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FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SIZE OF COMPANY BUDGETS FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Author(s) -
Burrows G. H.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
accounting and finance
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.645
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-629X
pISSN - 0810-5391
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-629x.1981.tb00121.x
Subject(s) - status quo , discretion , context (archaeology) , sample (material) , empirical research , business , public economics , economics , accounting , political science , geography , mathematics , statistics , chemistry , archaeology , chromatography , law , market economy
This article focusses on the question of ‘discretion’ as it relates to the level of R & D budgets in individual companies. On the basis of a literature review, factors said to influence the level of R & D spending were identified. These factors then formed the basis for an empirical study, undertaken in 1977, into the factors influencing the level of R & D budgets in a sample of sixteen Australian companies which had, in the Australian context, large R&D involvements. It was found that a considerable number of factors, of varying degrees of importance, influenced budget levels. The conclusion drawn from this information is that the interaction between these factors is likely to give rise to very little effective discretion — the status quo may be the most important (but hidden) influence.