The R&D Investment–Uncertainty Relationship: Do Strategic Rivalry and Firm Size Matter?

This paper uses a real options perspective to augment a standard research and development (R&D) investment model and implement a firm‐level empirical analysis to assess the practical significance of market uncertainty and its interactions with strategic rivalry and firm size. We use a measure of firm‐relevant market uncertainty along with panel data and find that firms invest less in current R&D as uncertainty about market returns increases. The effect of firm‐specific uncertainty on R&D investment is smaller in markets where strategic rivalry is likely to be more intense. Furthermore, holding access to financing constant, the effect of uncertainty on R&D investment is attenuated for large firms. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

内部控制、研发强度与管理短视——基于中国上市公司的经验证据

研发投入具有长期性和不确定性等特征,企业的研发行为会降低当期会计盈余。在研究内部控制质量对企业研发强度影响的基础上,深入分析内部控制作用于企业研发活动的两个路径——抑制管理机会主义风险和抑制研发项目运营风险,结果表明：企业内部控制质量与研发投入强度正相关,内部控制能够显著降低企业的管理机会主义风险和研发项目运营风险,最终有利于提高企业的研发强度,这不仅揭示了内部控制在研发投入方面发挥作用的内在机制,也为我国上市公司的内部控制及研发活动提供了新的经验证据。     

Building the Knowledge Stock: Lags,Depreciation, and Uncertainty in R&D Investment and Link with Productivity Growth

The search for an appropriate methodology to investigate the relation between R&D investment, knowledge stock and productivity growth is the main purpose of the paper. In analogy with physical assets, we present a model of knowledge capital formation which allows the calculation of the relevant user cost, as well. The proposed model accumulates R&D investment based on a stochastic gestation lag and a geometric depreciation of the stock. The basic parameters underlying the lag structure differ according to the types of research expenditure. The approach is applied to public R&D investment in Italian agriculture; the results provide interesting information about the economic structure of public research effort in Italian agriculture and plausible estimates of its internal rate of return.     

Interactions between Preemptive Competition and a Financing Constraint

We develop an investment and financing model in which two identical firms compete for first‐mover advantage in an opportunity to invest. We investigate the interactions between preemptive competition and a financing constraint. We show that a medium‐intensity financing constraint can play a positive role in mitigating the preemptive competition and improving firm value in equilibrium. This positive effect is in sharp contrast with the conventional negative effects of the financing constraint. The positive effect is strong, especially for IT venture businesses because of the following characteristics: severe preemptive competition, a lack of internal funds, high uncertainty regarding future project value, and high bankruptcy costs.     

The Incentives for Innovative Activity in the Managerial Firm

This paper discusses the incentives for innovation by a manager‐led firm. In particular, it is investigated how remuneration practices influence the choice of a risky project. In the first place, a dynamic model with uncertainty is used to determine the optimal employment level with exogenous growth and risk. In the second part of the paper, growth and risk are explained by R&D expenditures. Optimal investment expenditures for R&D are derived for (i) the profit‐maximizing firm and (ii) the managerial firm, where the manager receives a fixed salary as well as a variable share of profits. If risk neutrality is assumed, then no difference exists. However, if risk aversion is considered, the managerial firm will invest more into R&D than the owner‐led company. Size‐related salaries are an additional reason for higher expenditures of R&D by managers. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

技术势差、要素替代与制造业核心技术突破——基于系统动力学模型的理论分析

在有限的前沿技术公开度之下,巨大的技术势差是制约中国制造业核心技术突破的重要原因。从宏观上讲,经济和技术政策均会对技术变革产生一定的影响。从微观上讲,核心技术突破所获得的持续利润增长决定了企业技术研发的创新投入动机。利用产品质量模型并借鉴L-V理论,引入前沿技术势差、要素替代弹性等关键变量构建系统动力学模型,研究发现：较为宽松的技术竞争环境能够带来更高的研发产出效率,而降级技术势差初始门限值则能激发企业较高的研发投入动机;相反,要素替代弹性的上升则不利于研发投入的产出效率增加。为此,中国制造业核心技术的创新和突破,不仅需要宽松的技术竞争环境,还需要降低与国际前沿技术之间的势差。     

Optimal R&D investment for a risk-averse entrepreneur

Entrepreneurs investing in R&D projects face technical uncertainty associated with the cost to completion of the project, which is idiosyncratic and inherently unhedgeable. We extend existing real options models of R&D investment to incorporate the cost of bearing this unhedgeable risk and find it decreases risk-averse entrepreneurs’ valuations of R&D projects and increases the minimum NPVs required for continued investment in R&D (threshold NPVs) relative to ‘unpriced risk’ values and threshold NPVs. As in the ‘unpriced risk’ case, for less risk-averse entrepreneurs with small R&D projects, threshold NPVs remain negative and decrease with technical uncertainty. However, for sufficiently risk-averse entrepreneurs with sufficiently large R&D projects, threshold NPVs can become positive and increase with technical uncertainty.     

