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Abstract
The objective of this paper is to determine how the firm's infrastructure, the financial
characteristics of a company (net income, sales), and the organizational structure (number of
acquisitions, age of establishment of the firm) affect R&D investments in the agricultural sector.
We use data for companies under the SIC codes for agricultural chemicals, and crop planning
and protection. The results based on analysis of 69 observations of 12 firms revealed that firm's
financial and organizational infrastructure does affect its R&D expenditures. Older and larger
firms tend to spend more on R&D. During the last 17 years the R&D expenditures with respect
to the sales of the company have been reduced. Finally, contrary to the expectations, previous
year's profit margins are negatively correlated with the R&D over the sales ratio of the following
year.