R&D productivity: an exploratory international study

International audienceDesign/methodology/approach – The research design is based on an earnings equation<br />associating earnings with recorded assets, R&D expenditures and selling, general and administrative<br />expenses (proxying for advertising expenses). The paper determines a rate of return on R&D for each<br />given sample of firms in six developed countries.<br />Findings – The results corroborate previous studies of American companies, which found that<br />reported earnings, adjusted for expensing of R&D, reflect realized benefits from R&D. This study<br />provides further evidence on the positive contribution of R&D activities to future company<br />performance, although this contribution can vary from one country to another.<br />Research limitations/implications – Being exploratory in nature, this paper suggests several<br />areas for investigation.<br />Originality/value – With the exception of some American studies, the economic effectiveness of<br />investment in R&D is seldom demonstrated explicitly by the literature, and to the best of our<br />knowledge, there are no existing studies on R&D productivity taking an international approac