The relationship of R&D/ sales to firm performance: An investigation of marketing contingencies
研究了研发支出与销售额之比与企业绩效的关系，发现企业和行业特征显著影响该关系，且管理者可通过调整营销权变变量来影响研发投入对绩效的增量效果。
The relationship between a firm's performance and R&D spending is often imperfectly understood, despite the fact that R&D is often a cornerstone of an effective innovation strategy. Susan Holak, Mark Parry, and Michael Song extend the classic innovation-adoption paradigm developed by Rogers and propose a series of hypotheses describing variations in the relationship between the R&D/sales ratio and a firm's performance. Using data from the PIMS database and contrasting growth-stage and mature-stage firms, the authors report that firm and industry characteristics have an important bearing on the R&D-performance relationship. In addition, managers can influence the incremental effects of added R&D spending on the firm's performance by manipulating certain firm-contingent variables. Increased R&D spending can have either a positive or negative influence on gross margin under various circumstances.