研究發展活動與公司經營績效之研究-比較亞太、歐洲與北美三個地區之差異

Abstract

摘 要

本研究主要目的是分析比較亞太、歐洲與北美的高科技產業R&D的投入對經營績效的影響。關於公司績效衡量指標的選取，本研究同時採用以市場資訊與會計盈餘為基礎的衡量指標，Tobin’s q和ROA。特別是Tobin’s q，在文獻上常被用來衡量企業的無形資產，例如：R&D費用。然而，R&D投入的效率會因產業別不同而有不一樣的結果，因此本研究進一步的分析是否R&D的投入在這三個地區會因產業別不同而有不一樣的結果。本研究結果如下：R&D密集度(R&D費用除以銷貨收入)平均而言，北美是最高(13%)，其次為歐洲(7%)，最低的地區是亞太(3%)。在控制了其它相關的因素後，廻歸的結果顯示在這三個地區的高科技產業R&D的投入對於Tobin’s q有正的且一致的影響，尤其是北美地區更為顯著。至於ROA的廻歸結果顯示R&D的投入與ROA為負相關且顯著。在本質上，因為R&D為費用，因此短期而言會稀釋公司的盈餘，但長期而言是有助於公司的成長。最後廻歸也顯示了個別的高科技產業R&D的投入與經營績效的關係存在著顯著的差異。因此，這些結果意味著在決定公司的經營績效R&D的投入扮演著非常重要的角色，尤其是北美的高科技產業。

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of R&D on firm’s performances within the Asia Pacific, Europe and North America high-tech industries. Regarding the firm performance measures, this study simultaneously utilizes market- and accounting-based measures of the firm performance, Tobin’s q and ROA. In particular, Tobin’s q used to measure intangible assets of firms such as R&D expenditures. Since industries differ widely in the effectiveness of R&D, this paper further investigates whether R&D investment influences firm performances differently among the three regions based on three high-tech industries. The results show that R&D expenditures as a percentage of sales are, on average, greater for North America firms (13%) than for Europe (7%) and Asia Pacific firms (3%). Regression results show that after controlling for firm-related factors, R&D expenditures are found to have a persistently positive effect on the Tobin’s q among the three regions, with a more pronounced effect for North America. For ROA regressions, R&D intensity is negatively correlated with ROA. The benefits of R&D are long term in nature and could adversely affect short-term profitability. The results further show that there exist notable differences in R&D determinants in the three high-tech industries across regions. These results suggest that R&D expenditures play an important role in determining the firm’s performances in the high-tech industries across regions, especially in North America.