Authors: Petros Kalantonis, Konstantina Panagoitakopoulou, Kiriaki Kontomari, Alina Hyz

Title: The impact of R&D investments on firms’ financial performance in the period of financial crisis. The case of Greek F&B listed firms in Athens Stock Exchange

Abstract

It is common accepted that innovation is a competitive advantage of business firms.  Research and Development (R&D) used to be an activity associated with innovation.  Industries invest in R&D in order to develop new products and become innovative leaders in the globalized market. This research study focuses in the exploration of the effect of financial crisis on financial performance of firms which invest on R&D.  We also explore market’s reaction on the reporting of  R&D investments by Greek firms.  Food and beverage (F&B) listed firms in Athens Stock Exchange have been analyzed for the period before and after the crisis. In our results there we found evidence that firms which have R&D expenses seem to have better financial  performance than of those which don’t invest, even in the period of crisis. For the purpose of our research we used reported data in the financial statements for a period of nine years (2006-2014).