I+D y apalancamiento financiero en las empresas manufactureras españolas

In this work we introduce, first, a theoretical model in which a company with a given degree of specialisation in R+D and with its own funding, intends to carry out a project that requires a given volume of specific investments. The resolution of this model brings us to the conclusion that the financial leverage of this company diminishes depending on its volume of specific investments, on the degree of specialisation it has in R+D, and in the amount of resources it has. Furthermore, we obtain a series of results on the investments in R+D depending on the different forms of financing such activities, like the proportion of long-term debt or amount of self-funding. In the second part of the work we empirically contrast the results of the theoretical model, using data from Spanish manufacturing companies in the nineties, and we compare the financial leverage experienced in manufacturing companies that carry out R+D and that belong to intensive R+D sectors, with the leverage of companies in less intense sectors, while also taking into account their degree of consolidation, as well as the volume of reserves that they have accumulated. These results, together with those that refer to the determinant factors in R+D expenses, follow the line established in our theoretical model.