Development expenditures as source of revenue and market valuation: evidence from the Iberian cluster

Over the last decades, companies have been aligning its strategy with focus on research and development activities, towards future economic benefits. These innovative activities are, in many cases, associated to changes by introducing new methods, ideas, processes, products, and learning practices. Innovation also translates the ability to produce and transform knowledge, contributing to potential economic returns. The current research aims to identify whether development expenditures (application of research findings or other knowledge), recognised in the firms' annual statement of financial position, have a significant impact on Iberian firms' revenues and on market valuation. Based on the 68 Iberian non-financial listed companies, with active development projects over the period 2010-2015, an econometric framework was regressed. Portugal and Spain are significantly aligned on the impact of development expenditures on predicting firm's revenue and firm's market valuation. This intangible asset, when managed together with other intangible resources, can generate higher value-added inflows, if compared with its isolated effects. Research did not evidence any significant time effects neither activity sector effects.