Incentivizing R&D: Prize or subsidies?

This paper studies the optimal design of R&D contests. A “sponsor” (e.g. the US Department of Defense or the World Health Organization) wants to improve the quality of the winning products. To do so, it partitions its budget between two schemes: an inducement prize and efficiency-enhancing subsidies to the firms competing in the contest. Prizes and subsidies have different functions, and they provide complementary incentives. In the optimally designed contest, subsidies increase while the prize decreases, if the innovation process is more challenging. Further, sensible conditions are identified under which the optimal contest implements either a “handicapping” scheme (by preferentially subsidizing the “underdog”) or a “national champion” scheme (by favoring the “favorite”). Our analysis yields a number of useful implications and sheds light on an array of R&D incentive schemes, such as the DoD's design competitions and vaccine development incentives.     

Does business group affiliation encourage R&D activities? Evidence from India

The decision to undertake investment in innovative activities is an important strategic choice made by firms. This study investigates the relationship between business group (BG) affiliation and research & development (R&D) activities of Indian firms. Using an empirical approach that accounts for endogeneity and selection bias, we observe that BG affiliation has significant positive influence on the sample firms’ R&D activities. Employing various proxies for institutional development, we show that the effect of BG affiliation on R&D declines with the improvements in institutional and regulatory mechanisms. Further, this study explores the linkages between diversification strategies at the group level and R&D investments by firms affiliated with BGs. Results show that degree of related diversification is positively associated with the affiliates’ innovation efforts.     

国家创新体系、 省级创新体系与我国上市公司 R&D 投入

本文采用我国 2008 ～ 2016 年 5052 家主板和中小板上市公司数据实证检验了国家创新体系 NIS 和省级创新体系PIS 对企业R&D 投入的影响以及两者交互作用对企业R&D 投入的影响， 结果显示： 当期的国家创新体系NIS 和省级创新体系PIS 对滞后一期的上市公司企业R&D 投入会产生积极的影响； 省级创新体系PIS 对企业R&D 投入的影响要显著强于国家创新体系 NIS， 即就企业创新而言， 省级创新体系PIS 的影响要优于国家创新体系 NIS。 更为重要的是， 国家创新体系NIS 和省级创新体系PIS 对企业R&D 的影响具有互补效应。 这一结果表明， 中央及各省政府应该着力提升国家和省级创新体系的建设和发展。     

Convergence and unbundling of corporate R&D in telecommunications: is software taking the helm?

This paper presents a view of the changing structure of corporate R&D in telecommunications – one that is close to Adam Smith’s insightful and enduring idea of division of labor – that perhaps we are witnessing the beginnings of vertical disintegration and unbundling of important segments of the industry’s R&D activity. The paper maintains that the emergence of an independent software industry – aided by the convergence of computer, telecommunications and imaging technologies – and the rapid growth of technology-based alliances are at the heart of this trend. So extensive is the vertical disintegration of R&D that, in 1997, the top 10 independent software vendors in the US spent more on R&D than the combined spending by AT&T and Lucent whose sales were well over three times as large. It appears that the source of future innovation in the telecommunications industry lies not in its services segment but rather in telecommunications and Internet equipment firms and independent software firms. Increasingly, the fortunes of large service providers like AT&T will depend less on innovation and more on their ability to configure and market complete one-stop-shopping solutions to customers by combining internal resources with outsourced technologies, products and services.     

R&D投入强度与中国绿色创新效率——基于环境规制的门槛研究

本文基于环境规制视角,运用 2006～2017年中国30个省份面板数据,探讨 R&D 投入强度对中国绿色创新效率的非线性关系及其在时间和空间上的差异性。结论显示：R&D 投入强度对我国绿色创新效率的促进作用受限于环境规制水平,二者存在双重门槛,随着环境规制力度的加强,R&D 投入强度对绿色创新效率的促进效果逐渐弱化,同时环境规制在时空分布上具有明显的差异性, 因此引导当地政府采取适度环境规制对R&D 投入强度驱动中国绿色创新效率有着重要作用。     

R&D投入、资源依赖与区域经济增长——基于门槛模型的实证研究

本文利用2000～2014年全国30省市的面板数据,首先就资源依赖对R&D资本投入和人力投入的影响及挤出效应进行了检验,之后分别以R&D资本投入和R&D人力投入为门槛变量构建了面板门槛模型,对“资源诅咒”现象产生的机理和其地区间可能存在的差异进行实证分析。结果表明：资源依赖对R&D投入的挤出效应随着地区资源依赖度的提高而更加显著;地区资源依赖程度越高,R&D资本投入所产生的门槛效应就越显著,而R&D人力投入却并未表现出相同趋势;R&D投入对地区经济增长的贡献率与资源依赖程度成反比。     

How does the partner type in R&D alliances impact technological innovation performance? A study on the Korean biotechnology industry

The number of strategic alliances for R&D activities in the biotechnology industry is sharply increasing. Some studies show that each alliance partner type has different alliance motives, resources and capabilities, organizational structures and cultures, and degrees of competition with partners, which can lead to different performances of strategic alliances. In this regard, this study conducts an empirical analysis of the different impact of each type of alliance partner on technological innovation performance and finds the moderating effect of absorptive capacity and potential competition by categorizing strategic alliances for R&D activities in the biotechnology industry into three types: vertical-downstream alliances, vertical-upstream alliances, and horizontal alliances. This study analyzed 206 Korean biotechnology firms and their strategic alliances for a total of 292 R&D activities. The results of the analysis showed that vertical alliances have a positive impact on technological innovation performance, while horizontal alliances have an inverted U-shaped relationship with technological innovation performance caused by the effect of competition. Additionally, it was confirmed that the R&D intensity of biotechnology firms has a moderating effect of increasing the impact of vertical-upstream alliances on technological innovation performance.     

R&D投入、技术背景高管对企业经营绩效的影响——以能源上市公司为例

为研究RD投入、技术背景高管对企业经营绩效的影响、技术背景高管的调节作用,收集能源上市公司2015—2018年的相关数据,运用Stata15.0软件进行实证分析。研究结果表明:技术背景高管对RD投入不存在显著影响;RD投入与企业经营绩效之间存在显著正相关关系;技术背景高管对RD投入与企业经营绩效之间的关系具有正向调节作用。因此,能源上市公司应提高技术背景高管比例,加大RD投入,充分发挥技术背景高管的调节作用,从而提高企业经营绩效。