중소기업 연구개발 집약도의 선행요인: 위기상황의 조절효과

초록

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the convergence of information and communication technologies by hastening the shift to a contact-less society. In this dynamic environment, research and development (R&D) investment is essential for corporate survival and growth. However, considering the long-term effects and associated uncertainties of R&D investment, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) facing resource constraints have sufficient incentives to reduce their R&D budgets. Nevertheless, there are innovation-oriented SMEs that continue to maintain their R&D investments despite limited resources. In other words, R&D investment by SMEs is a future-oriented strategic decision by managers to increase corporate value. This study is based on the theory of absorptive capacity, which argues that strategic R&D investment by SMEs with limited resources is not only directly aimed at creating innovation but also at developing and maintaining the absorptive capacity necessary to acquire and utilize scarce external resources. Based on the absorptive capacity theory(Cohen and Levinthal, 1989, 1990), this study aims to verify how SMEs' independent R&D organizations and human resources enhance R&D intensity, using data from the SME Technology Statistics Survey. Furthermore, this study goes a step further and argues that SMEs that invested in R&D to build absorptive capacity during global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic can be differentiated from those that did not. Empirical research based on SME Technology Statistics Survey data (2019, 2022) supports the direct effect of R&D infrastructure such as R&D organizations and personnel on R&D intensity, as well as the moderating effect of crisis variables. In other words, even in crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, SMEs that have accumulated R&D infrastructure, such as independent dedicated R&D organizations and PhD-level R&D personnel, are moving toward increasing R&D intensity.

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