R&D Expenditure and Revenue-Based Productivity: Measurement Sensitivity in a Pilot of Shenzhen-Listed Firms
Main Article Content
Keywords
R&D expenditure, revenue-based productivity, measurement sensitivity, resource-based view, Shenzhen-listed firms
Abstract
The resource-based view treats R&D expenditure as an input into firm-specific knowledge. Its empirical link with productivity, however, depends on how the two constructs are measured. This pilot uses 60 full annual reports disclosed through CNINFO for 12 Shenzhen manufacturing and technology issuers during 2019–2023. After the pre-specified completeness and history rule, the analytic panel contains 48 firm-years from 10 firms. The author estimates a revenue-based productivity residual and compare pooled, fixed-effect, lagged, alternative-outcome, denominator, tail, resampling, temporal, and first-difference specifications. Revenue-share R&D is negative in the firm and year fixed-effect model, whereas R&D scaled by fixed assets is imprecise. A 1,999-resample full-chain firm bootstrap also includes zero. The evidence does not identify a causal R&D effect or describe all Chinese listed firms. It instead shows why an auditable reporting pipeline and denominator checks are needed before resource-based arguments are turned into productivity claims.
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