Influence of R&D Investments on Russian Companies` Performance: the Role of Ownership

This work is aimed at identifying how the ownership structureimpact the relationship between investment in research and development in Russian companies and their financial performance. The study is based on a sample of 1096 Russian companies presented by different ownership structure, different segments and industries. The results were obtained by the empirical analysis using the method of instrumental variables in case of the generalized method of moments. We identified positive impact of the government and foreign ownership on the relationship between R & D investment and return on assets. Thetheoretical basis and features of Russian companies confirmed the hypothesis. The lack of detailed information on investment projects in terms of research and development and commercialization, sampling bias toward industrial companies create restrictions in this paper. Nevertheless, the findings pinpoint significant relationship between investment in R & D and the return on assets and the moderation effect of stateand foreign ownership to this relationship. Moreover, the results support the majority of previous studies.