Looking beyond the R&D effects on innovation: The contribution of non-R&D activities to total factor productivity growth in the EU

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. carried out across very heterogeneous economies in Europe, how to incorporate them in to economic models is not always straightforward. For instance, the traditional macro approach to estimating the determinants of total factor productivity (TFP) does not handle them well. To counter these problems, this paper proposes applying an augmented macro-theoretical model to estimate the determinants of TFP by jointly considering the e¤ects of R&D and the impact of non-R&D innovation activities on the productivity levels of …rms. Estimations from a model of a sample of EU-26 countries covering the period [2004][2005][2006][2007][2008] show that the distinction between R&D and non-R&D e¤ects is signi…cant for a number of di¤erent issues. First, the results show a sizable impact on TFP growth, as the impact of R&D is twice that of non-R&D. Second, absorptive capacity is only linked to R&D endowments. And third, the two types of endowments cannot strictly been seen as complementary, at least for the case of countries with high R&D intensities or high non-R&D intensities. Terms of use: Documents in

Non‐R&D innovation and firms’ new product performance: the joint moderating effect of R&D intensity and network embeddedness

“…Though previous research tested the direct relationship between non‐R&D innovation and performance (e.g. Lopez‐Rodriguez and Martinez‐Lopez, ), none explored its contingent conditions at the same time. Our findings suggested that high R&D intensity strengthens the impact of non‐R&D innovation on new product performance.…”

“…The first limitation concerns how we measured non‐R&D innovation. While we gauged non‐R&D innovation via four types of non‐R&D activities, others have measured it using either external knowledge flows (Moilanen et al, ) or non‐R&D expenditures (Lopez‐Rodriguez and Martinez‐Lopez, ). Thus, improving the measurement of non‐R&D innovation would likely be a fruitful line of future research.…”

“…Non‐R&D innovation is defined as routine innovation activities that occur outside of R&D (Lee and Walsh, ). Non‐R&D innovation can generally be divided into two broad categories: technological non‐R&D innovation, and non‐technological non‐R&D innovation (Hervas‐Oliver et al, ; Lopez‐Rodriguez and Martinez‐Lopez, ; Chen et al, ). Technological non‐R&D innovation is mainly based on incremental problem‐solving and experimentation (Hervas‐Oliver et al, ), involving minor modifications to products, processes, or technologies; imitation or reverse engineering; or technology adoption (Arundel et al, ; Guo et al, ).…”

“…Second, evidence has shown that there is a close relationship between R&D expenditures and non‐R&D innovation (Arundel et al, ). For example, Lopez‐Rodriguez and Martinez‐Lopez () found that both R&D and non‐R&D are statistically significant and economically important in technology catchup. However, whether high‐level R&D investment facilitates or inhibits the impact of non‐R&D innovation on new product performance remains poorly understood.…”

The Nexus of FDI, R&D, and Human Capital on Chinese Sustainable Development: Evidence from a Two-Step Approach

“…A panel cointegration analysis showed that public R&D had a positive impact on growth, whereas no statistically significant effect was found for private R&D. In addition, both human capital and social capital had significant impacts on TFP in the long run. Lopez-Rodriguez and Martinez-Lopez [50] tested hypotheses in 25 European countries, emphasizing that non-R&D activities (human capital, innovation intensity), as well as R&D innovation activities, are important factors for growth. The results showed that not just R&D activities but also non-R&D activities (especially human capital) served as major drivers of positive impacts on TFP.…”