The distribution of innovation in the Thai manufacturing sector and the internal and external R&D strategies

This thesis examines the distribution of the returns to innovation across different types and sectors. The study leverages data from the RDI Surveys of Thailand in 2017 and 2018 to calculate the mean, dispersion, skewness, and kurtosis. The distribution of returns to innovation serves as a fundamental framework for assessing the benefits derived from innovative endeavors, which plays a pivotal role in formulating strategies related to innovation and informing public policy. The findings indicate differences in the distribution of returns to innovation across types and sectors. Incremental innovation has the potential to yield a higher return than radical innovation. However, radical innovation increased the probability of success and failure. Firms operating in high-technology sectors demonstrating successful innovation will receive greater benefits than their counterparts. Moreover, the study utilizes quantile regression and employs various statistical measures to examine the impact of internal and external R&D strategies on the firm's performance. The findings suggest that high-performance firms solely prioritizing internal R&D strategies are likely to experience a significantly adverse impact on their performance compared to firms that do not pursue any R&D.