The impact of R&D investment on firm performance: a comparison of high- and non-high-tech SMEs

This paper investigates whether there is a difference in the impact of R&D investment on firm performance in high-tech and non-high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). I apply the pooled ordinary least squares (OLS) regression method concerning OECD countries with 1502 high-tech firm years and 3501 non-high-tech firm years during the period 2009-2017. My findings show that R&D intensity is negatively associated with firm performance, for both high-tech and non-high-tech SMEs. The impact of R&D intensity on firm performance is greater for high-tech SMEs. I also find that smaller, older and higher leveraged SMEs restrict firm performance more quickly than bigger, younger and less leveraged SMEs, for both high-tech and non-high-tech SMEs. However, firm age has a greater impact in non-high-tech SMEs and firm size has a greater impact in high-tech SMEs.