Research On The Threshold Effect Of R&D Investment Leap And Enterprise Performance

Innovation has increasingly become the primary prerequisite for the survival and development of enterprises,as well as the acquisition of core competitiveness.It has become a key issue each enterprise must face that how to maintain strengths and avoid weaknesses according to their own development,to obtain and maintain a competitive advantage in the increasingly tense competitive environment.The punctuated equilibrium theory supports that long-term competitive advantage of enterprises mainly comes from the punctuated equilibrium of different R&D investment strategies.On the one hand,based on existing technology and knowledge,enterprises tend to use less R&D investment to consolidate current advantages and then obtain stable economic returns.On the other hand,enterprises have to explore new technology or knowledge through a large amount of R&D investment,in order to catch up with technological changes and mitigate the decline in advantages brought by competitors' technology imitation.Recent researches at home and abroad both find that R&D investment leap is an effective measure to describe punctuated equilibrium in fluctuation of innovation strategy.Therefore,based on ambidextrous innovation theory and punctuated equilibrium theory,we explored the relationship between R&D investment leap and enterprises performance under different thresholds of enterprises size and profitability.We believe our conclusion provides scientific theoretical support for enterprises to make suitable R&D strategic decisions.We studied the relationship between R&D investment leap and enterprises performance based on an analytical framework of theoretical and literature review-hypothesis proposed-empirical test-result analysis.First,based on ambidextrous innovation theory,punctuated equilibrium theory and profit manipulation theory,we summarized relevant research regarding to the causes and effects of R&D investment changes.Also,we clarified the determination and measurement methods of R&D investment leap,corporate performance and threshold regression.Second,based on the literature review and theoretical basis at home and abroad,we proposed hypotheses from three levels,including relationship between R&D investment leap and enterprises performance,regulatory effect of ownership concentration and the threshold effect of enterprises size and profitability.Finally,we analyzed the non-linear relationship between R&D investment leap and enterprises performance by constructing a basic panel regression model and a threshold regression model.Furthermore,we compare the impact on threshold effects in different regional agglomeration as well as nature of enterprises.The empirical results show that:(1)R&D investment leap has an inverted U-shaped nonlinear relationship with enterprises performance.In the first and second intervals,R&D investment leap significantly promoted corporate performance,while in the third interval it inhibited performance development;(2)R&D investment leap has a double scale threshold for enterprises performance.Also,there is a negative correlation between R&D investment leap and enterprises performance in the first interval,and a positive correlation in the second interval;(3)R&D investment leap has a single profit threshold for enterprises performance;(4)The scale threshold and profit threshold of aggregational enterprises are higher than those of nonaggregation areas;The profit threshold of state-owned enterprises is greater than that of nonstate-owned enterprises,and there is no scale threshold for state-owned enterprises.Conclusions of this paper further enrich and expand the ambidextrous innovation theory and punctuated equilibrium theory.Besides our discussion has certain enlightening effects on the improvement of enterprises performance in the current economic situation.