IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hig/wpaper/36man2015.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Institutional Framework, Corporate Ownership Structure, and R&D Investment: An International Analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Felix J. Lopez-Iturriaga

    (National Research University Higher School of Economics)

  • Emilio Lopez-Millan

    (University of Valladolid)

Abstract

We combine agency theory with the law and finance approach to analyze how the legal protection of investors and the corporate ownership structure affect the corporate investment in research and development (R&D). We use information from 1,091 firms from the five most R&D intensive industries in 19 developed countries. Our results show that the better protection of investors’ rights by the institutional environment has a positive influence on corporate R&D. We also find that corporate ownership concentration works as a substitute for legal protection. This finding means that the R&D investment of the firms in the countries with poor legal protection increases as long as the ownership becomes more concentrated. Our results also show that the identity of shareholders has a relevant effect: Whereas banks and nonfinancial institutions as shareholders result in lower R&D, institutional investors as shareholders increase the corporate investment in R&D.

Suggested Citation

  • Felix J. Lopez-Iturriaga & Emilio Lopez-Millan, 2015. "Institutional Framework, Corporate Ownership Structure, and R&D Investment: An International Analysis," HSE Working papers WP BRP 36/MAN/2015, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hig:wpaper:36man2015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.hse.ru/data/2015/04/23/1095260873/36MAN2015.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bronwyn H. Hall & Jacques Mairesse & Benoit Mulkay, 1998. "Does cash flow cause investment and R&D: an exploration using panel data for French, Japanes and United States scientific firms," IFS Working Papers W98/11, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    2. Alonso-Borrego, Cesar & Arellano, Manuel, 1999. "Symmetrically Normalized Instrumental-Variable Estimation Using Panel Data," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 17(1), pages 36-49, January.
    3. Espenlaub, Susanne & Khurshed, Arif & Sitthipongpanich, Thitima, 2012. "Bank connections, corporate investment and crisis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 1336-1353.
    4. Elsas, Ralf & Krahnen, Jan Pieter, 1998. "Is relationship lending special? Evidence from credit-file data in Germany," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(10-11), pages 1283-1316, October.
    5. Ross Levine, 2005. "Law, Endowments and Property Rights," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(3), pages 61-88, Summer.
    6. Charles P. Himmelberg & R. Glenn Hubbard & Inessa Love, 2002. "Investment, protection, ownership, and the cost of capital," Working Paper Research 25, National Bank of Belgium.
    7. La Porta, Rafael & Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert, 2000. "Investor protection and corporate governance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 3-27.
    8. Djankov, Simeon & McLiesh, Caralee & Shleifer, Andrei, 2007. "Private credit in 129 countries," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 299-329, May.
    9. Archibugi, Daniele & Filippetti, Andrea & Frenz, Marion, 2013. "Economic crisis and innovation: Is destruction prevailing over accumulation?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 303-314.
    10. Ronald E. Shrieves & Drew Dahl & Michael F. Spivey, 2010. "Capital Market Regimes and Bank Structure in Europe," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 42(6), pages 1073-1092, September.
    11. Thomas W. Bates & Kathleen M. Kahle & René M. Stulz, 2009. "Why Do U.S. Firms Hold So Much More Cash than They Used To?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(5), pages 1985-2021, October.
    12. Muscio, Alessandro & Quaglione, Davide & Vallanti, Giovanna, 2013. "Does government funding complement or substitute private research funding to universities?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 63-75.
    13. Martinsson, Gustav, 2010. "Equity financing and innovation: Is Europe different from the United States?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 1215-1224, June.
    14. Ross Levine, 1997. "Financial Development and Economic Growth: Views and Agenda," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(2), pages 688-726, June.
    15. Wahal, Sunil & McConnell, John J., 2000. "Do institutional investors exacerbate managerial myopia?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 307-329, September.
    16. La Porta, Rafael & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "Legal Determinants of External Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1131-1150, July.
    17. Yishay Yafeh & Oved Yosha, 2003. "Large Shareholders and Banks: Who Monitors and How?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(484), pages 128-146, January.
