Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of research and development (R&D) investment and environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance on green innovation performance. This paper also investigates the moderating effect of ESG performance between R&D investment and green innovation performance.Design/methodology/approach: The study uses the data of 223 Chinese listed companies over the period 2015–2018. The ESG indices issued by SynTao Green Finance are used to measure ESG performance. Green innovation performance is measured by the total number of green patents, the number of green invention patents and the number of green non-invention patents. Finally, multiple regression analysis is applied to test the research hypotheses.Findings: The results show that R&D investment has a positive impact on green innovation performance and ESG performance can increase the number of green invention patents. In addition, ESG performance moderates the relationship between R&D investment and green innovation performance.Practical implications: The findings may help managers and policymakers in developing countries to make ecological innovation strategies to achieve corporate sustainability.Originality/value: This is the first study to examine the impacts of R&D investment and ESG performance on green innovation performance in the context of China, an emerging market.

Government subsidies play a vital role in enhancing firms’ investment in research and development (R&D). The study’s aim is to investigate the relationship between government subsidies (including government R&D and non-R&D subsidies), R&D investment and innovation performance of Chinese pharmaceutical listed companies over the period 2009–2015. The results show that government R&D subsidies can stimulate corporate R&D investment; government subsidies have no significant impact on innovation performance while R&D investment has a positive impact. In addition, we examine whether company ownership and executives’ technological experience affect this relationship. We also find that there is a positive relationship between government R&D subsidies and R&D investment only in private-owned companies; R&D investment positively influences innovation performance in state-owned companies or in companies with R&D executives. This study provides some insights for managers and policymakers in making effective innovation strategies.

The scientific periodical journal (indexed on Web of Science) published by the Tomas Bata University in Zlin offers results of basic and applied economic research in the English language.

Intellectual capital (IC) is considered to be a main driver of organizational success in the knowledge economy. This study examines the impacts of three IC components, including human capital (HC), structural capital (SC), and relational capital (RC), on technological innovation and firm performance. Data are collected from 1112 manufacturing listed companies in China during 2013–17. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), the results show that HC and SC exert a positive impact on firm performance while RC has a negative impact; SC has a positive influence on technological innovation while HC has a negative influence; technological innovation can enhance the firm’s performance. In addition, technological innovation partially mediates the relationship between SC and firm performance. This study will bridge the gap in research by investigating the impacts of IC components on technological innovation and firm performance in developing countries.

How to manage financial performance through the utilization of intellectual capital (IC) is an important issue in the knowledge economy. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of IC on financial performance for manufacturing listed companies in the Chinese context. Financial performance is measured from two distinct aspects: (1) firm profitability, measured through earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), net profit margin (NPM), and gross profit margin (GPM), and (2) corporate return, measured through return on investment (ROI), return on assets (ROA), and return on equity (ROE). The results show a positive relationship between NPM, GPM, ROI, ROA, ROE, and IC (measured through the market-to-book ratio). In addition, the more intangible-intensive manufacturing listed companies exhibit better financial performance. The study provides evidence that higher investment in IC can improve value creation in the emerging economies.