Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS), the award-winning data research platform and business intelligence tool for corporate, academic and government institutions worldwide, is pleased to announce the addition of RQ (Research Quotient) to its data offerings. RQ is available at no cost to academic institutions that maintain a subscription to S&P Capital IQ Compustat. A part of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, WRDS provides thought leadership, data access and research insight to corporations, universities and regulatory agencies worldwide.

RQ enables researchers to link R&D to firm growth and market value; derive optimal firm R&D spending; examine revenue generation from R&D and assess undervalued firms. Used for notable academic research on R&D, and developed by Anne Marie Knott, Professor of Strategy at Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis, RQ is key for R&D-related inquiries.

“WRDS is very happy to offer RQ to our academic subscribers,” said Robert Zarazowski, Managing Director of WRDS. “We know that R&D plays a critical role in both firm growth and valuation, and I’m confident that RQ will be extremely useful to WRDS users.”

“I’m very excited WRDS is hosting RQ,” said Professor Anne Marie Knott. “It’s important for academics to make data available for study replication, but because RQ is derived from Compustat, I didn’t have permission to do that. WRDS solves that problem. Not only can scholars replicate RQ studies, but they can also retest prior innovation studies using patents. Since we now know patents don’t match expectations for a measure of R&D productivity, we think a number of prior results may be overturned.”

QUICK STATS

Universe

  • Estimated for all firms conducting R&D - fewer than 50% of firms doing R&D patent their innovations
  • Coverage 1972-2010

Uniform

  • Unitless (essentially ratio of output to outputs)— interpretation is the same across all firms
  • Compare firms across industries and countries

Reliable

  • Firm behavior and economic outcomes consistent with endogenous growth theory (and validated over 47 years):
    • Optimal R&D investment increases in RQ
    • Market value increases in RQ
    • Firm growth increases in RQ

READ MORE ABOUT RQ

Article: The Trillion-Dollar R&D Fix
Paper: Measuring Innovation

ABOUT WRDS

Wharton Research Data Services (WRDS) provides the leading business intelligence, data analytics, and financial research platform for global institutions dedicated to providing comprehensive thought leadership and historical analysis. Part of the Wharton School, WRDS is a powerful computing platform that provides unparalleled access to global financial data, research utilities, and insight into the latest innovations in academic research.

As the leading data research platform for over 40,000 commercial, academic, government and nonprofit users in 33 countries—WRDS is the global gold standard in data management and research, all backed by the credibility and leadership of the Wharton School. http://www.whartonwrds.com/.

About the Wharton School

Founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. With a broad global community and one of the most published business school faculties, Wharton creates economic and social value around the world. The Wharton School has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 9,000 participants in executive education programs annually and a powerful alumni network of 94,000 graduates.