Convergence to symmetry in dynamic strategic models of R&D: The undiscounted case

Will R&D increase or decrease the asymmetry between firms over time? We examine this issue in the context of a dynamic, alternate-move duopoly model of non-cooperative R&D. The asymmetry we consider is with respect to the initial stocks of technological knowledge which provides one firm a greater potential for current and future profits in the product market. Utilizing a value loss process constructed from the Optimality Equation of dynamic programming, we show that for the undiscounted case the asymmetry between the firms disappears over time. We obtain this convergence-to-symmetry result by imparting a temporal character to R&D through the notion that R&D investment cannot be changed instantaneously, by allowing research externalities, complementarity or substitutability between own and appropriated R&D, and either increasing, decreasing or constant returns to scale in the production of technical knowledge from own and rival R&D.     

Uncertain outlays in time-to-build problems

In this paper we analyze investment projects in which there is uncertainty in the total investment cost in addition to uncertainty in the completed project value. We deal with an uncertain time-to-build. Uncertainties in investment cost are quite common in long-term, large-scale, path-breaking undertakings such as some R&D projects. We find that the inclusion of uncertainty in investment cost tends to mitigate the impacts of the uncertainty of completed project value. The implications of the results are significant. First, when uncertainty of investment cost is ignored, the value of the project is underestimated and a tendency toward underinvestment will result; and second, the existence of uncertainty in investment cost will cause long-term projects to require larger declines in value before discontinuation of investment should occur.     

税收政策与高科技企业研发融资效率的关系分析

本文以税收政策对高科技企业研发融资效率的研究为切入点,对广东省具有研发机构企业的现行税收政策对高科技企业研发融资效率的作用和影响进行了分析,在此基础上提出了适合高科技型企业R&D融资的税收政策的建议。     

劳动力成本、融资约束与研发投入

以2009—2016年中国A股上市公司的数据为研究样本,对不同类型企业的劳动力成本上升与研发投入的关系进行分析比较。研究发现,在不同类型的企业中,劳动力成本上升对企业研发投入的影响存在显著差异。进一步研究发现,融资约束抑制了劳动力成本上升对于企业研发费用投入的驱动作用,企业较多的现金持有量则在一定程度上促进了这种驱动作用。将经济理论与企业财务相联结,研究企业产业升级与企业现实财务状况的关系,从理论层面丰富了经济学领域生产要素相互替代的理论文献,从实践层面可以为处于转型期的中国不同类型的企业产业升级决策提供实证借鉴。     

BT模式下的市政工程投资风险分析

市政工程采用BT建设模式在我国应用越来越多。政府在一定时间内将市政工程项目全权交由投资承包商进行建设,政府对项目进行宏观控制、间接管理,因此投资控制难度很大,容易造成投资超支现象。因此采用BT模式,政府和投资承包商两个项目主体都面临相应的风险,在我国BT模式没有可参照的标准,项目涉及的参与方多,实施过程操作复杂,不确定性因素多的前提下,如何对项目进行投资控制,实现互利共赢,是需要解决的关键问题。本文根据市政工程BT模式的投融资特点,分析了市政工程BT项目的成本构成和费用控制的要点,梳理了市政工程BT项目回购基价影响因素,提出了控制回购基价的有效方式。并对BT模式下的市政工程风险进行了全面的分析。     

管理层持股、研发投入与股权资本成本

企业研发投入具有风险性,会导致资本成本提高,研发融资负担加重,进而对企业研发活动的积极性产生负面影响。利用2007—2013年中国A股上市公司数据,对研发投入的资本成本效应和公司治理机制缓解研发投入资本成本效应的作用进行研究,结果显示：企业研发投入与股权资本成本之间显著正相关,研发投入的资本成本效应明显;提高高级管理者、董事会与监事会成员等管理层的持股比例有助于降低研发投入的资本成本效应。进一步研究发现,研发企业的信息披露程度对高级管理者持股降低研发投入资本成本效应具有替代作用;研发投入带来的收益率增加有助于抵消研发投入导致的股权资本成本提高。     

CEO optimism,CEO selection,compensation, and corporate investment decision: The case of CEOs who were rehired as CEOs by another firms after turnover

What happens to CEOs after they are let go by their firm? This study is designed to investigate CEOs who are rehired as CEOs by another firms after turnover. CEOs defined as “moderately optimistic” and those who left voluntarily from their departing firms, are younger, have better prior performance, and work in larger firms are found to have a greater likelihood of being rehired as a CEO by another employer. Moreover, new-hire firms with higher growth opportunity and higher R&D expenditures are found to be significantly more willing to hire overconfident CEOs. Furthermore, more-optimistic CEOs are found to receive higher total compensation from their new-hire firms than CEOs who are less optimistic. Finally, overconfident CEOs working in firms with high growth opportunity and higher R&D show a significantly greater tendency toward increasing firm investment.     

