Nonlinear Relationship Between R&D Investment and Financial Performance of Listed Manufacturing Companies Against the Background of the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study conducts an empirical analysis on the influence of lagged R&D investment on the financial performance of manufacturing companies listed on mainland China exchanges (A-shares) from 2015 to 2023. It investigates the dynamic relationship between R&D investment and financial performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. First, it examines the relationship between R&D investment and financial performance in the manufacturing companies of different ownership structures. It concludes that a lag in R&D investment will significantly affect financial performance and their relationship follows an inverted “U”-shape pattern. Second, it found that the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted this inverted “U”-shaped relationship. Third, it discovered that in non-state-owned manufacturing companies, the inverted “U”-shaped relationship between R&D investment and financial performance is significant, while this relationship is not significant in state-owned manufacturing companies.