Sectorial influence on R&D policies of Spanish firms

The aim of this study is to analyse whether there are sectorial differences among Spanish industrial firms with regard to their R&D policies. In this sense, we have carried out a cluster analysis in order to group the firms according to their research effort. The results obtained show the existence of a very small group of firms which carry out a great amount of research. Besides, being part of sectors with a great amount of technological opportunities, they maintain a remarkable trend among the firms which also belong to their sector. On the other band, most of those which carry out minimal research effort, show sectorial differences, although these are very small.