Global R&D activities of Japanese MNCs in the US: A triangulation approach

We examined 79 Japanese MNCs’ R&D subsidiaries in the US from the knowledge-based view. We found: (1) subsidiaries’ R&D strategies generally encouraged knowledge flows; (2) subsidiaries’ R&D alliances promoted knowledge flows; (3) R&D subsidiaries with process-oriented incentives promoted vertical knowledge flows; (3) autonomous R&D subsidiaries promoted knowledge flows from the local environments to the subsidiary; (4) R&D subsidiaries with a high level of knowledge flows accumulated a high level of knowledge; and (5) R&D subsidiaries with a high level of accumulated knowledge achieved high overall performance. Our interviews with 30 R&D subsidiaries and 10 parent companies supplement these findings.     

Taiwanese IT firms’ offshore R&D in China and the connection with the global innovation network

Although it is evident that technology is becoming increasingly globalized, resulting in the expansion of R&D internationalization by firms, despite this discernible trend, the substantial body of literature in this area is based mainly on the experience of the developed country. This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of this issue by examining the R&D internationalization of a newly-industrializing country, Taiwan being a prime example, and its connection with the global production network. We begin with an examination of the literature on R&D internationalization and globalization, based upon which we propose a conceptual framework adapted from Dunning’s eclectic paradigm. In doing so, we set out to develop arguments based not only on the reasons why cross-strait R&D internationalization may be undertaken by Taiwanese information technology (IT) firms, but also the likely patterns of their R&D portfolios across the strait. Drawing on an original questionnaire survey and firm-level interviews, the paper presents and discusses empirical data on the cross-strait R&D deployment of Taiwanese IT firms. It then goes a stage further, using the ‘smiling curve’, to put forward a ‘holistic’ view of the cross-border innovation network in the IT hardware industry, in order to determine what cross-strait R&D internationalization means to the global production network.     

Overseas R&D, knowledge sourcing, and patenting: an empirical study of Japanese R&D investment in the US

This paper purports to study the contribution of R&D at home and abroad to the firm’s inventive activity, using a sample of 137 Japanese multinationals. The empirical analysis relates the number of inventions in Japan and that in the US, as measured by the number of patents issued by the USPTO, to the parent’s R&D, the US subsidiaries’ R&D, the presence of R&D in Europe, the firm’s experience in the US, entry mode, and industry dummies. In addition, to study the subsidiary’s role in sourcing local technological knowledge, we construct indices of local technological strength of the state in which the subsidiary is located. The results, most importantly, indicate that these indices positively contribute to inventions at home and in the US among Type R firms, whose R&D subsidiaries mainly aim to research, suggesting that knowledge sourcing is an important function of these subsidiaries and locational choice is important for this purpose. These results do not hold among Type S firms, whose R&D subsidiaries mainly aim to support local manufacturing and sales activities.     

Effects of R&D and networking on the export decision of Japanese firms

This paper examines how internal R&D intensity and external networking channels are related with the firm's export decision, based on a large firm-level data set covering all manufacturing industries in Japan without any firm-size threshold. Internal R&D is not the only determinant of exporting, while it is strongly related with exports in the science-based sector. Collaborations with other firms on joint projects and operations of subsidiaries overseas are significantly linked to exports of large-sized firms, while affiliations with business associations and R&D intensity are critical for small-sized firms to export. Connections with computer networks have a weaker impact.     

Determinants of R&D cooperation in Japanese start-ups

This paper explores the determinants of R&D cooperation in Japanese start-ups. Using a sample from an original survey conducted in 2008, we examine the effects of founder-, firm-, and industry-specific characteristics on R&D cooperation by type of partners. Our findings indicate that founder-specific characteristics such as educational background, prior innovation output, and affiliation to academic associations are fairly important in determining R&D cooperation with academic institutes (universities and public research institutes). We also provide evidence that founders’ prior innovation output and work experience have positive and significant effects on R&D cooperation with business partners. With respect to firm-specific characteristics, it is found that firms investing more in R&D tend to engage in R&D cooperation, regardless of the type of partners. Furthermore, it is found that independent firms are less likely to cooperate in R&D with academic institutes than subsidiaries and affiliated firms.     