研发投入、内部控制与财务风险相关性研究

由于研发创新能为企业带来可观的投资回报,因此有更多的企业注重提高自身的研发创新水平。近几年,我国整体研发规模在不断扩大,但企业关于研发投入的财务风险管理方面还存在不足之处。本文选取2016-2020年国内A股上市企业为研究对象,对研发投入、内部控制与财务风险的相关性进行实证分析。研究结果显示:内部控制质量与财务风险负相关;研发投入与财务风险正相关;并提出相应对策,以期通过这一研究,对我国上市企业把控研发投入力度,提升内部控制质量,降低财务风险发生概率提供理论与实践的参考和借鉴。     

Entry,financing, and bankruptcy decisions: The limited liability effect

A firm, which has a privileged right to undertake an irreversible investment project, simultaneously determines whether to exercise this project and also how many bonds to issue in the presence of demand uncertainty. The firm will not exercise the project until its net value from investing immediately equals its option value from delaying investment. The firm’s choice of debt levels balances the tax advantage of debt against a cost associated with the event of bankruptcy. The effects of uncertainty, asset specificity, and the costs to purchase capital later on a firm’s entry, financing, and bankruptcy decisions are examined and compared with those in the literature.     

How does R&D intensity influence firm explorativeness? Evidence of R&D active firms in four advanced countries

Despite R&D is seen as a starting point of innovation, firms usually confront a trade-off in allocating limited R&D resources to either exploratory or exploitative activities. Relative to the latter, the former produces a more distinctive variation from the prior knowledge base and helps the firm tap into new opportunity. Given the increasing importance of firm explorativeness in the fast changing environments, the influence of R&D investment on firm explorativeness is not yet conclusive in the literature, not to mention whether the increased R&D investment induces firms to become more explorative. This study aims to generate insight into how and when firm explorativeness is determined by their R&D intensity. As a notion of the use of knowledge new to the organization, firm explorativeness is treated as the degree of using knowledge new to the organization in the pursuit of innovation. Based on a panel data of 1267 firm-year observations in four advanced countries during 1999–2003, the results reveal that a higher level of R&D intensity makes firms more exploitative and less explorative. Nevertheless, the negative relationship between R&D intensity and firm explorativeness is found to be alleviated in the presence of technological opportunity or financial slack. The configurational model sheds further light on the combined and relative weight of two moderators.     

Do parent organizations influence R&D decisions of academic spin-offs?

Research on academic spin-offs (ASOs) usually focused on their economic performance, but there was a lack of discussion on the decision-making grounds of enterprise behaviors. This study analyzes the influence of parent organizations on R&D investment of ASOs through listed high-tech enterprises in China. It is found that ASOs controlled by the parent organizations have a higher R&D investment. With the organizational imprinting theory and signaling theory, we attempt to attribute the R&D tendency to the higher financing efficiency and government subsidies. The conclusions provide a new inspiration and explanation the inherent logic of ASOs' active participation in innovation activities.     

负债融资对我国生物医药上市公司研发投入的影响研究

生物医药产业已经成为最具成长性的产业之一,其长周期、高风险、技术密集的行业特征使生物医药企业较一般传统企业而言面临着更甚的融资困境。论文选取2014-2018年我国生物医药行业上市公司的样本数据,分别从负债的规模、期限和来源三个方面研究负债融资对企业R&D投入的影响,研究结果表明:负债规模、短期负债、长期负债、银行借款以及商业信用均与企业R&D投入强度显著负相关。     

Family management,family succession,and R&D investment: An empirical study

Using data from the statements issued by A-share family firms listed on Chinese stock markets between 2008 and 2019, this paper explores the impacts of family management and family succession on R&D investment. We draw on the perspective of restricted and extended socioemotional wealth and differentiate exploitative R&D and explorative R&D in a detailed study. The study finds that the proportion of family members among board members or senior executives and the kinship of the CEO or chair of the board of directors have different effects on R&D investment, indicating that a diversity exists in how family members identify their role within the company. Furthermore, the participation of the controller’s children in the enterprise can promote explorative R&D investment instead of exploitative R&D, but only during the process of intergenerational succession. The findings differ from prior research in calling attention to the facts that the impact of family management is not always homogeneous owing to the dispersion of family members into different positions, and it can be misleading to conclude that R&D investment is more conservative in family businesses without considering the structure of R&D investment.