SGER: The Stock Market and Innovative Capabilities in the 'New Economy': The Optical Networking Industry

University Of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell MA

Investigators

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to analyze the impact of the stock market on the innovative capabilities of high- technology companies that have been central to the "new economy". The empirical focus will be on equipment suppliers in the optical networking industry --an industry that integrates the bandwidth potential of fiber optics with the data communications potential of the Internet. Through in-depth comparative analysis of the development and utilization of technology at Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks, Lucent Technologies, Alcatel, and Sycamore Networks, this project seeks to determine the impacts of both the changing role of the stock market and the volatility in stock prices on the accumulation of innovative capabilities in an industry that is central to the prosperity of the US and global economies.