Share:


Debt financing and technological innovation: evidence from China

    Kuang Xin Affiliation
    ; Yuchun Sun Affiliation
    ; Ran Zhang Affiliation
    ; Xiao Liu Affiliation

Abstract

The availabilities of debt for Chinese firms have been increased since 2008 due to the expansionary monetary policies. These policies triggered concerns over the impact of debt financing on firms’ technological innovation activities. Based on a sample of 225 listed computer and telecommunications equipment firms in China within 2008-2015, this study explored the effect of debt financing on two types of technological innovation, namely radical and incremental innovation. Specifically, both the direct effect of debt financing on technological innovation and its moderating effect on the relationship between R&D intensity and technological innovation were investigated. Results of this study reveal that radical innovation decreases with debt financing at decreasing rates, while incremental innovation is not affected by debt financing itself. In addition, debt financing interacted with R&D intensity exerts positive effect on both radical and incremental innovation. This study adds meaningful insights to the literature on financing technological innovation and builds a bridge connecting macroeconomic policies to firm activities.

Keyword : debt financing, radical innovation, incremental innovation, R&D, negative binomial regression, China

How to Cite
Xin, K., Sun, Y., Zhang, R., & Liu, X. (2019). Debt financing and technological innovation: evidence from China. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 20(5), 841-859. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2019.10185
Published in Issue
Jul 1, 2019
Abstract Views
3493
PDF Downloads
2251
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Acharya, V. V., & Subramanian, K. V. (2009). Bankruptcy codes and innovation. The Review of Financial Studies, 22(12), 4949-4988. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhp019

Adam, T. R., & Streitz, D. (2016). Hold-up and the use of performance-sensitive debt. Journal of Financial Intermediation, 26, 47-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfi.2016.01.004

Aghion, P., Van Reenen, J., & Zingales, L. (2013). Innovation and institutional ownership. American Economic Review, 103(1), 277-304. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.103.1.277

Ahuja, G., & Katila, R. (2001). Technological acquisitions and the innovation performance of acquiring firms: A longitudinal study. Strategic Management Journal, 22(3), 197-220. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.157

Alessandrini, P., Presbiteroy, A. F., & Zazzaroz, A. (2010). Bank size or distance: what hampers innovation adoption by SMEs? Journal of Economic Geography, 10(6), 845-881. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbp055

Aristei, D., & Gallo, M. (2017). The determinants of firm-bank relationships in Italy: bank ownership type, diversification and multiple banking relationships. European Journal of Finance, 23(15), 1512-1543. https://doi.org/10.1080/1351847X.2016.1186712

Backman, M., & Wallin, T. (2018). Access to banks and external capital acquisition: perceived innovation obstacles. Annals of Regional Science, 61(1), 161-187. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00168-018-0863-8

Beck, M., Lopes-Bento, C., & Schenker-Wicki, A. (2016). Radical or incremental: Where does R&D policy hit? Research Policy, 45(4), 869-883. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2016.01.010

Benfratello, L., Schiantarelli, F., & Sembenelli, A. (2008). Banks and innovation: Microeconometric evidence on Italian firms. Journal of Financial Economics, 90(2), 197-217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2008.01.001

Berglöf, E., & Von Thadden, E.-L. (1994). Short-term versus long-term interests: Capital structure with multiple investors. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 109(4), 1055-1084. https://doi.org/10.2307/2118356

Bertin, M. J., Warleta, M. M., & Hoffmann, P. S. (2012). Non-linear relationship between growth opportunities and bank debt: A panel data analysis of Chilean firms. Academia-Revista Latinoamericana De Administracion, (50), 44-65.

Betran, C., & Huberman, M. (2016). International competition in the first wave of globalization: new evidence on the margins of trade. Economic History Review, 69(1), 258-287. https://doi.org/10.1111/ehr.12115

Boot, A. W. A., & Thakor, A. V. (2000). Can relationship banking survive competition? Journal of Finance, 55(2), 679-713. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-1082.00223

Bouncken, R. B., Fredrich, V., Ritala, P., & Kraus, S. (2018). Coopetition in new product development alliances: Advantages and tensions for incremental and radical innovation. British Journal of Management, 29(3), 391-410. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12213

Brancati, E. (2015). Innovation financing and the role of relationship lending for SMEs. Small Business Economics, 44(2), 449-473. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-014-9603-3

Brettel, M., Heinemann, F., Engelen, A., & Neubauer, S. (2011). Cross-functional integration of R&D, marketing, and manufacturing in radical and incremental product innovations and its effects on project effectiveness and efficiency. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 28(2), 251-269. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5885.2011.00795.x

Bronzini, R., & Piselli, P. (2016). The impact of R&D subsidies on firm innovation. Research Policy, 45(2), 442-457. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2015.10.008

Brown, J. R., Fazzari, S. M., & Petersen, B. C. (2009). Financing innovation and growth: Cash flow, external equity, and the 1990s R&D boom. Journal of Finance, 64(1), 151-185. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.2008.01431.x

Chava, S., Oettl, A., Subramanian, A., & Subramanian, K. V. (2013). Banking deregulation and innovation. Journal of Financial Economics, 109(3), 759-774. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2013.03.015

