Innovation, Productivity and Exports: Firm-Level Evidence from Malaysia Cassey Lee Nottingham University Business School University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus E-mail: cassey.lee@nottingham.edu.my 13 January 2009 Abstract The objective of this paper is to empirically examine the relation- ship between innovation, productivity and trade intensity using firm-level data from the Malaysian manufacturing sector. Evi- dence from the paper suggests that productivity is driven pri- marily by investment intensity and the quality of labor. Despite the relatively high incidence of innovation observed in a number of manufacturing sub-sectors, innovation does not seem to have any statistically significant relationship to innovation. Export does have an impact on innovation and this is likely to be related to the relationship between exporting and R&D expenditures. JEL Classification: F14, L11, L60