    18. Kroszner, Randall S. & Laeven, Luc & Klingebiel, Daniela, 2007. "Banking crises, financial dependence, and growth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 187-228, April.
    19. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    20. Rahim Bah & Pascal Dumontier, 2001. "R&D Intensity and Corporate Financial Policy: Some International Evidence," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5‐6), pages 671-692, June.
    21. Raquel Ortega-Argilés & Rosina Moreno & Jordi Caralt, 2005. "Ownership structure and innovation: is there a real link?," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 39(4), pages 637-662, December.
    22. Morck, Randall & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1988. "Management ownership and market valuation," Scholarly Articles 29407535, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    23. Paul Gompers & Josh Lerner, 2000. "The Determinants of Corporate Venture Capital Success: Organizational Structure, Incentives, and Complementarities," NBER Chapters, in: Concentrated Corporate Ownership, pages 17-54, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    24. Stephen R. Bond, 2002. "Dynamic panel data models: a guide to micro data methods and practice," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 1(2), pages 141-162, August.
    25. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    26. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐de‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 2000. "Agency Problems and Dividend Policies around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 1-33, February.
    27. Brian J. Hall & David E. Weinstein, 1996. "The Myth of the Patient Japanese: Corporate Myopia and Financial Distress in Japan and the U.S," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1770, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    28. Gema Pastor-Agustín & Marisa Ramírez-Alesón & Manuel Espitia-Escuer, 2011. "Complementary Assets and Investment Decisions," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(0), pages 25-39, November.
    29. Coriat, Benjamin & Weinstein, Olivier, 2002. "Organizations, firms and institutions in the generation of innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 273-290, February.
    30. Manohar Singh & Sheri Faircloth, 2005. "The impact of corporate debt on long term investment and firm performance," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(8), pages 875-883.
    31. Edward L. Glaeser & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2004. "Do Institutions Cause Growth?," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 271-303, September.
    32. Bronwyn H. Hall, 1992. "Investment and Research and Development at the Firm Level: Does the Source of Financing Matter?," NBER Working Papers 4096, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    33. Driver, Ciaran & Guedes, Maria João Coelho, 2012. "Research and development, cash flow, agency and governance: UK large companies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(9), pages 1565-1577.
    34. Marta Ballester & Manuel Garcia-Ayuso & Joshua Livnat, 2003. "The economic value of the R&D intangible asset," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 605-633.
    35. Holderness, Clifford G. & Sheehan, Dennis P., 1988. "The role of majority shareholders in publicly held corporations : An exploratory analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 317-346, January.
    36. Rahim Bah & Pascal Dumontier, 2001. "R&D Intensity and Corporate Financial Policy: Some International Evidence," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5-6), pages 671-692.
    37. Munari, Federico & Oriani, Raffaele & Sobrero, Maurizio, 2010. "The effects of owner identity and external governance systems on R&D investments: A study of Western European firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 1093-1104, October.
    38. Stephen Bond & Dietmar Harhoff & John Van Reenen, 2010. "Investment, R&D and Financial Constraints in Britain and Germany," NBER Chapters, in: Contributions in Memory of Zvi Griliches, pages 433-460, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    39. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez‐De‐Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 1999. "Corporate Ownership Around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(2), pages 471-517, April.
    40. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Oriani, Raffaele, 2006. "Does the market value R&D investment by European firms? Evidence from a panel of manufacturing firms in France, Germany, and Italy," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 971-993, September.
    41. Donghui Li & Fariborz Moshirian & Peter Kien Pham & Jason Zein, 2006. "When Financial Institutions Are Large Shareholders: The Role of Macro Corporate Governance Environments," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(6), pages 2975-3007, December.
    42. Barbosa, Natália & Faria, Ana Paula, 2011. "Innovation across Europe: How important are institutional differences?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 1157-1169.
