Exploring R&D Influences on Financial Performance

The influence and importance of research and development (R&D) for business 10 sustainability have gained increasing interests, especially in the high-tech sector. However, the 11 efforts of R&D might cause complex and mixed impacts on the financial results considering the 12 associated expenses. Thus, this study aims to examine how R&D efforts may influence business to 13 improve its financial performance considering the dual objectives: the gross and the net 14 profitability. This research integrated a rough-set-based soft computing technique and multiple 15 criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods to explore this complex and yet valuable issue. A group 16 of public listed companies from Taiwan, all in the semiconductor sector, was analyzed as a case 17 study. Initially, more than 30 variables were considered, and the adopted soft computing technique 18 retrieved 14 core attributes—for the dual profitability objectives—to form the evaluation model. 19 The importance of R&D for pursuing superior financial prospects is confirmed, and the empirical 20 case demonstrates how to guide an individual company to plan for improvements to achieve its 21 long-term sustainability by this hybrid approach. 22