Exploring corporate finance, exports and knowledge as determinants of innovation

Identifier:  TDX:4428

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TDX4428

Authors:  Tomàs Porres, Josep

Abstract:
This dissertation aims to advance the understanding of innovation and knowledge generation patterns from three different perspectives. Firstly, by delving into the effect of borrowing working capital and physical investment into R&D, innovation, and productivity, finding non-linear effects associated with debt financing and complementarities between investments in working capital and physical investment. Secondly, dissecting how the temporal and spatial dimensions of learning-by-exporting influence innovation persistence. We offer insights regarding which markets should firms address depending on their innovation status. While European markets provide an optimal context for firms seeking to transition towards innovation activities, firms should export inside and outside the European Union to be persistent innovators. Finally, the dissertation assesses the determinants of internal and external knowledge generation, then imputing the effects of knowledge in the intensity of innovations new to the market. The findings suggest the importance of skills, productivity, and exports to generate internal knowledge, a key factor of innovations new to the market, being incumbent firms are the ones obtaining the largest returns from internal knowledge generation due to their accumulated expertise and skills.