Patterns of Investing into Business R&D in South Africa

The paper explores the patterns of business investment in research and development (R&D) using evidence from companies in South Africa, in comparison with indicators for a number of other countries. This study covers the period 2006–2016, the studied companies were grouped by the amount of R&am...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Neo Molotja, Saahier Parker, Precious Mudavanhu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: National Research University Higher School of Economics 2019-09-01
Series:Foresight and STI Governance
Subjects:
Online Access:https://foresight-journal.hse.ru/article/view/19183
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Summary:The paper explores the patterns of business investment in research and development (R&D) using evidence from companies in South Africa, in comparison with indicators for a number of other countries. This study covers the period 2006–2016, the studied companies were grouped by the amount of R&D expenditures (BERD), the number of reports on research performance for the first and last years of monitoring. A typical characteristic of private sector R&D activities is the uneven distribution of resources in space and time. The major financial and other assets are concentrated within few large companies from a limited number of industries, while the majority of small and medium-sized enterprises invest in R&D projects only sporadically, for a period of no more than two consequential years. Firms that perform R&D for longer periods invest in R&D incrementally and remain more persistent than enterprises performing less R&D for shorter time periods. In view of the common nature of a number of patterns, these observations suggest different approaches to policies supporting R&D performance in the business sector not only in South Africa, but also in other countries.
ISSN:2500-2597