High growth episodes among R&D intensive firms. Evidence for Europe, US and Japan

The purpose of this article is three-fold: first, it tests whether inter-industry R&D spillovers are positively associated with the likelihood of experiencing high growth episodes among R&D intensive firms in Europe, US and Japan; second, it tests whether such a relationship is conditional on their level of absorptive capacity (ACAP); third, it tests whether the acquisition of foreign patents please replace brackets with commas may trigger high growth episodes among a sub-set of R&D intensive firms. For the empirical analysis, we focus on R&D intensive manufacturing firms observed between 2002 and 2017, located in Europe, US and Japan. The empirical findings support the hypotheses suggesting that: a) inter-industry R&D spillovers are associated with the likelihood of experiencing high growth episodes; b) ACAP conditions the relationship between inter-industry R&D spillovers and the likelihood of experiencing high growth episodes and c) shares of foreign patents are positively associated with the likelihood of experiencing high growth episodes among high-tech R&D intensive firms. JEL codes: C41, L25, O33.

Automated summary

This study empirically analyzes R&D intensive manufacturing firms in Europe, US, and Japan and finds that inter-industry R&D spillovers are positively associated with the likelihood of experiencing high growth episodes. It also shows that the relationship is conditioned by absorptive capacity and that shares of foreign patents are positively associated with the likelihood of experiencing high growth episodes among high-tech R&D intensive firms.