Innovation and firm growth over the business cycle

Abstract

This paper investigates how the macroeconomic business cycle impacts the empirical relation between innovation and firm growth. Based on representative panel data of Swiss firms ranging from 1996 to 2014, the paper finds that firms with innovations based on R&D activities show higher sales growth rates than non-innovative firms in periods dominated by economic recessions. This finding is in line with the idea that recessions play an important role in the adaptation process of the economy towards the innovative. In contrast, the paper finds that firms with innovations based on other, non-R&D innovation activities show higher sales growth rates than non-innovative firms in periods dominated by economic booms. Hence, while firms with innovations based on R&D activities are more resilient to business cycle fluctuations than non-innovative firms, firms with innovations based on other, non-R&D innovations activities are more sensitive to business cycle fluctuations than non-innovative firms.