Research On The Financial Constraints And Mitigation Of R&D Investment Of Chinese Enterprises

Different from general fixed asset investment projects,enterprises are often subjected to financial constraints due to the long period,high uncertainty and high risk of R&D investment,which is one of the important reasons for the insufficient R&D investment level of enterprises.As an important external financing source of enterprise R&D investment,the financial system can effectively alleviate the financial constraints.In particular,the emerging digital finance has opened up a new financing source for enterprise R&D investment in China.However,the reality is that with the rapid development of China’s financial system,the proportion of external financing in R&D investment of Chinese enterprises has decreased year by year,while the proportion of internal financing has increased year by year.So,what degree of financial constraints do Chinese enterprises’ R&D investment face? With the rapid development of the financial system,what is the mitigation effect of it on the financial constraints? As a useful supplement to traditional financial services,can digital finance effectively alleviate financial constraints of the corporate R&D investment?Based on the existing research on R&D investment and financial constraints,this paper constructs the theoretical research framework of Chinese enterprises’ R&D investment financial constraints and their mitigation mechanism.From the consequences of the financial constraints,this article redefines connotation of financial constraints of enterprise R&D investment by the degree of deviation between the actual and the optimal of R&D investment expenditure.The greater the degree of deviation,the higher the lever of it.And then,this paper discusses and analyzes the formation mechanism of financial constraints from the perspective of both the supply-side and the demand-side of R&D investment,and based on the theory of financial function,the paper explains the easing mechanism of the financial constraints of traditional financing channels and digital finance on R&D investment from three approaches: "information management","financing source" and "financing cost".It also describes the reality of R&D investment and financial constraints faced by Chinese enterprises.Meanwhile,Based on the connotation and formation mechanism of financial constraints of R&D investment,using the data of A-share listed companies from 2009 to 2018,this article constructs a heterogeneous stochastic frontier model and quantitatively measures the degree of financial constraints and its dynamic change trend,and based on this,it constructs fixed effect model,intermediary effect model and Euler equation to empirically study the mitigation effect and action path of traditional financing channels on financing constraints.Furthermore,it uses the digital inclusive financial development index of Peking University to build an intermediary effect model,and empirically investigate the effect and path of digital Finance on the financial constraints.At the same time,this article also theoretically and empirically examines the degree of financial constraints of different corporate characteristics,and the heterogeneous influence of different financing channels on the mitigation effect of financial constraints.The main conclusions are follows:(1)The degree of financial constraints of Chinese enterprises’ R&D investment is very high,and it shows a continuous upward trend.However,the degree of corporate fixed asset financial constraints is relatively low and shows a downward trend.It means that the R&D investment of Chinese enterprises is encountering more severe financial constraints.This reflects that the actual R&D investment level of Chinese enterprises is far below the optimal level,and indicates that China should continue to increase the R&D investment expenditure of Chinese enterprises;(2)The alleviating effect of traditional financing channels on the financing constraints of enterprise R&D investment is mainly realized through internal financing,external equity financing and commercial credit,And,internal financing plays the most important role in alleviating financing constraints,followed by equity financing and commercial credit,while debt financing does not.It shows that Chinese enterprises mainly rely on internal financing channels to alleviate the financing constraints of R&D investment,while the role of external financing channels is very limited.From the perspective of the transmission mechanism of intermediary effect,debt financing is not conducive to alleviating the financing constraints through the two mechanisms of "information management" and "financing cost".On the contrary,equity financing plays a positive role in alleviating.And it is mainly realized through the mechanism of "financing cost".While external debt financing is not an effective choice to alleviate the financial constraints.It can be seen from the mitigating effect of different financing channels that internal cash holding plays the most important role in alleviating financing constraints,followed by external equity financing and finally commercial credit.This further shows that Chinese enterprises mainly rely on their own internal financing to ease the financing constraints of R&D investment,while external financing channels play a very limited role;(3)Digital finance significantly reduces the financing constraint of R&D investment of Chinese enterprises,and its breadth of coverage,depth of use and degree of digitalization all play a positive role.From the perspective of intermediary effect mechanism,digital finance alleviates financing constraints through "financing cost" and "information management",but the intermediary effect by expanding "financing sources" is not significant.Although digital finance improves the financing sources of enterprises,debt financing will improve the degree of financing constraints,resulting in the offset of the role of digital finance in alleviating the financing constraints of R&D investment by expanding the financing sources.In addition,from the perspective of enterprise heterogeneity,different financing channels have significant differences in alleviating the financial constraints of R&D investment of different types of enterprises.The innovation points of this paper are as follows:(1)By adding the perspective of R&D investment capital demand,this paper discusses the formation mechanism of financing constraints on R&D investment of Chinese enterprises from the supply side and the demand side of capital,and distinguishes the financing constraints of R&D investment from those of general fixed assets investment;(2)It quantitatively measured the degree of financial constraints R&D investment and its dynamic trend.By comparing and analyzing of the degree of financial constraints of enterprises’ fixed assets investment and R&D investment,so as to have a more in-depth and clear understanding of the financial constraints of Chinese enterprises’ R&D investment;(3)By constructing the intermediary effect model,this paper empirically tests the mitigation effect of digital finance on the financial constraints,and discusses the supplement and optimization of digital finance on the traditional financial system,and has a more comprehensive understanding of the mitigation effect of different financing channels on R&D investment financial constraints,thus providing a reference for decision-making in optimizing the arrangement of R&D investment and financing for enterprises.