Foreign direct investment in industrial research and development: A study of German MNCs

This paper reports on the international research and development (R&D) investments of German multinational corporations (MNCs). Based on a detailed empirical survey of laboratory sites established by 49 German MNCs, we examine (i) the level and pace of R&D internationalization, (ii) the motivations and mandates of overseas R&D laboratories, as well as (iii) the strength of the laboratories’ internal and external ties. Participating firms account for about 46% of all German enterprises with international R&D activities and approximately 66% of the nation's privately funded R&D expenditures in 1999. The findings indicate that the timing and organization of German owned overseas R&D investments more closely resemble Japanese or French than US or Swedish firms. Furthermore, in line with prior studies, German MNCs increasingly invest in international R&D for resource as opposed to market-seeking motives. The paper also finds significant differences with regard to the laboratory's mission and its geographical location on one hand, and its internal and external embeddedness, on the other.     

Does R&D performance decline with firm size?—A re-examination in terms of elasticity

There have been many previous studies exploring the relationship between R&D performance and firm size; however, to our knowledge, this issue has never been examined in terms of R&D output elasticity. This paper therefore sets out to re-examine the relationship of the two variables using R&D output elasticity as a measure of R&D performance. A total of 126 manufacturing firms, listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange over the period from 1994 to 2000, are taken as the analytical sample. One practical consideration for choosing these particular firms is the relative abundance of data available for the variables for a longitudinal investigation. The estimates suggest that there is an approximating ‘U-type’ relationship between R&D productivity and firm size. This finding suggests that both large and small firms have higher R&D productivity, and even when the sample is divided into the high-tech and traditional sectors, such a finding still holds. Therefore, in contrast to the prior studies, this study shows that size offers advantage in R&D performance.     

R&D,foreign ownership,and corporate groups: Evidence from Japanese firms

This study empirically examines whether the research and development (R&D) activities of foreign-owned firms in Japan differ notably from the R&D activities of domestically-owned firms based on a firm-level panel dataset. Our study carefully disentangles the significant differences in R&D investment behavior of subsidiaries due to three different reasons: having a foreign parent, corporate group affiliation, and the degree of relatedness between business units. The results reveal the following. First, firms that are majority-owned by another firm are less active in R&D than independent firms. Second, foreign ownership does not matter if the parent firm is from a G7 country, but R&D intensity is significantly and positively associated with foreign ownership if the parent firm is from a non-G7 country. Finally, for subsidiaries whose business is related to that of their parent firm, the R&D intensity is lower if the parent is a domestic firm, but higher if it is a foreign firm. These findings imply that globalization and the integration of firms may not only affect production patterns and global supply chains, but may also have an important impact on the level of domestic R&D activities.     

Institutionalizing end-user demand steering in agricultural R&D: Farmer levy funding of R&D in The Netherlands

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the institutionalization of demand-driven modes of working in the R&D planning process and reveal possible weaknesses, through an analysis of a system of collective R&D funding by farmers. The findings indicate that, although end-users have the opportunity to raise issues that lead to R&D, queries are influenced by several actors in the R&D planning process in such a way that they do not adequately reflect farmers’ innovation needs. Conclusions are that more emphasis is required on joint demand articulation and involvement of end-users and other stakeholders in the innovation process, and on the institutional development of R&D funding organizations in order to adopt a more inclusive view on innovation.     

