European defence firms are progressively being privatized and the recourse to private finance in the defence sector is increasing. We use data on French firms to examine at the firm level the impact of defence dependence on firms' financial structure at the end of a period characterised by a decline of defence purchasing. In terms of leverage and financial ratios, we find many significant differences between defence and non-defence firms but also between different categories of defence firms. The results provide some support for the hypothesis of a relationship between defence dependence and financial structure.
Cet article analyse le financement des dépenses de recherche et d'innovation des entreprises. Tout d'abord, l'étude de la structure de financement des projets innovants montre l'importance des ressources internes et de l'aide publique. Elle révèle également la forte disparité des structures de financement des projets suivant les caractéristiques des entreprises. Puis, l'analyse du financement des dépenses de R& D permet de mettre en évidence les difficultés des entreprises à financer ces dépenses, en particulier pour les PME indépendantes. On note l'importance des ressources internes et de l'aide publique mais aussi des financements en provenance du groupe en période de choc conjoncturel. Enfin, les entreprises innovantes semblent posséder les structures financières les plus solides et les entreprises non-innovantes les moins favorables, la situation des entreprises de R& D se révélant intermédiaire.
Classification JEL : D8, D21, D43, E22, E44, E50
The structural changes inside the French innovation system have impacted the role of defense firms since the late 1980s. Major changes have affected the defense budget and public R&D funding system in particular. The aim of this article is to understand French defense firms' repositioning within the National Innovation System (NIS) based on an analysis of their R&D behavior over a long period of time (1987 to 2010). We show that French defense firms remain major players in the NIS and faced up to these major changes by adapting the funding of their R&D and their research priorities and rolling out new innovation capabilities. Additionally, they developed new innovation models to take advantage of new collaborative partnerships developed for civil and military markets.JEL classification: G32, 032
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