The impact of public R&D subsidy on small firm productivity: evidence from Korean SMEs

This paper explores the effects of R&D promotion policy on SME performance. We use a large panel data set on public R&D subsidies to Korean manufacturing firms. We control for counterfactual outcomes employing the DID (difference in differences) estimation procedure as well as for the endogeneity of the R&D investment and the R&D subsidy using the 2-stage Tobit/Logit DPD (dynamic panel data) procedure. We find significant evidence for positive effects of the public R&D subsidy on both the R&D expenditure and the value added productivity of Korean manufacturing SMEs. The policy thus appears to have been successful in fostering technological advancement and in promoting economic growth.     

R&D policies, trade and process innovation

We set up a simple trade model with two countries hosting one firm each. The firms invest in cost-reducing R&D, and each government may grant R&D subsidies to the domestic firm. We show that it is optimal for a government to provide higher R&D subsidies the lower the level of trade costs, even if the firms are independent monopolies. If firms produce imperfect substitutes, policy competition may become so fierce that only one of the firms survives. International policy harmonization eliminates policy competition and ensures a symmetric outcome. However, it is shown that harmonization is not necessarily welfare maximizing. The optimal coordinated policies may imply an asymmetric outcome with R&D subsidies to only one of the firms.     

R&D spending,strategic position and firm performance

Based on R&D investment data from Chinese listed manufacturing firms, this paper examines the effect of R&D spending on firms’ future performance conditional on their strategic positions. We find that firms pursing a product differentiation strategy have more R&D spending than those with a cost leadership strategy. In addition, we document a positive effect of R&D spending on firms’ future performance if they adopt a product differentiation strategy. Meanwhile, for the firms that adopt a cost leadership strategy, the relationship between R&D spending and firm performance resembles an inversed U-shape. Furthermore, we find this inversed U-shape relationship only exists for non-state-owned firms. Overall, this paper provides guidance and useful suggestions on the efficient allocation of R&D resources for Chinese manufacturing firms.     

The dynamics of exports and R&D in SMEs

A growing body of literature is exploring firm export and R&D activities. However, most studies examine the first one, whilst considering the second as an explanatory variable or vice versa. This paper contributes to this literature by exploring the joint dynamics of exports and R&D using data from a representative sample of small and medium-sized enterprises in Spanish manufacturing over the 1990–2006 period. The results confirm the existence of a strong interdependence between export and R&D activities. Indeed, engaging in export (R&D) activities will increase a firm’s chances of also engaging in R&D (export) activities. This, in turn, increases firms’ chances of succeeding in export (R&D) activities. Additionally, once we control for firm heterogeneity, strong persistence still remains in each activity due to true state dependence. The results are robust in the use of alternative measures of internationalization (i.e. imports) and innovative activities (product and process innovation).     

High-growth firms and innovation: an empirical analysis for Spanish firms

This paper analyses the effect of R&D investment on firm growth. We use an extensive sample of Spanish manufacturing and service firms. The database comprises diverse waves of Spanish Community Innovation Survey and covers the period 2004–2008. First, a probit model corrected for sample selection analyses the role of innovation on the probability of being a high-growth firm (HGF). Second, a quantile regression technique is applied to explore the determinants of firm growth. Our database shows that a small number of firms experience fast growth rates in terms of sales or employees. Our results reveal that R&D investments positively affect the probability of becoming a HGF. However, differences appear between manufacturing and service firms. Finally, when we study the impact of R&D investment on firm growth, quantile estimations show that internal R&D presents a significant positive impact for the upper quantiles, while external R&D shows a significant positive impact up to the median.     

Non-R&D SMEs: external knowledge,absorptive capacity and product innovation

The relationship between external knowledge, absorptive capacity (AC) and innovative performance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is investigated empirically. Using data from a survey on firms located in North Norway, we ask whether AC plays a mediating role between different external knowledge inflows and innovative performance. The results are consistent with AC as an important mediator for transforming external knowledge inflows into higher innovative performance if we include all SMEs in the sample. However, this result is not robust when considering the sub-sample of non-R&D SMEs only. External knowledge inflows have a much stronger direct effect on innovation performance for non-R&D firms and leave a weak mediating effect of AC. Our findings suggest that measures of AC should be developed further in order to make AC a more relevant concept for empirical studies of SMEs without in-house R&D.     

