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Into thin air: using a quantile regression approach to explore the relationship between R&D and innovation

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  • Bernd Ebersberger
  • Orietta Marsili
  • Toke Reichstein
  • Ammon Salter

Abstract

Applying quantile regression to 760 Finnish firms, we show that the relationship between R&D and firm performance is less straight forward than so far assumed. OLS regression analysis fails to capture the effect of R&D expenditure at different locations on the performance distribution. We reveal that R&D matters, especially on the medium quantiles, while regressing against the upper quantiles of the economic gains from innovation distribution exhibit decreasing returns scale in R&D. Our results confirm that Gaussian statistics fail to capture the most interesting part of the distribution - namely the extreme observations located in the tails.

Suggested Citation

  • Bernd Ebersberger & Orietta Marsili & Toke Reichstein & Ammon Salter, 2010. "Into thin air: using a quantile regression approach to explore the relationship between R&D and innovation," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(1), pages 95-102.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:irapec:v:24:y:2010:i:1:p:95-102
    DOI: 10.1080/02692170903424448
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bruno Crepon & Emmanuel Duguet & Jacques Mairesse, 1998. "Research, Innovation And Productivity: An Econometric Analysis At The Firm Level," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 115-158.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bartelsman, Eric & Dobbelaere, Sabien & Peters, Bettina, 2013. "Allocation of Human Capital and Innovation at the Frontier: Firm-Level Evidence on Germany and the Netherlands," IZA Discussion Papers 7540, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Andræs Barge-Gil, 2013. "Open Strategies and Innovation Performance," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(7), pages 585-610, October.
    3. Muhammad Nawaz Tunio & Aqeel Ahmed Soomro & Dieter Bogenhold, 2017. "The Study of Self-employment at SMEs Level with Reference to Poverty in Developing Countries," Business and Management Research, Business and Management Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 6(2), pages 33-39, June.
    4. Coad, Alex & Segarra, Agustí & Teruel, Mercedes, 2016. "Innovation and firm growth: Does firm age play a role?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 387-400.
    5. Heider, Anne & Gerken, Maike & van Dinther, Nicolas & Hülsbeck, Marcel, 2021. "Business model innovation through dynamic capabilities in small and medium enterprises – Evidence from the German Mittelstand," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 635-645.
    6. Westerberg, Hans Seerar, 2014. "The Return to R&D and Seller-buyer Interactions: A Quantile Regression Approach," Ratio Working Papers 231, The Ratio Institute.
    7. Herstad , Sverre J. & Sandven , Tore, 2015. "Innovation and corporate employment growth revisited," Papers in Innovation Studies 2015/3, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    8. Montresor, Sandro & Vezzani, Antonio, 2015. "The production function of top R&D investors: Accounting for size and sector heterogeneity with quantile estimations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 381-393.
    9. Sandeep Vij & Harpreet Singh Bedi, 2016. "Effect Of Organisational And Environmental Factors On Innovativeness And Business Performance Relationship," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 20(03), pages 1-28, April.
    10. Gombau, Verònica & Segarra Blasco, Agustí, 2011. "Innovation and absorptive capacity: What is the role of technological frontier?," Working Papers 2072/179622, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    11. Jeroen de Jong & Orietta Marsili, 2015. "The distribution of Schumpeterian and Kirznerian opportunities," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 19-35, January.
    12. Mata, José & Woerter, Martin, 2013. "Risky innovation: The impact of internal and external R&D strategies upon the distribution of returns," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 495-501.
    13. J Doran & G Ryan, 2016. "The effectiveness of R&D and external interaction for innovation: Insights from quantile regression," Economic Issues Journal Articles, Economic Issues, vol. 21(1), pages 47-65, March.
    14. Hyunseog Chung & Soomin Eum & Chulung Lee, 2019. "Firm Growth and R&D in the Korean Pharmaceutical Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-19, May.

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