R&D investments and corporate cash holdings

This paper presents evidence about how research and development (R&D) expenditures affect corporate cash holdings in European country groups that differ in their innovation capacity. In theory, one can expect intangible investments such as R&D to result in higher cash stocks than fixed investments, particularly because intangible capital is less suitable as collateral for obtaining external funds. The relationship can be expected to be particularly strong in innovative countries. These countries carry out a relatively high proportion of cutting-edge R&D, which tends to be particularly risky and may be associated with substantial gestation lags before becoming productive. These features tend to increase firms' precautionary cash holdings. To investigate this issue in a European context, we examine different groups of countries that are clustered based on differences in their innovative capacity. Our estimation results confirm a positive relation between changes in R&D investment and changes in cash holdings, whereas changes in fixed investment do not appear to be related to changes in cash positions. The impact of changes in R&D on cash tends to be higher for country groups characterized by a high level of innovative capacity than for countries with moderate levels of innovative capacity. However, the differences across country groups are less pronounced than expected.     

Effect Of Liquidity On Firms' R&D Spending

The effect of firms financial condition on their R&D investment is explored using a relatively long panel data set for five high-technology industries. We find that financial condition, whether measured as cash flow, the stock of liquid assets or the ratio of liquid assets to current liabilities, does affect the R&D spending of small firms. The effect persists after controlling for unobserved permanent firm effects, and the pattern of significance of lagged effects supports the interpretation of causality running from liquidity to R&D. For larger firms, there is no evidence of such an effect. Using these data, we cannot say whether the absence of an effect in larger firms results from better access to capital markets or from higher adjustment costs in R&D.     

Firm performance and corporate finance in New Zealand

Low productivity growth in New Zealand has been a paradox. We study New Zealand firms’ profitability, in terms of profit margin and return on assets (ROA), from the viewpoints of productivity enablers using firm-level panel data. We find that tangible fixed investment and a research and development (R&D) tax incentive are associated with higher profitability performance. In addition, the firm size is found to be a key determinant of profit margin. By contrast, we do not find any evidence that intangible investment can improve the profitability. The global financial crisis has not changed the leverage effect on ROA in New Zealand, while the impact of R&D became more prominent after the crisis.     

Corporate Tax Incentives for R&D Investment in OECD Countries

Differentiating internal equity from debt finance, this study examines the generosity of R&D-specific tax incentives in OECD countries based on an NPV model. The corporate tax system generally favours debt finance and some previous findings on the possible preponderance of internal equity for financing R&D investment cannot be explained in relation to R&D-specific tax concessions. The OECD comparison demonstrates that R&D tax allowances adopted in the Czech Republic, Belgium, the UK, Denmark, Hungary, Austria and Australia generated the most substantial tax savings in 2006. Combined with such incentives, the after-tax NPV increases with the corporate tax rate, suggesting stronger investment stimulation through a tax-rate-increase-cum-base-broadening policy.     

The Effects of Future Capital Investment and R&D Expenditures on Firms' Liquidity

The paper explores factors that lead to accumulation or decumulation of firms' cash reserves. In particular, the paper empirically examines whether additional future fixed capital and R&D investment expenditures induce firms to change their liquidity ratio while considering the role of market imperfections. Implementing a dynamic framework on a panel of US, UK, and German firms, it is found that firms in all three countries make larger adjustments to cash holdings when they plan additional future R&D rather than fixed capital investment expenditures. This behavior is particularly prevalent among financially constrained firms.     

融资结构、企业异质性与研发投资*——来自中国上市公司的经验证据

企业融资结构影响研发投资强度吗？是否存在能促进企业研发投资强度提升的最优融资结构？对不同类型的企业而言,最优融资结构是否存在差异呢？本文运用中国上市公司2007—2015年的面板数据进行实证研究,结果表明：（1）企业越偏向于股权融资,研发投资强度就越高;（2）存在有利于促进研发投资强度提升的最优融资结构;（3）企业的最优融资结构随企业所属的产业性质、股权集中程度、银企关系强度及所有权性质的不同而呈现显著的差异。本文的研究发现有助深入理解融资结构与研发投资的关系,也为决策者制定宏观金融结构优化政策提供了来自微观企业层面的证据。     

Internal R&D effort,external imported technology and economic value added: empirical study of Taiwan's electronic industry

Technology innovation is a significant resource in the contemporary knowledge-based economy. The main sources of technology innovation are internal R&D effort and external imported technology. Two primary traditional production factors are physical capital and labour. The theoretical basis for this study is an evolutionary Cobb–Douglas production function explaining the effects of four resources (internal R&D effort, imported technology, physical capital and labour) on a firm's sales and economic value added (EVA). Time-series cross-section panel data from 219 Taiwan electronic manufacturers between 1990 and 2003 were employed for fixed effect model. Major empirical findings were observed in this study: first, Internal R&D effort can positively affect a firm's sales and EVA. Conversely, imported technology is found to have had no significant effect on sales and EVA. Second, although both physical capital and labour affect a firm's sales more than the effects of internal R&D and external imported technology, internal R&D effort contributes to a firm's EVA beyond the effects of imported technology, physical capital and labour. Third, External imported technology has neither a complementary nor a substitutive relationship with internal R&D effort.     

