Abstract: This paper provides a firm-level empirical analysis on the ways in which firm boundaries expansion affects R&D investment using survey data of World Bank about institutional quality of Chinese enterprise operation in 2012. This study finds that: Firm boundaries expansion have significantly negative effect on the propensity of R&D investment. Based on this, this paper further studies the effect of firm boundaries expansion on the R&D investment under different situation. The results show that: the ratio of state-owned, political connection, policy uncertainty and lobbying strengthen the negative effect of firm boundaries on R&D investment, but the level of rule by law has no relief on the negative effect of firm boundaries expansion on R&D investment. In addition, we depict the relationship curve between firm boundaries expansion and R&D investment using generalized propensity score matching method and dose response model, the results show that, firm boundaries expansion have robust negative effects on R&D investment. Our research enriches the understanding of the relationship between organizational form and firm internal resource allocation, it also enrich the understanding of firm R&D investment.

摘要： 本文利用2012年世界银行关于中国企业运营的制度环境质量调查数据，旨在从实证角度研究企业边界扩张与研发投资之间的内在关系。研究发现企业边界扩张对研发投资倾向和力度具有显著的消极影响。在此基础上，文章进一步研究了不同情境下企业边界扩张对研发投资的影响。研究发现，国有控股比例、政治关联、政策不确定性和游说都显著强化了企业边界扩张对研发投资的消极影响，而法治水平则未能有效缓解企业边界扩张对研发投资的消极影响。此外，我们运用广义倾向匹配法和剂量响应模型刻画了企业边界扩张与研发投资之间的关系曲线，结果表明企业边界扩张对研发投资具有较为稳健的负面影响。本文研究丰富了我们对组织方式与企业内部资源配置之间关系的理解，同时也增进我们对企业研发投资的理解。