Although the economic and welfare consequences of privatization processes have been widely studied, less attention has been paid to understanding how these processes affect corporate research and development (R&D), and hence the innovative performance of the firm. We propose to address these issues by combining a policy level perspective with a firm level perspective centered around the role of corporate R&D and its changes. We use data from a few recent privatization processes to show how and by what processes R&D activities are affected in terms of amount and origins of funds allocated, scope of projects funded, and reliance on outside collaborations. In the light of these cases, we present a framework to characterize firm level effects of government divestment to guide managerial choices in restructuring corporate R&D and governmental action to proactively counterbalance post-privatization underinvestment risks.