Family involvement,environmental turbulence,and R&D investment: evidence from Listed Chinese SMEs

Small Business Economics - This study draws on the insights of institutional theory and the environmental contingency perspective to explore family firm leaders’ approaches toward R&D...     

A comparison of revenue growth at recent-IPO and established firms: The influence of SG&A, R&D and COGS

A dynamic view of the resource based theory (RBT) examines how a firm builds its resources over time, considering variations in resources' growth rates while the firm attempts to grow. Accordingly, we consider the elasticity of accumulated resources to assess conditions where these resources might serve as substitutes for rather than complements to COGS during periods of growth. We specify a production function that links aggregate resource allocation among SG&A, R&D and COGS expenses to a firm's revenue. This function yields a set of hypotheses on the elasticity of SG&A and R&D, and the productivity of COGS, while controlling for the revenue growth rate. We test these hypotheses on a dataset of 64 randomly selected firms that recently underwent an IPO, and a comparable set of 64 established public firms from four high-technology sectors. Results show that the accumulated stocks of resources can serve as substitutes for rather than complements to COGS, and the manner in which recent-IPO firms allocate and use resources differs from their established counterparts. We discuss the implications of associated elasticity and productivity results.     

R&D investments in family and founder firms: An agency perspective

Investments in R&D can influence a firm's ability to develop new products and to create and adopt innovative technologies that may enhance productivity. However, due to uncertainty regarding the outcome, investments in R&D may lead to an agency problem between the owners and the managers of a firm. Family and founder firms are often considered to be different in their agency situation than other firms, which may have an influence on R&D investments. This paper analyzes R&D spending in family and founder firms versus other firms. The results show that while family ownership decreases the level of R&D intensity, ownership by lone founders has a positive effect not only on R&D intensity but also on the level of R&D productivity. The paper contributes to the understanding of the role of entrepreneurship in making high risk/high return R&D decisions.     

Knowledge quality,innovation and firm performance: a study of knowledge transfer in SMEs

Small Business Economics - Using structural equation modelling on 291 small and medium enterprises in Australia, we examine the impact of knowledge transfers from supply chain actors on innovation...     

External and internal influences on R&D alliance formation: Evidence from German SMEs

Relying on relational capital theory and transaction cost economics (TCE), this study identifies factors that impede or promote alliance formation in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Environmental uncertainty and knowledge intensity impede firms' R&D alliance formation; the focal firm's overall trust in partners enhances alliance formation. Trust interacts positively with environmental uncertainty and knowledge intensity to affect alliance formation in SMEs. The findings reflect data from a longitudinal sample of 854 German SMEs, captured over eight years from 1999 to 2007.     

R&D innovation and the value of cash in the biotech industry

This study investigates how the market pricing of an additional dollar of cash held by biotech firms is conditional upon the industry's typical performance, R&D innovation. Under the proposed R&D innovation regime, I find i) an additional dollar of cash is priced higher if held by a firm with higher R&D innovation; ii) the role of R&D innovation is asymmetric depending on whether R&D activities move the drug discovery and development forward or backward; and iii) R&D innovation also differentiates the association between investment opportunities and value of cash observed by prior studies.     

R&D profitability: the role of risk and Knightian uncertainty

This paper provides the first empirical attempt of linking firms’ profits and investment in R&D revisiting Knight’s (Risk, uncertainty and profit, Hart, Schaffner & Marx, Boston, 1921) distinction between uncertainty and risk. Along with the risky profit-maximising scenario, identifying a second, off-setting, unpredictable bias that leads to heterogeneous returns to R&D investments is crucial to fully understand the drivers of corporate profits. Consistently with the Knightian theory that relates risk to profitability, we model the impact of risk and uncertainty on profits and provide a first empirical attempt to model the effect of ambiguity, a particular type of uncertainty, on R&D returns.     

International knowledge spillovers through high-tech imports and R&D of foreign-owned firms

The international transmission of knowledge through import spillovers, as a source of Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth, has received much attention in the literature. We investigate two additional direct channels through which R&D disseminates: the import of high-technology goods and the internationalization of business R&D. Building on an extensive data-set, covering both developing and industrial countries, we add foreign-owned patents as a proxy for R&D activities of foreign multinationals. While we confirm the significance of import spillovers for all countries included, we find additional spillovers for developing countries through the import of high-technology goods. Only developed economies seem to benefit from the diffusion of knowledge that originates through cross-border cooperation in R&D by multinationals.     