    43. Herrera, Liliana & Muñoz-Doyague, Maria Felisa & Nieto, Mariano, 2010. "Mobility of public researchers, scientific knowledge transfer, and the firm's innovation process," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(5), pages 510-518, May.
    44. Beatriz Garcia Osma, 2008. "Board Independence and Real Earnings Management: The Case of R&D Expenditure," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(2), pages 116-131, March.
    45. Stephen Bond, 2002. "Dynamic panel data models: a guide to microdata methods and practice," CeMMAP working papers CWP09/02, Centre for Microdata Methods and Practice, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    46. James R. Brown & Steven M. Fazzari & Bruce C. Petersen, 2009. "Financing Innovation and Growth: Cash Flow, External Equity, and the 1990s R&D Boom," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(1), pages 151-185, February.
    47. Arellano, Manuel, 2003. "Panel Data Econometrics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199245291.
    48. Himmelberg, Charles P & Petersen, Bruce C, 1994. "R&D and Internal Finance: A Panel Study of Small Firms in High-Tech Industries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(1), pages 38-51, February.
    49. Chaoshin Chiao, 2002. "Relationship between debt, R&D and physical investment, evidence from US firm-level data," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 105-121.
    50. Maury, Benjamin & Pajuste, Anete, 2005. "Multiple large shareholders and firm value," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(7), pages 1813-1834, July.
    51. Hemmert, Martin, 2004. "The influence of institutional factors on the technology acquisition performance of high-tech firms: survey results from Germany and Japan," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(6-7), pages 1019-1039, September.
    52. Spiros Bougheas & Holger Görg & Eric Strobl, 2003. "Is R & D Financially Constrained? Theory and Evidence from Irish Manufacturing," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 22(2), pages 159-174, March.
    53. King, Tao-Hsien Dolly & Wen, Min-Ming, 2011. "Shareholder governance, bondholder governance, and managerial risk-taking," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 512-531, March.
    54. Audretsch, David B. & Weigand, Jurgen, 2005. "Do knowledge conditions make a difference?: Investment, finance and ownership in German industries," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 595-613, June.
    55. Cappelen, Ådne & Raknerud, Arvid & Rybalka, Marina, 2012. "The effects of R&D tax credits on patenting and innovations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 334-345.
    56. Morck, Randall & Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1988. "Management ownership and market valuation : An empirical analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(1-2), pages 293-315, January.
    57. Thomä, Jörg & Bizer, Kilian, 2013. "To protect or not to protect? Modes of appropriability in the small enterprise sector," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 35-49.
    58. Audretsch,David B. & Thurik,Roy (ed.), 1999. "Innovation, Industry Evolution and Employment," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521641661.
    59. Franklin Allen & Douglas Gale, 2001. "Comparative Financial Systems: A Survey," Center for Financial Institutions Working Papers 01-15, Wharton School Center for Financial Institutions, University of Pennsylvania.
    60. Edward Jones & Jo Danbolt, 2003. "R&D project announcements and the impact of ownership structure," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(14), pages 933-936.
    61. Peggy M. Lee, 2005. "A comparison of ownership structures and innovations of US and Japanese firms," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 39-50.
    62. Himmelberg, Charles P. & Hubbard, R. Glenn & Love, Inessa, 2002. "Investor protection, ownership, and the cost of capital," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2834, The World Bank.
    63. Francis, Jennifer & Smith, Abbie, 1995. "Agency costs and innovation some empirical evidence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 383-409, April.
    64. Josep A. Tribo & Pascual Berrone & Jordi Surroca, 2007. "Do the Type and Number of Blockholders Influence R&D Investments? New evidence from Spain," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 828-842, September.
    65. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    66. Bhagat, Sanjai & Welch, Ivo, 1995. "Corporate research & development investments international comparisons," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2-3), pages 443-470, April.
    67. Franklin Allen & Douglas Gale, 2001. "Comparing Financial Systems," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262511258, December.
    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. Bykova, Anna & Molodchik, Mariia & Shamilova, Ekaterina, 2017. "Ownership concentration, corporate governance development and firm performance in Russian listed companies," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 45, pages 50-74.

