Title: Relationship between public support for research and development, and companies' business performance

Authors: Valerij Dermol; Vesna Skrbinjek

Addresses: International School for Social and Business Studies, Mariborska cesta 7, 3000 Celje, Slovenia ' International School for Social and Business Studies, Mariborska cesta 7, 3000 Celje, Slovenia

Abstract: This paper focuses on a company's business performance by considering its research and development activities, participation in publicly-funded research projects and collaboration with various research institutions. The data managed by Slovenian Research Agency was used where relevant information on scientific publishing for companies, as well as research institutions, are documented. The data was analysed by using the SEM approach, in a total of 272 companies. The study confirms that companies' participation in publicly-funded R&D projects enhances their internal capabilities in terms of human and social capital, as well as their scientific impact, however, a slightly negative impact on companies' business performance was detected. Scientific impact of a company's researchers reflected by their scientific publishing seems positively related to the business performance, although the link is quite weak. The study negates the existence of a moderating impact of company size on the relationship between participation in R&D projects and business performance.

Keywords: research and development; R&D; research activities; company; business performance; PLS structural modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVCM.2021.118288

International Journal of Value Chain Management, 2021 Vol.12 No.3, pp.199 - 220

Received: 05 Jul 2020
Accepted: 22 Sep 2020
Published online: 19 Oct 2021 *

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