Financial Slack: Effects on Creativity and Buffering of Research Activities in YICs during Economic Recession

摘要

This paper focuses on the influence of the introduction of a fiscal scheme for advance payment partial exemption in favour of highly qualified researchers in business enterprises in Belgium. The measure has been introduced in January 2006 and the rate of exemption amounts to 75% from January 2009 onwards. The amount deliberated by the exemption can be freely used by the company. As such it qualifies the condition for financial slack resources not committed to a necessary additional expenditure. This unabsorbed financial slack can allow R&D management to steepen creativity or to buffer existing research to face an economic slowdown. The focus being on YIC's we both investigate the influence of the tax credit on the research activities and pay attention to broader motives to steepen R&D efforts.