IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/chinae/v26y2018i6p1-26.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Determinants of Intangible Investment and Its Impacts on Firms' Productivity: Evidence from Chinese Private Manufacturing Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Shenglang Yang
  • Yixiao Zhou
  • Ligang Song

Abstract

Using data from the 2012 China Enterprise Survey conducted by the World Bank, this study examines the determinants of intangible investment by private manufacturing firms and its impacts on firms' productivity in China, thus shedding light on the recent development of intangibles in one of the largest emerging economies in the world. Higher human capital, larger firm size and better institutional quality are found to increase the propensity and the amount of intangible investment, yet fiercer market competition generally decreases both the propensity and the amount invested in intangibles. We provide evidence that the disaggregated components of intangibles are positively correlated with firm productivity and there is complementarity between software and organization investment. Implications for policies to enhance investment in intangibles are identified from the empirical results.

Suggested Citation

  • Shenglang Yang & Yixiao Zhou & Ligang Song, 2018. "Determinants of Intangible Investment and Its Impacts on Firms' Productivity: Evidence from Chinese Private Manufacturing Firms," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 26(6), pages 1-26, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:chinae:v:26:y:2018:i:6:p:1-26
    DOI: 10.1111/cwe.12259
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/cwe.12259
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/cwe.12259?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mariela Dal Borgo & Peter Goodridge & Jonathan Haskel & Annarosa Pesole, 2013. "Productivity and Growth in UK Industries: An Intangible Investment Approach," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 75(6), pages 806-834, December.
    2. Martin Stephen, 1993. "Endogenous Firm Efficiency in a Cournot Principal-Agent Model," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 445-450, April.
    3. Philippe Aghion & Nick Bloom & Richard Blundell & Rachel Griffith & Peter Howitt, 2005. "Competition and Innovation: an Inverted-U Relationship," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(2), pages 701-728.
    4. Hyunbae Chun & M. Ishaq Nadiri, 2016. "Intangible Investment and Changing Sources of Growth in Korea," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 67(1), pages 50-76, March.
    5. Joachim Wagner, 2016. "Exports and Productivity: A Survey of the Evidence from Firm Level Data," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Microeconometrics of International Trade, chapter 1, pages 3-41, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    6. Lee, Chang-Yang, 2009. "Competition favors the prepared firm: Firms' R&D responses to competitive market pressure," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 861-870, June.
    7. Atzeni, Gianfranco E. & Carboni, Oliviero A., 2006. "ICT productivity and firm propensity to innovative investment: Evidence from Italian microdata," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 139-156, June.
    8. Oded Galor & Omer Moav, 2004. "From Physical to Human Capital Accumulation: Inequality and the Process of Development," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 71(4), pages 1001-1026.
    9. Sascha Becker & Peter Egger, 2013. "Endogenous product versus process innovation and a firm’s propensity to export," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 329-354, February.
    10. Carol Corrado & Charles Hulten & Daniel Sichel, 2009. "Intangible Capital And U.S. Economic Growth," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(3), pages 661-685, September.
    11. Xiaming Liu & Pamela Siler & Chengqi Wang & Yingqi Wei, 2000. "Productivity Spillovers From Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence From UK Industry Level Panel Data," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 31(3), pages 407-425, September.
    12. Haskel, Jonathan & Wallis, Gavin, 2013. "Public support for innovation, intangible investment and productivity growth in the UK market sector," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 119(2), pages 195-198.
    13. Arrighetti, Alessandro & Landini, Fabio & Lasagni, Andrea, 2014. "Intangible assets and firm heterogeneity: Evidence from Italy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 202-213.
    14. Aamir Rafique Hashmi, 2013. "Competition and Innovation: The Inverted-U Relationship Revisited," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(5), pages 1653-1668, December.
    15. Haskel, J & Corrado, C & Jona-Lasinio, C & Iommi, M, 2013. "Innovation and intangible investment in Europe, Japan and the US," Working Papers 11139, Imperial College, London, Imperial College Business School.
    16. Tsutomu Miyagawa & Shoichi Hisa, 2013. "Estimates Of Intangible Investment By Industry And Productivity Growth In Japan," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 64(1), pages 42-72, March.
    17. John R. Baldwin & Wulong Gu, 2004. "Trade Liberalization: Export-market Participation, Productivity Growth, and Innovation," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 20(3), pages 372-392, Autumn.
