探討企業現金持有與研發投入之關係兼論新冠肺炎之調節效果──以半導體產業為例

The Moderating Effect of COVID-19 Crisis on the Relationship between Cash Holdings and R&D Investment -Taking Taiwan’s Semiconductor Industry As Example

現金管理一直是企業管理重要議題，若出現問題則會影響企業發展，且現金持有多寡及研發投入都對公司有深遠影響。本文除對臺灣半導體產業之現金持有與研發投入關聯性探討外，另對產業面臨COVID-19危機時，是否影響研發投入對現金持有決策加以剖析。研究樣本以臺灣155家半導體公司之2011-2020年觀察值進行分析，實證結果驗證臺灣半導體產業之現金管理決策，以研發投入為考量因素之一。實證發現假說1臺灣半導體產業之現金持有與研發投入具有正相關有成立；另實證顯示假說2a及2b之產業研發投入與現金持有水準未分別受COVID-19危機期間影響，但COVID-19危機期間之產業研發投入對現金持有具有影響即假說3有成立，COVID-19危機如同調節變數，影響研發投入對現金持有的效果。即僅上游產業鏈公司面臨COVID-19危機即假說4有成立。本研究謹建議政府透過相關法規、研發創新補助或有利就業環境等政策，持續扶植產業發展。

Cash management has always been an important issue in business management. If there is a problem, it will affect the development of the company, and the amount of cash held and R&D investment have a profound impact on the company. In addition to discussing the correlation between cash holdings and R&D investment in Taiwan's semiconductor industry, this article also analyzes whether R&D investment and cash holding decisions are affected when the industry faces the COVID-19 crisis. The research sample is analyzed based on the observations of 155 semiconductor companies in Taiwan from 2011 to 2020. The empirical results verify the cash management decisions of Taiwan's semiconductor industry take R&D investment as one of the considerations. Hypothesis 1: There is a positive correlation between cash holdings and R&D investment in Taiwan’s semiconductor industry. The analysis of the industry facing the COVID-19 crisis shows that the level of R&D investment and cash holdings did not impact the COVID-19 crisis as supported by hypotheses 2a and 2b, by which their positive relationship of hypothesis 1 was supported. The COVID-19 crisis is like an adjustment variable, and it appears to weaken the impact of industrial R&D investment on cash holdings as supported by hypothesis 3. In addition, the industries are grouped into upstream, mid-stream and downstream industries according to different types. Empirical analysis shows that when companies in upstream industries face the COVID-19 crisis, they tend to impact R&D investment on cash holdings as supported by hypothesis 4. This study sincerely suggests that the government continue to support industrial development through policies such as relevant regulations, R&D innovation subsidies, or a favorable employment environment.