新冠肺炎疫情冲击下企业现金持有的预防价值研究

最近爆发的新冠肺炎疫情牵动着亿万民众的心,面对突如其来的疫情,企业资金面临着巨大压力。企业持有现金主要源于预防和交易动机,然而预防动机的特性决定了其在企业正常经营状态下难以直观体现,因而目前鲜有研究对企业现金持有的预防价值进行直接检验。本文以新冠肺炎疫情事件的冲击为研究切入点,通过考察不同现金持有水平的企业在面临危机冲击的市场反应,发现企业现金持有水平与事件窗口期内的累计超额收益率呈显著正相关关系,从而为现金持有的预防价值提供了更为直接的经验证据。而且,当公司受疫情冲击程度越大时,二者之间正相关关系越强。进一步发现,企业现金持有的预防价值在企业现金流压力大以及外部融资环境较差时更加凸显。本研究丰富了已有关于现金持有预防价值的相关文献,并对政府与企业应采取何种举措以应对突发事件具有一定的启示。     

中小电子信息企业现金持有水平比较分析

选择中小板和创业板50家中小电子企业和40家中小信息服务企业的面板数据为样本,应用实证方法分析中小企业债务来源结构对现金持有水平的影响,并对中小电子企业和中小信息服务企业的现金持有水平进行横向比较。结果显示,中小电子企业和中小信息服务企业的现金持有水平均与经营负债率正相关,与金融负债率负相关,而且中小电子企业现金持有水平大大低于中小信息服务企业现金持有水平。因此,中小企业应该通过设计合理的债务来源结构来维持合理的现金持有水平。     

Investment opportunities and cash holdings of firms: an empirical study on Korean firms

We find that the cash flow sensitivity of cash holdings of firms whose investment opportunities are lower is significantly higher by examining a panel data of 898 Korean firms for 1999–2014. The cash flow sensitivity of investment is also found to be lower in case of low investment opportunity. Both findings suggest that firms decide to hold cash in response to an increase in cash flow when they do not have a good investment opportunity. Precautionary motive because of financial constraints and uncertainty, and agency problems, however, are not associated with the cash flow sensitivity of cash holdings. These findings imply that it is necessary to develop new investment opportunities to encourage firms to spend more cash in Korea.     

The impact of corporate debt on long term investment and firm performance

Prior research indicates a linkage between debt, research and development (R&D) and physical investment, and that the relationship varies depending on the type of firm (science versus non–science). Leverage also plays a multidimensional role in corporate performance and growth. The relationship between financial leverage and R&D expenditure is analysed using a sample of large United States (US) manufacturing firms. Then, the impact of leverage on R&D expenditure is studied using corporate performance drivers as intermediate variables. The results indicate that there is a strong negative relationship between the degree of financial leverage and the level of R&D expenditure that firms undertake. The negative relationship is robust to changes in model specifications and sample periods. More importantly, the results show that it is higher leverage that leads to lower R&D expense rather than R&D causing variations in future leverage. In addition, the results indicate that higher leverage adversely influences future investment in R&D which may in turn lead to negative impact on long term operating performance and future growth opportunities.     

Corporate tax policy and heterogeneous firm innovation: Evidence from a developing country

This paper adds to the literature by identifying the causality of corporate tax policy on firm innovation in a developing country. We exploit the China’s 2006 corporate income tax base reform to integrate the tax system between foreign-invested and state/collective-controlled firms as a natural experiment. The difference-in-differences strategy documents a positive effect of corporate tax deduction on firm patenting. The effect is particularly significant if a firm is of larger size or locates in eastern provinces. We also examine possible channels behind the findings, including changes in R&D and capital investment, intangible assets, financial constraints, and new product sales.     

Form of Ownership and Financial Constraints:Panel Data Evidence From Flow of Funds and Investment Equations

This paper analyzes the effects of the form of ownership on the substitutability between internal and external sources of finance in Italy. In particular, we test whether financial constraints are more severe for independent firms compared to members of large national business groups and subsidiaries of foreign multinational corporations. The results obtained from flow of funds and investment equations estimated for a panel of Italian companies imply that independent firms face more severe financial constraints. In fact, not only members of national groups and subsidiaries of multinational corporations find it easier to substitute cash flow with external finance when the former falls but they do not display excess sensitivity to cash flow and debt in their investment decisions.     