    18. Nathan Chappell & Adam Jaffe, 2018. "Intangible Investment and Firm Performance," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 52(4), pages 509-559, June.
    19. Carol A. Corrado & Charles R. Hulten, 2010. "How Do You Measure a "Technological Revolution"?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 99-104, May.
    20. Jens Matthias Arnold & Katrin Hussinger, 2005. "Export Behavior and Firm Productivity in German Manufacturing: A Firm-Level Analysis," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 141(2), pages 219-243, July.
    21. Jorde, Thomas M & Teece, David J, 1990. "Innovation and Cooperation: Implications for Competition and Antitrust," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 4(3), pages 75-96, Summer.
    22. Mauro Giorgio Marrano & Jonathan Haskel & Gavin Wallis, 2009. "What Happened To The Knowledge Economy? Ict, Intangible Investment, And Britain'S Productivity Record Revisited," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 55(3), pages 686-716, September.
    23. Roper, Stephen & Love, James H., 2002. "Innovation and export performance: evidence from the UK and German manufacturing plants," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 1087-1102, September.
    24. Wakelin, Katharine, 1998. "Innovation and export behaviour at the firm level," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(7-8), pages 829-841, April.
    25. Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci & Marco Pontis, 2012. "Intangible capital and firms' productivity," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 21(2), pages 377-402, April.
    26. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson, 2005. "Unbundling Institutions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(5), pages 949-995, October.
    27. Nee, Victor & Opper, Sonja, 2012. "Capitalism from Below: Markets and Institutional Change in China," Economics Books, Harvard University Press, number 9780674050204, Spring.
    28. van Ark, Bart & Hao, Janet X. & Corrado, Carol & Hulten, Charles, 2009. "Measuring intangible capital and its contribution to economic growth in Europe," EIB Papers 3/2009, European Investment Bank, Economics Department.
    29. John R. Baldwin & Wulong Gu, 2004. "Trade Liberalization: Export-market Participation, Productivity Growth, and Innovation," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(3), pages 372-392, Autumn.
    30. Kim, H Youn, 1992. "The Translog Production Function and Variable Returns to Scale," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 74(3), pages 546-552, August.
    31. Gaganan Awano & Mark Franklin & Jonathan Haskel & Zafeira Kastrinaki, 2010. "Measuring investment in intangible assets in the UK: results from a new survey," Economic & Labour Market Review, Palgrave Macmillan;Office for National Statistics, vol. 4(7), pages 66-71, July.
    32. Glenn C. Loury, 1979. "Market Structure and Innovation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 93(3), pages 395-410.
    33. Carol Corrado & Jonathan Haskel & Cecilia Jona-Lasinio & Massimiliano Iommi, 2013. "Innovation and intangible investment in Europe, Japan, and the United States," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 29(2), pages 261-286, SUMMER.
    34. Yixiao Zhou, 2014. "Role of Institutional Quality in Determining the R&D Investment of Chinese Firms," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 22(4), pages 60-82, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Schubert, Torben & Jäger, Angela & Türkeli, Serdar & Visentin, Fabiana, 2020. "Addressing the productivity paradox with big data: A literature review and adaptation of the CDM econometric model," MERIT Working Papers 2020-050, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    2. Qiuqin He & Agustín Carrilero-Castillo & Joaquin Gonzalez-Garcia, 2022. "Do CEO characteristics influence a firm’s investment in brand equity? Evidence from Chinese listed firms," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 73-87, March.
    3. Richard Harris & Astrid Krenz & John Moffat, 2021. "The Effects of Absorptive Capacity on Innovation Performance: A Cross‐country Perspective," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(3), pages 589-607, May.
    4. Szunomár, Ágnes, 2019. "A digitális nagy ugrás. Lassulás és modernizációs stratégiaváltás Kínában [The great digital leap. Deceleration and a change in modernisation strategy in China]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(12), pages 1312-1346.
    5. He, Qiuqin & Guijarro-Garcia, Maria & Costa-Climent, Juan, 2022. "Impact of knowledge-based capital on firm productivity: The contingent effect of ownership," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 85-94.
    6. Li, Qing & Vo, Long Hai & Wu, Yanrui, 2019. "Intangible capital distribution in China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 1-1.
