University of Macau / Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences

創新是複雜、昂貴、且高風險的活動，並且存在外部性，研發合作為促使企業從事創新的重要機制。本研究目的在於延伸過去理論性架構與實證研究，建立研發合作—創新—財務績效價值鏈。以下為研究問題： 1.吸收能力、知識外溢、與不確定性是否會影響研發合作的頻率？ 2.研發合作是否可以提高研發投資、研發產出、與財務績效？ 3.不同的研發合作型態如何影響研發合作的決定因素？ 4.不同的研發合作型態如何影響研發合作的績效？ 5.研發合作與財務績效的關係是否會受到研發投資與研發產出的中介影響？ 本研究採用 two-industry, n-firm-per-industry Cournot 競爭模型探討研發合作、研發投資（創新之投入面）、研發產出（創新之產出面—非財務績效）、與財務績效的關係，並以台灣高科技產業為研究對象進行實證分析。對於台灣高科技產業的研發合作與創新活動，研究結果提供學術界與企業界更完整且廣泛的觀點。 實證結果支持公司擁有較高吸收能力的員工是從事研發合作的決定因素之一。另外，知識外溢的提高，亦將促使高科技公司進行研發合作。而在高度吸收能力與知識外溢下，公司採行一般合作之頻率較其他合作模式高。 另外，實證結果也發現研發合作的確鼓勵台灣高科技產業的公司進行更多研發的投資，並且持續創造較高的研發產出與財務績效。相對於其他合作型態，一般合作可以創造較高的研發產出與財務績效，因此為較佳的合作模式。而由於市場競爭的本質，使得水平合作公司之研發投資較垂直合作與一般合作少。最後，僅有研發投資並不足以提升公司的績效與維持競爭優勢，研發合作公司的創新能力與研發產出才是獲利力的決定因素。 / Innovation is complex, costly, and risky and incurs externalities. R&D cooperation is thus a proper mechanism to encourage firms to innovate. The purposes of this dissertation are to extend the prior theoretical framework and empirical studies to establish a research framework for the R&D cooperation—innovation—financial performance chain. The research questions are as follows: 1.Do absorptive capacity, knowledge spillovers, and uncertainty affect the intensity of R&D cooperation? 2.Does R&D cooperation result in higher R&D investments, R&D outputs, and financial performance? 3.How do different R&D cooperation types influence the determinants of R&D cooperation? 4.How do different R&D cooperation types influence the performance of R&D cooperation? 5.Is the effect of R&D cooperation on financial performance mediated by R&D investments and R&D outputs? In this dissertation I apply the two-industry, n-firm-per-industry Cournot competition models to theoretically examine the relationship between R&D cooperation, R&D investments (input perspective of innovation), R&D outputs (output perspective of innovation—non-financial performance), and financial performance. I then use Taiwan’s high-technology industry as a research sample and empirically test my research hypotheses. The results provide academia and practitioners with a more comprehensive view of R&D cooperation and innovation activity among Taiwan’s high-technology industries. The empirical results support the argument that absorptive capacity has a positive impact on the frequency of R&D cooperation in high-technology industry. In addition, an increase in knowledge spillovers also tends to increase intensity to collaborate in R&D. Under high absorptive capacity and knowledge spillover, generalized R&D cooperation is preferred to other cooperative models. The empirical results also show that R&D cooperation does encourage Taiwan’s high-technology firms to invest more resources in R&D, and leads to higher R&D outputs and financial performance under the characteristic of high knowledge spillovers. Relative to other cooperation types, generalized cooperation leads to higher R&D outputs and financial performance and is a superior cooperative model. Due to the nature of market competition, horizontal cooperative firms are not willing to invest too much in R&D relative to vertical cooperation and generalized cooperation. Finally, simply investing in R&D alone is not enough to achieve breakthrough performance and sustain a competitive advantage. The ability to innovate and generate R&D outputs determines the profitability of the cooperative company.