我国企业技术创新国际化战略框架和战略途径研究

20世纪九十年代以来，国外的企业，特别是跨国公司明显加快了技术创新国际化的进程，国外学术界对技术创新国际化的问题也给予了更多的关注。但是目前我国对技术创新国际化和技术创新国际化战略问题的研究很不足，我国企业对于技术创新国际化的了解不够深入，对于如何实施和开展技术创新国际化，缺乏必要的经验和指导。本文回顾了国外学者对技术创新国际化问题的研究，调查分析了我国企业技术创新国际化活动的实际情况后，提出了一个针对企业技术创新国际化的战略框架，并就我国不同规模和实力的企业，给出了如何实施技术创新国际化的四种不同的战略途径，这个技术创新国际化战略框架和四个战略途径对我国企业开展技术创新国际化活动具有指导意义。     

Secrets to shield or share? new dilemmas for military R&D policy in the digital age

The US Department of Defense (DOD) normally pursues a closed approach to technological development. It captures results from its own sponsored research and development (R&D), and the results are kept shielded by restrictions on related publications and exports. This R&D strategy is no longer viable. Now most military technology has commercial origins, the US no longer dominates all relevant technological fields, and sophisticated dual-use technology is accessible to adversaries in open global markets. DOD can address this dilemma by drawing on external R&D that tests a technology’s general capabilities against a variety of potential uses and by placing more of its internal emphasis on technology integration. Historically, this approach to military R&D also yields more commercial spin-offs.     

Competence-creating overlaps and subsidiary technological evolution in the multinational corporation

This paper explores overlapping competence-creating activities within the boundaries of the multinational corporation by investigating how foreign greenfield subsidiaries’ technological evolution is affected by the addition of an acquired unit in the same location. Drawing upon the complete U.S. patenting activity by subsidiaries of 21 Swedish multinationals over the 1893-1990 period, we use repeated event history analysis to test a set of hypotheses concerned with the effect of this competence-creating overlap. Findings include an initial retrogressive effect on greenfield subsidiaries’ technological evolution as a result of competence-creating overlaps, which, over time diminishes to become positive after more than a decade of overlap exposure. Thus, we add to the theory of subsidiary evolution by expanding the view of the archetypal subsidiary that has so far been constrained to evolve without operational overlaps.     

R&D manpower and technological performance: The impact of demographic and task-related diversity

We assess the impact of R&D manpower diversity on firms’ technological performance. Relying on insights from two theoretical perspectives on team diversity (i.e. social categorization perspective and information decision-making perspective), we hypothesize that both demographic and task-related sources of diversity within firms’ R&D workforce influence technological performance. In addition, we expect that these two dimensions of diversity interact with each other. To test our hypotheses, we rely on survey data from 938 Singaporean firms, providing in-depth information on three sources of demographic diversity (i.e. gender, age, and nationality of R&D employees) and two sources of task-related diversity (i.e. educational and knowledge area background of R&D employees). Our findings point to significant interactions between different sources of R&D manpower diversity. In particular, we identify substitutive relationships between (a) educational and gender diversity, and (b) nationality and knowledge area diversity.     

