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Fuels & Lubes International Quarter Two 2016
eron International Corp., for USD 12.7
billion.
When two companies merge, R&D
is one of the areas cut first.
This improves the bottom line in
the short term as expenditures are
reduced. From that, profits increase
in the short term. It is not a par-
ticularly wise strategy for the long
term, however, as a market-leading
position can easily be lost by reducing
the innovation pipeline.
At present, this is taking place with
the merger between Dow Chemical
and DuPont, which both have massive
R&D departments.
In an article in Fortune magazine
by Chris Mathews, "The Death of
American Research and Develop-
ment," it was noted that, "In the eyes
of many investors in the U.S. today,
however, it is the large research
departments that are holding them
back." Activist investor Nelson
Peltz forced out Ellen Kullman as
CEO of DuPont, in large part due to
her support for heavy spending in
R&D. "What Kullman defended as a
commitment to science and solving
the world’s big problems, Peltz saw
as empire building that DuPont’s
investors could ill afford," Mathews
noted.
While it is difficult to pin down
exactly what R&D spending is, there
is no neat phrasing required by law
for companies to report, certain out-
comes can be measured.
For economists Ashish Aro-
ra, Sharon Belenzon and Andrea
Patacconi it is the share of publicly
traded corporations whose scientists
publish in academic journals. The
findings of their study released in
2015 revealed a disturbing trend for
the future of R&D in the U.S. corpo-
rate sector. They found that by 2007,
just 6% of publicly traded companies
were publishing research in scientif-
ic journals, down nearly two-thirds
from 1980.
For many in the investment
community focused on short-term
results, that decline is looked upon
favorably, especially when reduced
spending is needed to make corpo-
rate transformation work by improv-
ing the bottom line.
As most mergers fail, R&D depart-
ments are even more vulnerable.
Studies have shown that more than
half of all mergers do not meet their
objectives. Some say it is as high as
80%. When a merger or acquisition
fails, for whatever reason, the impact
can be devastating.
The USD 12.1 billion acquisition of
Petrohawk by BHP Billiton in July
2011, the world's largest natural
resources company, is instructive.
Primarily known for copper, BHP
Billiton endeavoured to become a
"Big Oil" firm too, lured by the twin
siren calls of rising fuel prices and
growth in Asia over the last decade.
This would allow for it to provide
"one-stop shopping" for commodities
to China and other Asian countries.
As so often happens, BHP Billiton
overpaid, not just once, but sever-
al times, for American oil and gas
assets. It bought Petrohawk when
oil was around USD 90-100 a barrel.
It also bought natural gas holdings
in the Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas
that same year from Chesapeake
Energy for USD 5 billion. At that time,
natural gas futures were nearly USD
4.15 per million Btu. Natural gas
futures are now trading under USD 2.
BHP Billiton has desperately tried
to peddle many of its oil and natural
gas assets it had acquired, but so far,
there have been no takers. Failing
at selling these assets, the company
was forced to slash dividends and
"...plans to reduce its already bare-
bones operating budget even further
in 2016 due to depressed oil and gas
prices."
It is from the operating budget, the
yearly spending for production-asso-
ciated costs, that income is generat-
ed to pay for R&D.
Overspending in the billions as
BHP Billiton has done in the past will
eventually show up in reduced R&D
outlays, where R&D spending has
been falling steadily since 2008 and is
now one-fifth of what it was then.
杜邦CEO的职务，其中很大的原因就是她
支持大规模的研发投入。“在Kullman看来
是对科学的重视和解决世界上的大问题，
但在Peltz看来是杜邦的投资者们所不能承
受之重，” Chris Mathews写到。
虽然严格定义什么属于研发支出很难，
也没有法律明文规定公司需要对此进行报
告，但也有一些可以进行计量的结果。
对于经济学家Ashish Arora、Sharon
Belenzon和Andrea Patacconi来说，这个
指标就是内部科学家在学术期刊上发表的
文章的上市公司比例。他们2015年发表的
研究结果表明，美国企业界未来的研发趋
势十分令人担忧。他们发现，到2007年，
仅6%的上市公司在科学期刊上发表研究成
果，较1980年下降了近三分之二。
许多投资界人士都关注短期成果，因此
这种下降被视为是好事，特别是需要通过降
低支出，改善盈利以实现企业转型的时候。
大部分的并购是不成功的，研发部门尤
其如此。研究表明超过半数年的合并没有
达到最初的目标，也有人说这个数字高达
80%。当一件合并或收购失败时，无论什
么原因，其后果的灾难性的。
2011年7月全球最大的天然资源公司必和
必拓以121亿美元收购Petrohawk一案就极
有示范意义。必和必拓以铜生产而闻名，
因过去十年中燃料价格上升和亚洲的增长
的诱惑，立志要成为一家“大型石油”企业。
这将使得它可以向中国和其他亚洲国家提
供“一站式”的大宗商品。事情经常如此，必
和必拓在收购美国石油和天然气资产时，
支付了过高的价格，而且不止一次，是多
次。它在收购Petrohawk时，石油价格约
为每桶90-100美元。同年，它还以50亿美
元从Chesapeake Energy收购了阿肯色州
Fayetteville Shale的天然气控股公司。那
时，天然气的价格约为每百万BTU 4.15美
元。目前的天然气价格不到2美元。
必和必拓一直在兜售它收购的石油和天
然气资产，但到目前为止，无人接手。由
于未能出售这些资产，公司不得不大幅度
降低分红并“……由于超低的油气价格，计
划在2016年进一步削减其已经捉襟见肘的
运营预算。”
正是这些每年用于生产相关的成本（运
营预算）所带来的收入支付了研发费用。
像必和必拓这样在过去十年中多支付数
十亿美元的交易最终将降低研发费用，自
2008年以来，研发支出一直在下降，目前
已不及那时的五分之一。