货币紧缩、产权性质与公司现金持有

宏观经济政策如何影响公司微观行为是最近几年比较新的领域。本文运用中国上市公司2001—2011年的年度数据,探讨了货币紧缩政策对公司现金持有的影响以及产权性质对这种影响的作用。本文发现,货币紧缩政策对公司的现金持有具有负向影响,即处于货币政策紧缩阶段,公司的现金持有会显著减少。相比于国有企业,货币紧缩政策对民营企业的现金持有影响更大,民营企业的现金持有在货币紧缩阶段减少得更多。本文进一步分析发现,在货币紧缩阶段,公司当期投资并未出现下降。这说明在货币紧缩阶段,为确保当期投资顺利进行,公司会使用自有现金来补充由于银行信贷减少引起的资金不足。     

Corporate governance structure,managerial discretion,and the R&D investment in China

This article studies the influence of corporate governance factors on firm R&D investment in a transitional economy like China. By using the data from the listed companies in China, this article statistically tests the hypotheses on the relations between corporate R&D intensity and managerial discretion of CEOs, independent outside directors, degree of share concentration, share held by the state, and share held by a manager. According to the results, the managerial discretion of CEOs has a significant and negative correlation with the firm R&D investment. The number of the independent outside directors in the board has a positive influence on the R&D investment. And as the shares held by a manager increase, the firm R&D intensity will decrease at first, and then increase along an inverted parabolic curve. All these findings show that the improvement of corporate governance and stock incentive plan, and the cultivation of active and long-term stock investors, may finally lead to the upgrade of corporate innovation capabilities.     

R&D financing and growth

ABSTRACT

R&D investment are an important engine of growth and development. Yet economists have often claimed underinvestment, based on the consideration that these projects are more costly to finance, especially, due to the asymmetric information between inside and outside investors. Coherently, a recent empirical evidence has shown that firms intensively active in R&D are less leveraged and rely more heavily on internal finance. Motivated by this evidence, we study the effects of asymmetric information and financial frictions within a GE economy of Schumpeterian tradition. The model and equilibrium concept are rich enough to represent investment and innovation decisions, technology adoption/diffusion through patent licensing and, most importantly, firms' financial decisions. In this representation, R&D-intensive firms might effectively rely more on internal sources and equity than on debt financing, relative to what would happen in frictionless markets. Further, financial decisions affect aggregate investment and income dynamics.     

Sources of business fluctuations: Financial or technology shocks?

Despite the widespread belief that technology shocks are the main source of business fluctuations, recent empirical studies indicate that in the absence of financial frictions, a shock to the marginal efficiency of investment is the main source and is closely related to financial conditions for investment. We incorporate a financial accelerator mechanism and two types of financial shocks to the external finance premium and net worth in a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with shocks to the marginal efficiency of investment, the investment-good price markup, and the rates of neutral and investment-specific technological changes. This model is estimated using eleven US time series that include data on loan, net worth, the loan rate, and the relative price of investment. Our estimation results show that the (non-stationary) neutral and investment-specific technology shocks primarily drive output and investment fluctuations, while the external finance premium shock plays an important role for investment fluctuations. This financial shock induced substantial falls and subsequent sharp hikes in the external finance premium and caused boom–bust cycles over the past two decades.     

WHAT CAUSED FIXED INVESTMENT TO STAGNATE DURING THE 1990S IN JAPAN? EVIDENCE FROM PANEL DATA OF LISTED COMPANIES*

Taking into account considerable changes in the corporate finance behaviour of listed Japanese companies during the 1990s, this paper empirically investigates the causes of the stagnation of the listed companies’ fixed investment during the 1990s, using panel data from the companies’ financial statements. Our findings include the following: (i) while positive cash flow sensitivity was detected for the companies listed during the 1990s, it was not necessarily a consequence of the binding of liquidity constraints; (ii) declines in Tobin's q explain decreases in fixed investment throughout the 1990s; and (iii) the holding of liquid assets acted as a buffer against liquidity shocks.     

R&D investment and internal finance: the cash flow effect

This paper investigates the cash flow effect on R&D investments for firms in Denmark. Evidence is found that internal funds are important in explaining R&D investments, indicating that R&D investment decisions are affected by credit market imperfections. Cash flow sensitivities are larger both for smaller firms and for firms with low debt relative to assets. Furthermore, this effect is also present after controlling for cash flow’s potential role as a predictor of future profitability.     

Financialization,Shareholder Orientation and the Cash Holdings of US Corporations

Growth in the cash holdings of US nonfinancial corporations (NFCs) has received considerable attention in recent years. These cash holdings constitute a primary component of the growth in firm-level financial asset holdings often highlighted in analyses of the ‘financialization’ of NFCs. In this article, I use a panel of US corporations to empirically analyze two links between corporate cash holdings and the literature on financialization. First, I find a small but positive relationship between cash holdings and shareholder value ideology among large corporations. I capture the growing entrenchment of shareholder ideology using average industry-level stock repurchases, to proxy for industry-level norms encouraging managers to target stock price-based indicators of firm performance. Second, I find a positive relationship between a firm's cash holdings and a measure of the differential it earns between interest income and expense. Given that cash is classified with short-term marketable (and, therefore, interest-bearing) securities on firm balance sheets, this result lends empirical support to the hypothesis that traditionally nonfinancial firms are increasingly engaged in borrowing and lending for profit.