| dc.description.abstract | Along with global economy and trade liberalization, Taiwan plays an indispensable role in the global industrial chain. Domestic economic growth is highly dependent on R&D expenditures and exports. Based on panel dataset from Taiwan manufacturing listed company for the 2000–2020 period, this study examines not only the direct influences of R&D expenditures and exports on firm growth but also the interactions between these two factors and firm size and firm age. We found both firm age and firm size have a U-shaped relationship with firm growth. Small and young firms are found grow faster. OLS estimation indicated that R&D expenditures and labor productivity have significant positive effect on firm growth, while export is may not a potential driver stimulating employment growth. By contrast, the estimate on R&D expenditures is significant negative after controlling for firm fixed effects, suggesting that technological progress will make companies reduce the demand for employees, exports shows 10% significant positive. Regarding the mediation, most of the positive impact of R&D expenditures on firm growth comes from the complementary effects of exports and firm age, however, firm size is not the main mediator. Finally, we observe that interaction of R&D expenditures and exports is enhancing growth for firms of all size and age groups. | en_US |