Family firm R&D investments in the 2007–2009 Great Recession

Xian Sun, Soo-Hoon Lee and Phillip Phan

Journal of Family Business Strategy, 2019, vol. 10, issue 4

Abstract: Investments in research and development (R&D) are essential to innovation, long-term value creation, and wealth accumulation. Since family wealth and firm performance are tightly coupled in family firms, how they invest during times of economic distress matters to their wealth accumulation over the generations. In this study, we examined the impact of the 2007 Great Recession on the R&D decisions of publicly-listed family firms in the United States. We compared family and non-family U.S. firms, excluding those in the financial sector, with total assets greater than $1 million for the period 1992 to 2015. Using the behavioral agency model, we hypothesized that among firms that were not financially constrained during the economic crisis, family firms were more likely than non-family firms to invest in R&D. The results support this hypothesis, lending credence to the notion that family firms undertook more risks when performance is below their long-term aspirations during economic downturns.

Keywords: Family enterprise; 2007 recession; R&D expenditures; Crisis investments; Innovation; Firm performance; Financial constraints; Accounting ratios (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877858517300943
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:fambus:v:10:y:2019:i:4:s1877858517300943

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/719791/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... 719791/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.jfbs.2018.02.004

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Family Business Strategy is currently edited by J.H. Astrachan

More articles in Journal of Family Business Strategy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().