The Impact of Research and Development Investment on the Performance of Portuguese Companies

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of Research and Development (R&D) investment on the performance of Portuguese companies, specifically addressing the gap in understanding how R&D influences a company’s value and performance. We employ a dynamic panel data model estimated using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to account for potential endogeneity issues. This approach allows us to analyze the influence of R&D investment on the Return on Operating Assets (ROA) for Portuguese companies with significant R&D investments between 2012 and 2019. The analysis reveals that while R&D investment itself may not have a statistically significant short-term impact on ROA, lagged financial performance, leverage, asset turnover ratio, and accounts payable turnover all demonstrate a statistically significant relationship with the dependent variable.