Top R&D investors, structural change and the R&D growth performance of young and old firms

This paper investigates the structural change of the major economies through the lens of the top corporate R&D investors worldwide. Moreover, we explore the relationship between R&D intensity, capital intensity and profitability, and R&D investment growth for young and old firms. Contrary to the common understanding, our results show that in the EU the distribution of R&D among sectors has changed as in the USA; however, the USA has experienced a very strong shift towards ICT-related sectors, which make their change more visible. Both the EU and the USA experienced a slower pace of structural change than emerging economies. Our results also indicate that capital and R&D intensity may have a complementary effect on long-term R&D performances, which can be different according to a firm age. The specific nature of the sample allows us to link our results to the Schumpeterian waves of innovation and the changes of techno-economic paradigms rather than alternative interpretation for the management literature. Policy implications are discussed accordingly.

MONCADA PATERNO' CASTELLO Pietro; 

2022-04-26

SPRINGER HEIDELBERG

JRC124073

1309-4297 (online),   

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40821-022-00206-3,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC124073,   

10.1007/s40821-022-00206-3 (online),