EFFECTS OF INNOVATION ON PRODUCTIVITY OF RUSSIAN FIRMS: DOES SIZE MATTER?

The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of a number of external factors on the productivity of individual enterprises in the Urals Federal District. As the main analysis tool, a panel regression with fixed effects at the firm level is used. The paper considers both Ural enterprises in general, and their individual subgroups, separated by their size. The main results of the work are as follows. There is a positive impact of the number of patent applications per capita and technology imports on the company's productivity, with greater effects observed in medium sized firms, while in small and micro sized firms, the results are less significant. This, as well as the negative impact of spending on innovation on the dependent variable, may indicate an inadequate level of development of basic industries, which in turn slows the growth rates of all the companies, irrespective of their size. The obtained results are proposed to be used as a recommendation for the construction and improvement of the regional innovation policy.