    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. Peter-Jan Engelen & Marc van Essen, 2013. "Effects of firm-level corporate governance and country-level economic governance institutions on R&D curtailment during crisis times," Chapters, in: Mehmet Ugur (ed.), Governance, Regulation and Innovation, chapter 3, pages 58-85, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    2. Guariglia, Alessandra & Liu, Pei, 2014. "To what extent do financing constraints affect Chinese firms' innovation activities?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 223-240.
    3. Martinsson, Gustav, 2009. "Finance and R&D Investments - is there a debt overhang effect on R&D investments?," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 174, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    4. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Lerner, Josh, 2010. "The Financing of R&D and Innovation," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 609-639, Elsevier.
    5. Mauricio Jara‐Bertin & Félix J. López‐Iturriaga & Óscar López‐de‐Foronda, 2008. "The Contest to the Control in European Family Firms: How Other Shareholders Affect Firm Value," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(3), pages 146-159, May.
    6. Muhammad Kaleem Khan & Ahmad Kaleem & Salman Zulfiqar & Umair Akram, 2019. "Innovation Investment: Behaviour Of Chinese Firms Towards Financing Sources," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(07), pages 1-29, October.
    7. Brown, James R. & Martinsson, Gustav & Petersen, Bruce C., 2012. "Do financing constraints matter for R&D?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(8), pages 1512-1529.
    8. Weng, Qian & Söderbom, Måns, 2018. "Is R&D cash flow sensitive? Evidence from Chinese industrial firms," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 77-95.
    9. Olivier Brossard & Stéphanie Lavigne & Mustafa Erdem Sakinç, 2013. "Ownership structures and R&D in Europe: the good institutional investors, the bad and ugly impatient shareholders," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 22(4), pages 1031-1068, August.
    10. Valentín Azofra Palenzuea & Paolo Saona Hoffmann & Eleuterio Vallelado González, 2004. "Estructura De Propiedad Y Oportunidades De Crecimiento Como Determinantes Del Endeudamiento De Las Empresas Chilenas," Abante, Escuela de Administracion. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile., vol. 7(2), pages 105-145.
    11. Mueller, Elisabeth & Zimmermann, Volker, 2006. "The Importance of Equity Finance for R&D Activity: Are There Differences Between Young and OldCompanies?," ZEW Discussion Papers 06-014, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    12. Milani, Sahar & Neumann, Rebecca, 2022. "R&D, patents, and financing constraints of the top global innovative firms," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 546-567.
    13. Z. Jun Lin & Shengqiang Liu & Fangcheng Sun, 2017. "The Impact of Financing Constraints and Agency Costs on Corporate R&D Investment: Evidence from China," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 17(1), pages 3-42, March.
    14. Bronwyn Hall, 2004. "The financing of research and development," Chapters, in: Anthony Bartzokas & Sunil Mani (ed.), Financial Systems, Corporate Investment in Innovation, and Venture Capital, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Filippo Belloc & Eleonora Laurenza & M. Alessandra Rossi, 2016. "Corporate governance effects on innovation when both agency costs and asset specificity matter," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(6), pages 977-999.
    16. Christian Espinosa-Méndez & Carlos P. Maquieira & José T. Arias, 2023. "The Impact of ESG Performance on the Value of Family Firms: The Moderating Role of Financial Constraints and Agency Problems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-20, April.
    17. Azofra, Valentín & Santamaría, Marcos, 2011. "Ownership, control, and pyramids in Spanish commercial banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1464-1476, June.
    18. Jörg Mahlich & Thomas Roediger-Schluga, 2006. "The Determinants of Pharmaceutical R&D Expenditures: Evidence from Japan," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 28(2), pages 145-164, March.
    19. Drobetz, Wolfgang & Janzen, Malte & Requejo, Ignacio, 2019. "Capital allocation and ownership concentration in the shipping industry," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 78-99.
    20. José María Díez-Esteban & Jorge Bento Farinha & Conrado Diego García-Gómez, 2019. "How does national culture affect corporate risk-taking?," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(1), pages 49-68, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Institutional setting; ownership structure; corporate R&D; legal protection;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hig:wpaper:36man2015. 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: Shamil Abdulaev or Shamil Abdulaev (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/hsecoru.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.