    7. Roth, Felix, 2019. "Intangible Capital and Labour Productivity Growth: A Review of the Literature," Hamburg Discussion Papers in International Economics 4, University of Hamburg, Department of Economics.
    8. Hyuk Chung, 2021. "Adoption and Development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Technology: Features and Determinants," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-16, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shenglang Yang, 2016. "Intangible capital and sectoral energy intensity: Evidence from 40 economies," ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics 2016-646, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics.
    2. Roth, Felix, 2019. "Intangible Capital and Labour Productivity Growth: A Review of the Literature," Hamburg Discussion Papers in International Economics 4, University of Hamburg, Department of Economics.
    3. Schubert, Torben & Jäger, Angela & Türkeli, Serdar & Visentin, Fabiana, 2020. "Addressing the productivity paradox with big data: A literature review and adaptation of the CDM econometric model," MERIT Working Papers 2020-050, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    4. Yang, Shenglang & Shi, Xunpeng, 2018. "Intangible capital and sectoral energy intensity: Evidence from 40 economies between 1995 and 2007," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 118-128.
    5. Richard Harris & John Moffat, 2011. "R&D, Innovation and Exporting," SERC Discussion Papers 0073, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    6. Fabian Unterlass, 2013. "The relationship between innovation, exports and economic performance. Empirical evidence for 21 EU countries," EcoMod2013 5655, EcoMod.
    7. Wen Chen, 2018. "Cross‐Country Income Differences Revisited: Accounting for the Role of Intangible Capital," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 64(3), pages 626-648, September.
    8. Rodil, Óscar & Vence, Xavier & Sánchez, María del Carmen, 2016. "The relationship between innovation and export behaviour: The case of Galician firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 113(PB), pages 248-265.
    9. Love, James H. & Mansury, Mica Ariana, 2009. "Exporting and productivity in business services: Evidence from the United States," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(6), pages 630-642, December.
    10. Carol Corrado & Jonathan Haskel & Cecilia Jona-Lasinio, 2017. "Knowledge Spillovers, ICT and Productivity Growth," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(4), pages 592-618, August.
    11. Victoria Golikova & Ksenia Gonchar & Boris Kuznetsov, 2011. "Entry into Export Markets as an Incentive to Innovate. Evidence from the Russian Manufacturing Industry Survey," HSE Working papers WP BRP 11/EC/2011, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    12. Yang, Chih-Hai & Chen, Ying-Hui, 2012. "R&D, productivity, and exports: Plant-level evidence from Indonesia," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 208-216.
    13. A. Arrighetti & F. Landini & A. Lasagni, 2015. "Firms’economic crisis and firm exit: do intangibles matters?," Economics Department Working Papers 2015-EP04, Department of Economics, Parma University (Italy).
    14. Chen, Wen & Niebel, Thomas & Saam, Marianne, 2016. "Are intangibles more productive in ICT-intensive industries? Evidence from EU countries," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(5), pages 471-484.
    15. Carolina Hintzmann & Josep Lladós-Masllorens & Raul Ramos, 2021. "Intangible Assets and Labor Productivity Growth," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-21, May.
    16. Feng, Gen-Fu & Zheng, Mingbo & Wen, Jun & Chang, Chun-Ping & Chen, Yin E., 2019. "The assessment of globalization on innovation in Chinese manufacturing firms," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 190-202.
    17. Hyunbae Chun & M. Ishaq Nadiri, 2016. "Intangible Investment and Changing Sources of Growth in Korea," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 67(1), pages 50-76, March.
    18. Werner Hölzl & Jürgen Janger & Andreas Reinstaller & Isabel Stadler & Fabian Unterlass & Stephanie Daimer & Thomas Stehnken, 2010. "Barriers to Internationalisation and Growth of EU's Innovative Companies. PRO INNO Europe: INNO-Grips II Report," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 41059, Juni.
    19. Arrighetti, Alessandro & Landini, Fabio & Lasagni, Andrea, 2014. "Intangible assets and firm heterogeneity: Evidence from Italy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 202-213.
    20. Gkypali, Areti & Love, James H. & Roper, Stephen, 2021. "Export status and SME productivity: Learning-to-export versus learning-by-exporting," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 486-498.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:chinae:v:26:y:2018:i:6:p:1-26. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iwepacn.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.