The Effect of R&D Investment on Firm Value: An Examination of KOSDAQ Listed Firms

Abstract This study examines the relationship between R&D(research & development) investment and market value among KOSDAQ firms in the Korea Stock Exchange. We investigate the effect of R&D investment on firm value in both total sample and sub-samples classified by firm characteristics based on types of firms. And we study the impact of a major economic disruption as the global financial crisis triggered by sub-prime mortgage problem in the US on R&D investment relative to the firm value. We find that R&D investment positively affects firm value and the squared term of R&D investment is found to be significant and negatively correlated with market value. This suggests the presence of nonlinear relationship like a reverse U-shape between R&D investment and market value in total sample and most of sub-samples. And we find firm characteristics and global financial crisis partially affect the contribution of R&D investment to market value i