Choi, B., Kumar, M. V. S., & Zambuto, F. (2016). Capital Structure and Innovation Trajectory: The Role of Debt in Balancing Exploration and Exploitation. Organization Science, 27(5), 1183-1201. https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2016.1089

Choi, S. B., & Williams, C. (2014). The impact of innovation intensity, scope, and spillovers on sales growth in Chinese firms. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 31(1), 25-46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-012-9329-1

Coad, A., Segarra, A., & Teruel, M. (2016). Innovation and firm growth: Does firm age play a role? Research Policy, 45(2), 387-400. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2015.10.015

Coccia, M. (2017). Sources of technological innovation: Radical and incremental innovation problem-driven to support competitive advantage of firms. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 29(9), 1048-1061. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537325.2016.1268682

Cucculelli, M. (2018). Firm age and the probability of product innovation. Do CEO tenure and product tenure matter? Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 28(1), 153-179. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00191-017-0542-4

Czarnitzki, D., & Kraft, K. (2009). Capital control, debt financing and innovative activity. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 71(2), 372-383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2009.03.017

Dahlin, K. B., & Behrens, D. M. (2005). When is an invention really radical? Defining and measuring technological radicalness. Research Policy, 34(5), 717-737. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2005.03.009

Davis, C., & Tomoda, Y. (2018). Competing incremental and breakthrough innovation in a model of product evolution. Journal of Economics, 123(3), 225-247. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00712-017-0568-y

de Jong, A., Verbeke, W., & Nijssen, E. (2014). Introduction to special issue: Sales and innovation. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 31(4), 643-646. https://doi.org/10.1111/jpim.12154

Deng, Y. H., Morck, R., Wu, J., & Yeung, B. (2015). China’s Pseudo-monetary Policy. Review of Finance, 19(1), 55-93. https://doi.org/10.1093/rof/rfu026

Eckbo, B. E., Thorburn, K. S., & Wang, W. (2016). How costly is corporate bankruptcy for the CEO? Journal of Financial Economics, 121(1), 210-229. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2016.03.005

Etzkowitz, A., & Etzkowitz, H. (2017). Counter-cyclical public venture capital: Debt-funding as an anti-austerity innovation strategy. Social Science Information Sur Les Sciences Sociales, 56(3), 477-495. https://doi.org/10.1177/0539018417719795

Fang, L. H., Lerner, J., & Wu, C. P. (2017). Intellectual Property rights protection, ownership, and innovation: Evidence from China. Review of Financial Studies, 30(7), 2446-2477. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhx023

Farinha, L. A., & Santos, J. A. C. (2002). Switching from single to multiple bank lending relationships: Determinants and implications. Journal of Financial Intermediation, 11(2), 124-151. https://doi.org/10.1006/jfin.2001.0328

Feldhütter, P., Hotchkiss, E., & Karakaş, O. (2016). The value of creditor control in corporate bonds. Journal of Financial Economics, 121(1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2016.03.007

Ferraris, L., & Minetti, R. (2007). Foreign lenders and the real sector. Journal of Money Credit and Banking, 39(4), 945-964. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1538-4616.2007.00052.x

Fores, B., & Camison, C. (2016). Does incremental and radical innovation performance depend on different types of knowledge accumulation capabilities and organizational size? Journal of Business Research, 69(2), 831-848. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.07.006

Garcia, R., & Calantone, R. (2002). A critical look at technological innovation typology and innovativeness terminology: a literature review. Journal of Product Innovation Management, 19(2), 110-132. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0737-6782(01)00132-1

Giannetti, C. (2012). Relationship lending and firm innovativeness. Journal of Empirical Finance, 19(5), 762-781. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jempfin.2012.08.005

Gu, Y. Q., Mao, C. N. X., & Tian, X. (2017). Banks’ Interventions and Firms’ Innovation: Evidence from Debt Covenant Violations. Journal of Law & Economics, 60(4), 637-671. https://doi.org/10.1086/696703

Hall, B. H. (2002). The financing of research and development. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 18(1), 35-51.

Hall, B. H., & Lerner, J. (2010). Chapter 14 – The financing of R&D and innovation. In B. H. Hall & N. Rosenberg (Eds.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation (Vol. 1, pp. 609-639). North-Holland: Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-7218(10)01014-2

Hausman, J., Hall, B. H., & Griliches, Z. (1984). Econometric-models for count data with an application to the patents R and D relationship. Econometrica, 52(4), 909-938. https://doi.org/10.2307/1911191

Heirman, A., & Clarysse, B. (2007). Which tangible and intangible assets matter for innovation speed in start-ups? Journal of Product Innovation Management, 24(4), 303-315. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5885.2007.00253.x

Henderson, M. T. (2007). Paying CEOS in bankruptcy: Executive compensation when agency costs are low. Northwestern University Law Review, 101(4), 1543-1618.

