A meta-analytic study of the relationship between r & d investments and corporate value

This study presents a meta-analysis of the empirical literature linking R&D investments and firm’s performance and assesses the magnitude of the reported coefficients against three potential moderating factors: the time window used in the study, the reliability of the independent variable and the reliability of the dependent variable. Applying Hunter and Schmidt correction procedures on all published studies using hedonic models to estimate the impact of different corporate assets on the market value of the firm we show that the relationship is consistently positive. Significant differences in the size of the effect emerge, however, depending on the period of observation, while the concerns commonly raised on empirical indicators such as Tobin’s q or R&D investment measures find no empirical support.