台灣在2008年金融風暴之後，經濟成長相較於被國際列為亞洲四小龍之期間表現落後。研發是產生知識的重要方式之一，而資訊與通訊科技業是知識經濟發展的基礎，且研發投資是驅動國家長期經濟成長的關鍵動力，在探討研發投資對台灣長期經濟成長的貢獻時，研究具有不同財務特徵廠商的研發投資行為極為重要。

本文研究2010年至2019年台灣的電子產業(上游與中游)廠商財務狀況對其進行研發投資活動之影響。廠商財務狀況方面，本研究以保留盈餘估計廠商內部資金狀況，並以台灣企業信用風險指標(TCRI)估計廠商取得外部資金的容易程度。此外，本研究也以Levinsohn和Petrin(2003)的中間要素附加價值模型估計廠商生產力，並依照生產力以及內部資金狀況將廠商分為四個群體，估計廠商財務狀況與生產力對於研發投資的影響。

本研究指出隨廠商規模擴大，TCRI信用評等對於它們進行投資研發活動越重要，廠商取得外部資金的能力越強，廠商也更容易以取得的資金進行研發投資；而具高生產力與持有較多保留盈餘的廠商，其對於投資研發呈現正向且顯著的影響，顯示這一類廠商最有能力投資於研發當中，且進行研發投資的能力隨保留盈餘與生產力的類別降低而遞減，故保留盈餘與生產力對於廠商進行研發投資活動具有影響力。根據本研究結果，內部資金、外部資金狀況以及生產力都是影響廠商進行研發投資活動的重要因素。

After the 2008 financial crisis, Taiwan's economic growth lags behind the period that was listed as the Four Tigers of Asia. R&D is one of the important ways to generate knowledge, and the information and communication technology industry is the foundation of the development of the knowledge economy. R&D investment is the key driving force for the country’s long-term economic growth. It is extremely important to study the R&D investment behavior of firms with different financial characteristics, when discussing the contribution of R&D investment to Taiwan's long-term economic growth.

This paper studies the impact of the financial position of Taiwan's electronics industry (upstream and midstream) manufacturers on their R&D investment from 2010 to 2019. In terms of the financial position of manufacturers, this study uses retained earnings to estimate the internal funding of manufacturers, and uses the Taiwan Corporate Credit Risk Index (TCRI) to estimate the firms’ ability to obtain external funding. In addition, this study also estimates the productivity of firms. On the basis of the value-added model with intermediate factors of Levinsohn & Petrin (2003), we divide firms into four groups according to productivity and internal funding position to estimate the impact of firms' financial position and productivity on R&D investment.

This paper points out that as the scale of manufacturers expands, the TCRI credit rating is more important for them to invest in R&D. The stronger the ability of manufacturers to obtain external funds, and the easier it is for manufacturers to invest in R&D with these funds. Owning the most retained earnings and having high productivity has a positive and significant impact on firms’ investment in R&D. It is indicating that firms with the highest productivity have the most ability to invest in R&D, and the ability to invest in R&D decreases as the decrease in retained earnings and productivity. According to the results of this paper, internal funds, external funds and firm productivity are all important factors that affect manufacturers' R&D investment activities.

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