The influence of enterprise internationalization level and R&D input on enterprise performance under the background of “One belt and one road”

Abstract

The “One Belt, One Road” strategy is an important opportunity for Chinese companies to carry out internationalization. This paper selects the panel data of 98 Belt and Road countries along the route in 2013–2017, uses the OLS hybrid regression method to study the impact of corporate internationalization level on corporate performance, and analyzes the adjustment effect of R&D investment to the relationship between internationalization level and corporate performance. The results show that: (1) The relationship between internationalization level and corporate performance is S-type related; (2) R&D investment has a positive adjustment effect on the relationship between internationalization level and enterprise performance. The introduction of R&D investment instead of the past industry and location advantages has broadened the research perspective. According to the conclusions, several suggestions for the Chinese company were proposed: (1) Enterprises should learn from foreign experience, identify the positioning of the company in the market and try to avoid excessive internationalization. (2) Enterprises should increase investment in research to improve product competitiveness.