중소기업 R&D활동에서 외부조달 재원의 효과에 대한 실증분석

Abstract

This study empirically analyzes the effect of public subsidies on small- and medium-sized firms’ R&D activities through two-step procedures (DEA/Tobit) associated with the firm’s characteristics. The first step of the procedure measures each firm’s efficiency in its R&D activities, and the second step using Tobit model estimates the effect of R&D investment on the efficiency measured in the first step. The results show that an individual firm’s total amount of R&D investment improves that firm’s R&D activity-related efficiency, and that R&D investment which is financed externally and publicly as well as internally has a statistically significant effect when the total amount of R&D investment is decomposed by its source. The effect of externally and publicly financed R&D investment seems to be different remarkably across firms’ characteristics, statistically significant effects show up with the firms being in transport equipment manufacturing or high-tech manufacturing sector, having a medium level of technology, employing between 50 and 99 workers, or having been in the business at least 11 years since its establishment. Public subsidies to small- and medium-sized firm’s R&D activities could be justified in terms of equity issue where small- and medium-sized firms are regarded as the disadvantaged compared with large firms as well as the fact that R&D activities work as a public good. However, the consideration of efficiency which allows the largest effect with the smallest cost needs to be accompanied when the amount of subsidies is huge. And one way to realize the efficiency would be to differentiate the subsidies according to firms’ characteristics.