Assessment of the public tools used to promote R&D investment in Spanish SMEs

In this paper, we identify the potential determinants of firm R&D to understand the effectiveness of public policies. Our results suggest a considerably low impact of tax credits and public grants on the R&D investment of the Spanish manufacturing firms. Tax credits are mainly considered by large firms that use them as a reduction in the tax burden in the corporate tax, while SMEs use public grants to alleviate financial constraints. This evidence leads to discuss alternatives to the current design of the public policies analyzed.     

R&D Policy Involving Consumer-Friendly Strategy: Cooperative and Non-Cooperative R&D

In a highly globalized economy, foreign exporting firms have initiatives to be consumer friendly for many reasons. The aim of the present paper is to endogenize consumer-friendly actions by the exporting firms, and explore how government’s industrial policy and firm’s R&D investment are affected by the strategy of foreign exporting firms under cooperative and non-cooperative R&D commitments in an international rivalry market. It finds that consumer-friendly action is a dominant strategy equilibrium, and no matter whether under cooperative or non-cooperative R&D, a consumer-friendly firm tends to invest less than does the purely profit-maximizing firm on R&D under symmetrical decisions. In the case of firms cooperating in R&D and involving consumer-friendliness in action, their governments need not intervene. On the other hand, governments always subsidize non-cooperative R&D activities, or cooperative but unfriendly firms. Furthermore, the consumer-friendly action will result in more (less) R&D subsidies by the exporting government when both firms non-cooperate (cooperate) in R&D. Finally, it is robust to indicate that the government of an importing country prefers friendly foreign firms in any circumstances. Above all, the equilibrium outcomes explain the crucial role of consumer-friendly strategy for industrial policies and R&D activities.     

Globalization, R&D and the iPod Cycle

This paper constructs a dynamic scale-free North-South model of trade with endogenous innovation. In the North a local-sourcing-targeted race and an outsourcing-targeted R&D race take place simultaneously within each industry. The former results in the winner firm manufacturing in the North, while the latter culminates in the winner firm's immediate outsourcing to the South, generating the iPod cycle. We study three aspects of globalization: reductions in the resource-requirement in outsourcing-targeted R&D, increased subsidies to outsourced production, and reduced Southern imitation due to TRIPs. Each event boosts outsourcing-targeted R&D and increases the frequency of iPod cycles. The aggregate innovation rate rises despite a possible fall in local-sourcing-targeted R&D, and the North-South relative wage decreases.     

Feasibility of Effective Public–Private R&D Collaboration: the Case of Cooperative R&D Agreements

Since the mid–1980s, the federal government has supported collaborative R&D in private consortia and between industry and national research laboratories. One justification for these activities is that they can solve ‘public goods’ problems associated with producing non–appropriable, technology–base research. However, these efforts also create formidable contracting problems similar to those experienced in defense weapons systems development. We examine the early history of collaborations with the national laboratories, to ascertain whether or not this policy is working effectively, and find that the problems seem to be outweighing the benefits mentioned, in many cases.     

The roles of R&;D in new firm growth

Innovative start-ups are an important driver of economic growth. This article presents empirical evidence on the effects of research and development (R&D) on new product development, interfirm alliances and employment growth during the early life course of firms. We use a dataset that contains a sample of new firms that is representative of the whole population of start-ups. This dataset covers the first 6 years of the life course of firms. It is revealed that R&D plays several roles during the early life course of high-tech as well as high-growth firms. The effect of initial R&D on high-tech firm growth is through increasing levels of interfirm alliances in the first post-entry years. R&D efforts enable the exploitation of external knowledge. Initial R&D also stimulates new product development later on in the life course of high-tech firms, but this does not seem to affect firm growth. R&D does not affect the growth rate of new low-tech firms, which seem to be driven mainly by the growth ambitions of the founding entrepreneur. The results show that R&D matters for a limited but important set of new high-tech and high-growth firms, which are key in innovation and entrepreneurship policies.