Zusammenfassung
In der Literatur werden seit langem Plausibilitätsüberlegungen zu den Zusammenhängen zwischen internationaler Diversifikation und der F&E-Intensität von Industrieunternehmen sowie zu den Beziehungen dieser unternehmerischen Stellgrößen auf den Unternehmenserfolg und -fortbestand untersucht. Mit der vorliegenden Studie von 51 großen Industrieunternehmen aus Deutschland werden für den Zeitraum von 1992 bis 1996 diese Beziehungen empirisch untersucht. Dabei konnte ein positiver, nicht linearer Zusammenhang zwischen F&E-Intensität und internationaler Diversifikation beobachtet werden. Effekte der internationalen Diversifikation auf jahresabschlußorientierte Erfolgsindikatoren konnten ebensowenig festgestellt werden wie ein Zusammenhang zwischen dem Niveau des Unternehmenserfolgs und dem Grad der internationalen Diversifikation. Zwischen der F&E-Intensität und dem Erfolgsniveau wurde ein U-förmiger Zusammenhang beobachtet.
Summary
For many years the management literature is theorizing on relationships between international diversification (ID) and R&D-intensity of corporations and on links between these two levers for securing a company’s long-term survival and firm performance. However, there is a dearth of pertinent empirical work which is based on recent longitudinal data of corporations from Germany and which reflects that focal variables may be linked in a non-linear and reciprocal way. Hence, the present investigation of a sample of 51 very large industrial firms from Germany for the period from 1992 to 1996 tried to explore empirically relationships between ID, R&D-intensity and firm performance while avoiding short-comings of previous research.
Results suggest that there is a significant logarithmic positive and bidirectional causal path between R&D-intensity and ID with R&D-intensity having a sligthly stronger impact on subsequent ID than the latter on R&D-intensity. ID-effects on accounting-based performance measures and the reverse causal chain from firm performance to ID were both insignificant. Significant U-shaped and non-recursive interrelationships were detected between R&D-intensity and firm performance with the effects of performance on subsequent R&D-intensity being somewhat stronger than the reverse causal link.
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Gerpott, T.J., Walter, A. Internationale Diversifikation, F&E-Intensität und Erfolg von großen Industrieunternehmen. Schmalenbachs Z betriebswirtsch Forsch 51, 1100–1122 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03371615
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03371615