Howell, A. (2016). Firm R&D, innovation and easing financial constraints in China: Does corporate tax reform matter? Research Policy, 45(10), 1996-2007. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2016.07.002

Kerr, W. R., & Nanda, R. (2015). Financing innovation. Annual Review of Financial Economics, 7(1), 445-462. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-financial-111914-041825

Kim, M., & Park, J. (2017). Do bank loans to financially distressed firms lead to innovation? Japanese Economic Review, 68(2), 244-256. https://doi.org/10.1111/jere.12131

Krasnicka, T., Glod, W., & Wronka-Pospiech, M. (2018). Management innovation, pro-innovation organisational culture and enterprise performance: testing the mediation effect. Review of Managerial Science, 12(3), 737-769. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11846-017-0229-0

Lyandres, E., & Zhdanov, A. (2014). Convertible debt and investment timing. Journal of Corporate Finance, 24, 21-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2013.06.006

Mancusi, M. L., Vezzulli, A., Frazzoni, S., Rotondi, Z., & Sobrero, M. (2018). Export and innovation in small and medium enterprises: The role of concentrated bank borrowing. Economica, 85(337), 177-204. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecca.12252

Mattes, J. A., Steffen, S., & Wahrenburg, M. (2013). Do information rents in loan spreads persist over the business cycles? Journal of Financial Services Research, 43(2), 175-195. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10693-012-0129-z

Murdock, C. W. (2013). The big banks: background, deregulation, financial innovation, and “Too big to fail”. Denver University Law Review, 90(2), 505-558.

Nanda, R., & Nicholas, T. (2014). Did bank distress stifle innovation during the Great Depression? Journal of Financial Economics, 114(2), 273-292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2014.07.006

Naqshbandi, M. M., & Tabche, I. (2018). The interplay of leadership, absorptive capacity, and organizational learning culture in open innovation: Testing a moderated mediation model. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 133, 156-167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.03.017

Oerlemans, L. A. G., Knoben, J., & Pretorius, M. W. (2013). Alliance portfolio diversity, radical and incremental innovation: The moderating role of technology management. Technovation, 33(6-7), 234-246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2013.02.004

Ongena, S., & Smith, D. C. (2000). What determines the number of bank relationships? Cross-country evidence. Journal of Financial Intermediation, 9(1), 26-56. https://doi.org/10.1006/jfin.1999.0273

Pan, T., & Zhengfei, L. (2005). Debt Financing, the Sources of Debt, and the Firms’ Investment Behavior: Evidence from Listed Companies in China. Economic Research Journal, 5, 75-84.

Petruzzelli, A. M., Ardito, L., & Savino, T. (2018). Maturity of knowledge inputs and innovation value: The moderating effect of firm age and size. Journal of Business Research, 86, 190-201. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.02.009

Ravenscraft, D., & Scherer, F. M. (1982). The lag structure of returns to research and development. Applied Economics, 14(6), 603-620. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036848200000036

Robb, A. M., & Robinson, D. T. (2014). The capital structure decisions of new firms. Review of Financial Studies, 27(1), 153-179. https://doi.org/10.1093/rfs/hhs072

Rojas, M. G. A., Solis, E. R. R., & Zhu, J. J. (2018). Innovation and network multiplexity: R&D and the concurrent effects of two collaboration networks in an emerging economy. Research Policy, 47(6), 1111-1124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2018.03.018

Santos, J. A. C., & Winton, A. (2008). Bank loans, bonds, and information monopolies across the business cycle. Journal of Finance, 63(3), 1315-1359. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6261.2008.01359.x

Schilling, M. A., & Phelps, C. C. (2007). Interfirm collaboration networks: The impact of large-scale network structure on firm innovation. Management Science, 53(7), 1113-1126. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1060.0624

Shefer, D., & Frenkel, A. (2005). R&D, firm size and innovation: an empirical analysis. Technovation, 25(1), 25-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4972(03)00152-4

Sofka, W., de Faria, P., & Shehu, E. (2018). Protecting knowledge: How legal requirements to reveal information affect the importance of secrecy. Research Policy, 47(3), 558-572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2018.01.016

Tadesse, S. (2006). Innovation, information, and financial architecture. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 41(4), 753-786. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022109000002635

Ulku, H. (2007). R&D, innovation, and growth: evidence from four manufacturing sectors in OECD countries. Oxford Economic Papers-New Series, 59(3), 513-535. https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpl022

Wang, G. P., & Miao, C. F. (2015). Effects of sales force market orientation on creativity, innovation implementation, and sales performance. Journal of Business Research, 68(11), 2374-2382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2015.03.041

Wang, T. Y., & Thornhill, S. (2010). R&D investment and financing choices: A comprehensive perspective. Research Policy, 39(9), 1148-1159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2010.07.004

Wu, J., Si, S., & Wu, X. B. (2016). Entrepreneurial finance and innovation: Informal debt as an empirical case. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 10(3), 257-273. https://doi.org/10.1002/sej.1214

Yin, W., & Matthews, K. (2017). Single versus multiple banking relationships-evidence from Chinese lending market. Singapore Economic Review, 62(1). https://doi.org/10.1142/S0217590816500247

Zheng, G. P., Wang, S. X., & Xu, Y. X. (2018). Monetary stimulation, bank relationship and innovation: Evidence from China. Journal of Banking & Finance, 89, 237-248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2018.02.010