台灣主要醫療器材廠商財務績效對研究發展之影響

Abstract

全球知識經濟時代的來臨，行政院推動「挑戰2008--國家發展重點計畫」，以「兩兆雙星」產業(數位內容及生技產業)作為台灣下一波經濟重心，政府在「六年國建計畫」中，以創新研發基地與高附加價值製造兩個主軸，揭示「兩兆雙星」的目標。台灣擁有高水準的高科技產業發展基礎與架構，結合化工、機械、電子等相關產業的成熟技術運用，加上經濟發展的豐富累積經驗，在人力資源的量與質並重投入下，醫療器材產業將是台灣未來的明日之星。醫療器材具有少量多樣、產業多元、技術密集、重視研發創新、嚴格繁雜法規門檻、附加價值高、高度重視安全性、研發報酬不確定性高等特性。醫療器材從研發、測試、驗證到許可上市、量產時間過程較長，但獲利期較一般商品長，部份醫材更具高利潤，但進入門檻較高，市場相對封閉，研發成本也相對較高。研發是台灣高科技製造業持續維持競爭力的關鍵(Dertouzos,2001)。本研究擬探討台灣主要醫療器材廠商過去之財務績效是否對於研究發展有正向的影響，藉以了解過去財務績效表現是否會影響未來研發投入的決策？醫療器材廠商的研究發展是否會隨著廠商規模而遞增？ 本研究主要發現如下： 一、 過去的負債比率、流動比率、資產報酬率與公司規模及成立年數對於研發密集有顯著的影響。其中負債比率、流動比率、公司規模對研發人力比有正向影響；資產報酬率與成立年數對研發人力比則有顯著負向影響。 二、 過去的資產報酬率與公司規模對於研發人力比有顯著的影響。其中公司規模對於研發人力比有顯著的正向影響，過去的資產報酬率對於研發人力比則有顯著的負向影響。負債比率、流動比率及成立年數對研發人力比則無顯著的影響；。

R&D is the key element to maintain the competitiveness of Taiwan’s high technology industries. The purpose of this study was to exam if the former financial performance of Taiwan’s main medical equipment companies has positive influences on R&D, in order to identify the influences of the former financial performance on the R&D decisions in the future, and to understand if the R&D of the companies increases progressively with their scale. A panel dataset of twelve medical device firms in Taiwan from 2003 to 2007 is constructed. The major findings of this study are as follows: 1. The debt ratio, current ratio, return on invested capital, and corporate scale and years of existence significantly influenced the R&D strength. Among which, the debt ratio, current ratio, and corporate scale have significantly positive influence on R&D strength; on the other hand, the return of invested capital and years of existence show significantly negative influences on R&D strength. 2. The R&D intensiveness is significantly influenced by former return on invested capital and corporate scale. The corporate scale has a significantly positive influence on the R&D intensiveness, while the former return on invested capital has a significantly negative influence on the R&D intensiveness.