Empirical essays on R&D, innovation and productivity in Turkish firms

This research constitutes a crucial attempt to quantitatively examine the impact of R&D on innovation activities and that of innovation activities on productivity for Turkish firms. Large numbers of studies have been conducted on this topic around the world, particularly for developed countries, but very little is known about Türkiye regarding this issue. The present research provides an opportunity to compare the obtained results with studies undertaken in other countries. This research uses a modified version of the CDM model and considers all sectors for Türkiye. Four different empirical studies are compiled here and each has its own characteristics. The micro datasets of four different surveys implemented by TURKSTAT were used in the analyses as follows: The Innovation Survey, the Financial and Non-Financial Corporations Research and Development Activities Survey, the Annual Business Registers Framework, and the Annual Industry and Service Statistics. In the first study, it is aimed to examine the relationships among R&D, innovation, and productivity. It is a cross-sectional study, but it also takes into account effects of the past. In the second study, which is a longitudinal study, the years between 2009 and 2019 are taken into account and the number of patents is used as an innovation input variable. In the third study, it is aimed to examine the impact of R&D and ICT investments on innovation and productivity. Thus, it is a comparative study of R&D and ICT investments. In the fourth study, the main focus is the relationship between competition and innovation. In this study, it is aimed to examine whether the probability of investing in innovation is lower in competitive sectors than in oligopolistic sectors and whether the amount of expenditures that a firm decides to invest in innovation is lower in competitive sectors than in oligopolistic sectors. Moreover, the effects of innovation-hampering factors on the probability of investing in innovation are also examined in this study. Each study has its own unique model patterns and these four distinct empirical studies addressing the relationships between innovation input/output and productivity are carried out in order to increase both the robustness and enrichment of the relevant research. To our knowledge, this is a pioneering attempt and the first of its kind to analyze R&D and innovation activities and their impacts on productivity in Türkiye to such an extent. It is expected that this empirical research will shed light on the relationships between innovation and productivity in Turkish firms as well as offering guidance for future related research.