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This paper explores the heterogeneous impact of R&D on firm growth in Chinese manufacturing industry during the periods 2012–2017. We divide the full sample into sub-samples according to different ownership, firm size and sectors, respectively, which help comprehensive observe the impact of R&D on firm growth. The results indicate that R&D has a significant positive impact on firm growth, and that R&D of private enterprises has a greater impact on firm growth than that of state-owned enterprises across all quantiles. Moreover, we find the R&D effectiveness of non-small and medium-sized enterprises is significantly greater than that of SMEs. Additionally, persuasive evidence proves the existence of an inverted-U relationship between R&D and firm growth, except for higher-growth state-owned SMEs. The results also indicate that R&D plays a more significantly positive role in high-tech industries. Our finding suggests that policymakers should encourage R&D investment in manufacturing industry to promote firm growth. But policymaker must classify firms, observe R&D intensity turning points of firms with different types, formulate meticulous R&D strategies, and maximize R&D utility.
Zhu et al. (2021) studied this question.