Canadian R&D abroad management practices

In the 1980s, Canadian industrial R&D abroad has grown substantially. In 1995, R&D expenditures by Canadian affiliates, only in the United States, represented some US$1.4 billion and employed some 6300 persons. Nearly 60 Canadian-owned and -controlled corporations conduct overseas R&D, mostly in the US, Western Europe, Japan, and Australia. Canadian corporations are performing commercial R&D abroad in order to support their manufacturing subsidiaries and to come closer to customers and markets. A secondary motivation is to hire skilled personnel, monitor foreign technological development and increase the inflow of new ideas into the corporation. They also chose friendly socio-political environments from a regulatory point of view. Technology transfer and adaptation to local markets is also an important mission of the foreign R&D establishment. Foreign R&D activities of Canadian firms are fairly decentralized and autonomous. Most of the foreign subsidiaries undertook R&D abroad before they were acquired by the Canadian corporation; also the number of Canadian managers was reduced and the R&D projects were usually decided in the affiliate. Three main types of expatriate R&D were found: a majority of the subsidiaries were producing goods in the same or related industries as in Canada (such as machines, transportation equipment or housing equipment). A second group of firms were vertically integrated firms, that conducted process research in Canada and advanced materials and final products research abroad, closer to the markets for this type of goods; they were active in the chemical and metal industries. Only one truly global corporation was found, with an international division of labor among its many foreign laboratories. The degree of autonomy varied across the three types of expatriate R&D units. In the last 10 years, the internationalization of industrial research and development has increased very rapidly. Foreign-affiliated corporations operating in the United States represented some 9.3% of all company-funded R&D in that country in 1987, and close to 18% in 1995 (Dalton and Serapio, in this issue). Similarly, foreign R&D expenditures by US-affiliated companies abroad have more than tripled. Canadian industrial R&D abroad has grown at a similar pace. It now includes over 100 research facilities owned by some 60 Canadian corporations, with subsidiaries in the United States, western Europe, Japan, Australia, and several developing countries (China, Brazil, India, Mexico, and Turkey). However, little is known about the characteristics of this foreign R&D: missions, managerial practices, budgets or innovative activity. This study is the first to present original data from a survey of these facilities, complemented by secondary material from annual reports and the financial and technical press. It follows a previous study of Canadian patents abroad, which concluded that diversification into related activities was the overseas strategy of Canadian multinational corporations (MNCs) with foreign R&D activities [Niosi, J., 1997. The globalization of Canadian R&D, Management International Review 37 (4) (in print).]. The first section of this paper presents (1) a short summary of some relevant literature on the management of foreign R&D, (2) the design of the study, (3) the results, and (4) a comparison of theories with Canadian data. It offers conclusions about the existence of three distinctive types of internationalization in Canadian R&D, each with different strategies and outcomes.     

R&D spillovers from subsidized firms that fail: Tracing knowledge by following employees across firms

Public R&D subsidies aim to target particularly risky R&D and R&D with large externalities. One would expect many such projects to fail from a commercial point of view, but they may still produce knowledge with social value. Such knowledge is likely to be embodied in workers or teams of workers. I test for knowledge diffusion from subsidised technology firms transmitted through the labor market. The specific case analysed is a series of Norwegian IT-programs so far considered unsuccessful. It has been argued that know-how built up during the programs still ‘fertilize’ the IT-industry. I find limited support for this claim.     

The dynamics of R&D network in the IT industry

In this paper, we provide an empirical analysis of evolving networks of successful R&D collaborations in the IT industry (consisting of firms that obtained patents in the technological category of computers and communication) in the U.S. between 1985 and 1995. We first show that the R&D network has become more extensive, more clustered, and more unequal in the sense that ‘stars’ have emerged in the network. We then analyze the effect of the existing network structure in the process of new R&D collaboration formation. We control for unobserved similarities among firms based on the community structures within the network that the algorithm developed by Girvan and Newman (2004) identifies and find a significant cyclic closure and preferential-attachment effect.     

Fishing upstream: Firm innovation strategy and university research alliances

This paper examines how innovation strategy influences firms’ level of involvement with university-based research. Our results suggest that firms with internal R&D strategies more heavily weighted toward exploratory activities allocate a greater share of their R&D resources to exploratory university research and develop deeper multifaceted relationships with their university research partners. In addition, firms with more centralized internal R&D organizations spend a greater share of their R&D dollars on exploratory research conducted at universities. In contrast to other external partners, we find evidence suggesting that universities are preferred when the firm perceives potential conflicts over intellectual property.     

Are patents with multiple inventors from different countries a good indicator of international R&D collaboration? The case of ABB

Based on the critical case of ABB, this paper questions the relevance of using patents with multiple inventors from different countries (“cross-country patents”) as an indicator of international R&D collaboration. The study shows that less than half of ABB's cross-country patents are the result of international R&D collaboration as described by one of the more inclusive definitions found in previous literature. Only a third of the patents are the result of joint R&D activities between different MNC subsidiaries or firms. We also discuss the implications of our study for the assignment of patents to countries based on inventor addresses.     

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