استراتژی تحقیق عملکرد مالی شرکت
Abstract
1- Introduction
2- Literature review
3- Method and descriptives
4- Empirics
5- Conclusions and limitations
Acknowledgments
References
Abstract
This paper links the strategic decisions made in R&D during the financially turbulent period of 2009 to the firm’s financial health in the period 2010–2013. The focus is on decisions made in R&D-active small and medium-sized enterprises in terms of absorptive capacity, open innovation, type of R&D, and the organizational structuring of R&D. Based on a representative set of R&D-active firms in Belgium, qualitative comparative analysis reveals that the outcomes in terms of financial performance related to optimal configurations of strategic R&D decisions depend on the firm’s size and on the time-lag under consideration. Managers in small-sized firms are advised to pay particular attention to a more functionally-structured R&D approach in configurations of strategic R&D decisions. To increase medium-term financial performance, managers in medium-sized firms benefit from more engagement in research-oriented activities, more in-house innovation, and the enhancement of absorptive capacity in sets of strategic R&D decisions.
Introduction
The economic and financial crisis which started in 2008 was global in nature, but it particularly affected Europe (OECD, 2012). The crisis reached its peak in 2009, with negative changes in real GDP approaching −3% in the United States; −3.5% for OECD countries, and up to −4.5% in the Euro Area (OECD, 2016). From 2010 onwards, a gradual improvement took place with positive real GDP growth, but it deteriorated again in 2012 and 2013. Belgium, a small open economy in Western Europe, followed this trend with a negative real GDP growth of 2.4% in 2009, growth rates of 2.7% and 1.8% in 2010 and 2011 respectively, and stagnating (approaching 0% change) real GDP in 2012 and 2013 (OECD, 2016). This paper focuses on R&D-active firms in Belgium and links configurations of firm-level strategic decisions made in R&D in the year 2009 with the financial performance of firms in the period 2010–2013. In debate regarding the relationship between R&D and the financial performance of firms, the empirical literature is inconclusive concerning the role of firm size and time-lags between R&D inputs andfinancialoutputs (see e.g.Kostopoulos,Papalexandris,Papachroni, & Ioannou, 2011). This paper addresses these issues by differentiating between small-sized and medium-sized firms and by including time-lags ranging from one to four years. Venkatraman and Ramanujam (1986) refer to the multidimensional construct of firm performance including business performance, E-mail address: peter.teirlinck@kuleuven.be (P. Teirlinck). organizational effectiveness, and financial performance. Business performance measures market-related items including market share, growth, diversification and product development.