulations can influence firm profits and shareholder wealth, so understanding how government actions influence agribusiness is important when considering the total costs of current and future food policy. Originality/value – The interaction between policy and the financial performance of Canada's publicly traded agribusinesses is an under-researched area and no studies have examined Canadian data. The results of this study are valuable to both policy makers and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancement in biotechnology requires continued innovative activity by firms. To grow, biotechnology firms must understand the factors affecting their innovative activity. Such understanding also informs policy makers, and supports the development of policies promoting one's biotechnology sector. This study explores factors, which determine innovative activity within the Canadian biotechnology industry. Innovative activity is measured as the natural log of the number of products/processes a firm has at different stages of the innovation spectrum. A model is developed to regress this measure on several determinants of innovation. Significant drivers of innovation include: collaborative arrangements, transfer of intellectual property, firm size and age, whether the firm was in the agricultural or human health biotechnology sectors and whether the firm focused on development or commercialisation. Generally speaking, these factors all contributed to firms having more products/processes either under development, undergoing clinical trials or regulatory approval, or on the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]