The Innovation Performance of Irish and Foreign‐owned Firms: The Roles of R&D and Networking

This paper contributes to the growing evidence that Irish and foreign‐owned firms based in Ireland conduct their innovation activities differently from each other. It tests the Cohen and Levinthal hypothesis, separately for Irish and foreign‐owned firms, that undertaking R&D and collaborating with external networks together enhance the probability of product and process innovation. To control for potential endogeneity of the external networking variables, a two‐step procedure is used with predicted probabilities used as instruments in the estimated production functions. Based on data from the Irish Community Innovation Survey 2006 to 2008, the results suggest that Irish‐owned firms which engage in external networks with public knowledge sources, while simultaneously undertaking R&D, are more likely to innovate than firms which perform these two activities individually. Irish‐owned firms which engage in backward networking for product and forward networking for process innovation while also undertaking R&D are less likely to be innovative, perhaps suggesting a substitution effect. These results for Irish‐owned firms provide some support for Cohen and Levinthal's hypothesis. However, foreign‐owned firms seem to behave differently, being largely self‐contained and relying exclusively on intramural R&D for innovation as the external networking variables, both individually and when interacted with R&D, have no effect on innovation likelihood.     

Determinants of R&D collaboration of service firms

This article examines the determinants of R&D collaboration of service firms. Different from manufacturing firms, we expect that types of innovation, public financing, innovation protection, purchase of external R&D, firm’s absorptive capacity, spillovers, and certain innovation barriers determine the firm’s decision to collaborate in R&D. Results indicate that firms that undertake R&D collaboration tend to undertake process innovation, receive public funding, can protect their innovations, and typically subcontract the development of their technologies. The article provides implications for theory and practice.     

How does R&D internationalization in multinational firms affect their innovative performance? The moderating role of international collaboration in the energy industry

This paper examines the effects of the degree and geographic diversification of a firm’s R&D internationalization on its innovative performance. We use an unbalanced panel dataset of 401 observations from 110 multinational firms operating in the energy industry over a period of six years to support the argument that both the degree and the geographic diversification of a firm’s R&D internationalization have an inverted U-shaped relationship with a firm’s innovative performance. Our results also show that collaboration among R&D units located in different countries moderates this relationship by reducing both the positive effects and the challenges of the degree of R&D internationalization. This paper extends the emerging innovation focus in the headquarters–subsidiary literature by contributing to our understanding of the implications of the international R&D activities of firms and supports the utilization of social exchange theory in order to identify the moderating influence of the collaboration among a firm’s R&D units located in different countries.     

International collaboration and innovation: Evidence from a leading Chinese multinational enterprise

This paper investigates the impact of international collaboration and its characteristics on the quality of the innovation of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in emerging markets. Using a unique dataset of 1428 international and comparable domestic collaboration projects over the 2010–2016 period, it finds that while international innovation collaborations are associated with high innovation quality, cultural distance has a negative effect on collaboration outcomes. Moreover, proximity to the focal firm's overseas R&D centres and the size of expenditure budgets play significant moderating roles in overcoming cultural barriers. Based on the RBV and dynamic capabilities theory, we investigate how firms from emerging markets can acquire these two crucial requisites for innovation. The characteristics of partners and intellectual property (IP) arrangements are also found to have a significant impact on the quality of innovations.     

Firm R&D,Absorptive Capacity and Learning by Exporting: Firm‐level Evidence from China

The absorptive capacity of firms developed through R&D promotes learning by exporting. In this paper, we estimate the instantaneous and long‐run productivity effects of exporting on the universe of Chinese manufacturing firms. We find that exporting has very different productivity effects for firms with different pre‐export R&D status. It has large and lasting productivity effects for firms with pre‐export R&D, while it has little effects for firms without pre‐export R&D. Furthermore, the effect of exporting increases with the number of years of pre‐export R&D investment.     

A comparative study of innovation behaviour in Singapore's KIBS and manufacturing firms

While most services innovation studies are concentrated on the OECD or EU countries, research on services innovation in the non-OECD context is still rare. This study investigates innovation behaviour of a certain group of services – knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS), compared with the manufacturing sector in Singapore. The main findings of this study are: (1) KIBS firms have higher innovating ratio than manufacturing firms, but innovating manufacturing firms are more likely to do R&D than innovating KIBS firms; (2) KIBS firms have higher human capital intensity, training spending intensity, innovation spending intensity, and R&D spending intensity than manufacturing firms; (3) KIBS firms and manufacturing firms have similar innovation objectives, although some delicate nuances do exist; (4) KIBS firms are less likely to have overseas partners for innovation collaboration than manufacturing firms; (5) there is a U pattern of innovation collaboration with geographic distance for both KIBS and manufacturing firms; (6) social capitals are important for KIBS firms' successful provision of innovation support to manufacturing clients; (7) the importance of spatial proximity varies over different phases of innovation support.     

