With the implementation of the innovation-driven strategy, China is gradually transforming into an innovation-driven country, and the transformation of traditional industries has become an irresistible trend. As a traditional industry, petroleum and petrochemical enterprises have made indelible contribution to the economic development since the founding of New China. At present, under the impact of new energy enterprises, listed petroleum and petrochemical companies are faced with the pressure of insufficient innovation strength, insufficient innovation ability and backward technological products. As the driving force and engine of China′s economic development, the listed petroleum and petrochemical companies must must increase their investment in innovation if they want to continue to maintain their dominant position in the market and achieve sustainable development.

Based on the above background, this paper takes the data of 112 listed petroleum and petrochemical companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2015 to 2019 as samples to conduct an empirical research on the impact of enterprise R&D investment on corporate growth. The growth of petroleum and petrochemical listed companies is selected as explained variable, the intensity of R&D funds and R&D input intensity as explanatory variables, the company scale, capital structure and ownership concentration as control variable, and then related data was obtained from the descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regression analysis and robustness testing. The explanatory variable is the comprehensive index obtained through factor analysis. The explanatory variable is the ratio of the R&D investment intensity and the total assets of the enterprise, and the R&D investment intensity is the ratio of the scientific and technological personnel and the total employees, the control variable is the logarithm of the total assets, the capital structure is the ratio of the total liabilities to the total assets, and the equity concentration is the shareholding ratio of the largest shareholder. 

Descriptive statistical results show that from 2015 to 2019, R&D investment intensity of listed petroleum and petrochemical companies decreases first and then increases, while that of R&D personnel increases slightly year by year. The empirical analysis results show that: R&D investment significantly promotes the growth of listed petroleum and petrochemical companies, and the impact has a significant lag time, the lag period is three years, especially the second stage has the most obvious impact. R&D personnel investment is positively promoting the growth of listed petroleum and petrochemical companies, but the effect is not significant in the current period and the lag period. The company size has a significant positive influence on the growth of listed petroleum and petrochemical companies, and the capital structure has a significant negative influence on the growth of listed petroleum and petrochemical companies. 

Finally, based on the research conclusions, it is proposed to create a good innovation environment and encourage the development of China′s petroleum and petrochemical enterprises to transform to innovation-driven development.The study clarifies the concept of enterprise science and technology management, strengthens research and development management, increases long-term sustainable research and development investment, and improves the system of innovative talents. Some suggestions are also proposed in this paper, such as optimizing the capital structure of enterprises and moderately expanding the size of the company.