Journal Article

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

Teruel, Mercedes, Segarra, Agustí

2014

Overview

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.

• Publisher: Springer,Springer US,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Business and Management / Business growth / Business innovation / Business structures / Companies / Economic growth / Economic models / Economic research / Economic statistics / Economic theory / Empirical evidence / Empirical research / Employment / Entrepreneurship / Firm value / Growth rates / Industrial Organization / Innovations / Investments / Job creation / Management / Manufacturing / Manufacturing industries / Microeconomics / Organizational effectiveness / Organizational research / Probability / Productivity growth / R&D / Research & development / Research and development / Sales / Sales growth / Sales personnel / Sales workers / Small businesses / Studies / Technological innovation / Terms of sale