R&D productivity: an exploratory international study

International audienceDesign/methodology/approach – The research design is based on an earnings equationassociating earnings with recorded assets, R&D expenditures and selling, general and administrativeexpenses (proxying for advertising expenses). The paper determines a rate of return on R&D for eachgiven sample of firms in six developed countries.Findings – The results corroborate previous studies of American companies, which found thatreported earnings, adjusted for expensing of R&D, reflect realized benefits from R&D. This studyprovides further evidence on the positive contribution of R&D activities to future companyperformance, although this contribution can vary from one country to another.Research limitations/implications – Being exploratory in nature, this paper suggests severalareas for investigation.Originality/value – With the exception of some American studies, the economic effectiveness ofinvestment in R&D is seldom demonstrated explicitly by the literature, and to the best of ourknowledge, there are no existing studies on R&D productivity taking an international approac