The relationship between research & development stock of knowledge and firm performance indicators: size, exports and productivity in the UK economy. Does investing in R&D pay off, when and for whom?

[摘要] Although the ‘endogenous growth’ theory links macroeconomic growth to firms’ R&D, still, there is no comprehensive and conclusive research showing how undertaking R&D affects individual firm performance. Using several market indicators such as size, exports and productivity, this study provides a valuable input in the UK context by analysing a panel of 956 firms during 2003/4 – 2013/14, employing an empirical approach.We find no significant relationship between a firm’s R&D stock of knowledge and its size (measured in terms of both absolute size and size relative to its industry) across ‘All-Firms’ dataset as well as a subset of only highly innovative firms.Employing the Generalised Structural Equation Modelling, we evidence two-way causality between a firm’s R&D stock of knowledge and its exports, both positively affecting each other, depending on firm productivity.In line with Bravo-Ortega et al. (2013), we find that at a firm-level, R&D stock of knowledge affects productivity by two channels; directly and indirectly through export levels. However, we find no evidence of ‘selection’ bias in both export and R&D activities. Contrary to the ‘learning by exporting’ hypothesis, we evidence a negative relationship between a firm’s labour productivity and its export intensity (running in both directions).

[发布机构] University:University of Birmingham;Department:Birmingham Business School, Department of Economics

[关键词] H Social Sciences;HB Economic Theory