资本结构如何影响企业创新——基于我国上市公司的实证分析

How does capital structure influence enterprise innovation:evidence from listed companies in China

在当前我国企业杠杆率高企的现状下,如何协调企业负债融资结构与创新之间的关系是企业需妥善处理的重要问题。以中国2007-2017年非金融上市公司为样本,研究了企业资本结构与企业创新之间的关系。实证结果表明:企业资本结构与企业专利产出、研发投入之间存在倒U型关系,而与企业创新效率之间存在正向线性关系。当企业负债水平较低时,企业增加负债有助于促进企业创新规模的增长,当企业负债水平超过某一临界值时,企业继续增加负债则对企业创新规模产生抑制作用,而企业创新效率则随着企业负债水平的增长逐步提升。进一步的异质性分析表明,资本结构对企业创新规模与创新效率的影响机理因专利类型、区域发展水平、企业所有制类型、企业规模与所处生命周期阶段的不同而存在差异。研究结论为当前创新驱动背景下企业科学确定最优的资本结构提供了一定的理论参考。

Under the current situation of high leverage of enterprises in China, how to coordinate the relationship between debt financing structure and innovation is an essential issue for enterprises to deal with properly. This paper uses China’s non-financial listed companies from 2007 to 2017 as a sample to study the relationship between corporate capital structure and corporate innovation. The results show that there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between capital structure and patent output and R&D input, and a positive linear relationship between capital structure and innovation efficiency. When the debt level of enterprises is low, the increase of debt helps to promote the growth of the innovation scale of enterprises. When the debt level of enterprises exceeds a certain critical value, the continuous increase of debt restrains the innovation scale of enterprises. The innovation efficiency gradually improves with the increase of the debt level of enterprises. Further heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact mechanism of capital structure on innovation scale and innovation efficiency varies with patent type, region, enterprise ownership, enterprise-scale, and life cycle stage. The conclusion of this paper provides a theoretical reference for enterprises to scientifically determine the optimal leverage level under the current innovation-driven background.