The survival effects of non-R&D induced innovation during crisis
利用41国企业数据，研究资源受限企业如何通过非研发驱动创新增强韧性以抵御新冠疫情危机，发现该创新可替代政府资金支持，提升中低收入国家企业的生存概率。
Using firm-level data from 41 countries, this study investigates how resource-constrained firms can strengthen their resilience to resist the COVID-19 crisis through non-R&D induced innovation. The empirical results show that firms in Middle- and Low-income countries, where access to government aid is often constrained, can enhance their survival prospects by internally upgrading their learning and adaptive capabilities. Specifically, non-R&D induced innovation can effectively substitute for insufficient government financial support by enabling firms to adjust operations and maintain competitiveness during the Covid-19 pandemic. The findings emphasise the importance of jointly considering government support and innovation in firm survival analyses, as omitting either factor may introduce potential omitted variable bias. To address this, supervised learning approaches are employed to predict whether firms that exited had received government support prior to closure. In addition, this study advances the literature by uncovering the complementary roles of innovation and government financial interventions, and highlights context-specific strategies that policymakers should adopt to improve firm resilience amid external shocks. • During crisis, non-R&D innovation boosts survival when government support is limited • Government support enhances survival, but its synergy with innovation varies • Including government support and innovation avoids bias in COVID-19 survival studies • Policies should prioritise adaptive, incremental innovation suited to income contexts