Inter-firm R&D networks in the global software industry: An overview of major trends and patterns

This paper presents an analysis of some major historical trends in inter-firm R&D partnering in the international software industry during the period 1970–1999. Our research demonstrates an overall growth pattern of newly made R&D partnerships and reveals the important role played by leading firms. We also examine the emergence of various R&D networks in the software industry, indicating the change from sparse and disconnected inter-firm R&D networks to dense and well-connected networks since the second half of the 1980s.     

R&;D Subsidy and Self-Financed R&;D: The Case of Japanese High-Technology Start-Ups

This paper examines whether public R&D subsidies constitute a substitute or complement for private-financed R&D. The empirical analysis is based on a panel data of 223 Japanese high-technology start-ups. Our evidence is consistent with the complement hypothesis, i.e., that publicly-funded R&D does promote private R&D. The complement effects are stronger for more mature firms. This is because such firms, in the growth phase, might have greater demands for R&D funds.     

Technological Resource Leveraging and the Internationalisation of New Ventures

A growing body of research on international entrepreneurship suggests that new ventures have succeeded in entering international markets by creatively exploiting their tangible and intangible technological resources. Using the resource-based view of the firm, this paper explores the impact of leveraging selected tangible and intangible technological resources on the speed and degree of sales internationalisation among US software new ventures. Even though R&D investments are not significant predictors of the speed or degree of sales internationalisation, technological networks and technological reputations are. The interactions of networks and reputation with R&D spending are also positively and significantly associated with higher sales internationalisation. Technological networks also interact positively with R&D spending to expedite sales internationalisation, but the interaction of these investments with technological reputations is not significant. The results show that intangible technological resources play an important role in the internationalisation of software new ventures' sales. The implications of the findings for future international entrepreneurship research are discussed.     

Export Market Participation,Investments in R&D and Worker Training,and the Evolution of Firm Productivity

This paper uses micro panel data for firms in the Taiwanese electronics industry in 1986, 1991 and 1996 to investigate a firm's decision to invest in two sources of knowledge – participation in the export market and investments in R&D and/or worker training – and assess their effect on the firm's future productivity. The firm's decisions to export and invest in R&D and/or worker training are modelled with a bivariate probit model that recognises the interdependence of the decisions. The effect of these investments on the firm's future productivity trajectory is then modelled while controlling for the selection bias introduced by endo‐genous firm exit. The findings indicate a significant interaction effect between exporting and R&D investments and future productivity, after controlling for size, age and current productivity. Firms that undertake both investment activities have significantly higher future productivity than firms that do one or neither. In addition, these firms are more likely to continue investing in these activities leading to further productivity gains. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that export experience is an important source of productivity growth for Taiwanese firms and that firm investments in R&D and worker training facilitate their ability to benefit from their exposure to the export market.     

Knowledge sharing and subsidiary R&D mandate development: A matter of dual embeddedness

Sharing knowledge across borders has proven to be especially relevant to multinational corporations (MNCs). Foreign subsidiaries have become active players in these knowledge flows. However, the network effects of interacting with multiple agents on the evolution of the R&D role played by subsidiaries are still undeveloped. The present study focuses on changes in subsidiary capabilities and on the dynamic mechanisms by which their R&D role might evolve, especially, as a consequence of their interaction with a variety of knowledge networks. We examine this issue by conducting four longitudinal case studies of subsidiaries operating in Spain. Using an inductive approach to theory building, we develop a general theoretical framework considering the subsidiary's embeddedness in the knowledge networks within the MNC (internal) and within the host country (external). We find that evolving towards a competence-creating mandate is characterised by the simultaneous growth of embeddedness in both internal and external networks; otherwise, a subsidiary may gravitate away from upgrading its R&D role. Thus, the contribution of this paper is to present a dynamic model that sheds light on how internal and external knowledge embeddedness interact in generating outcomes for subsidiary R&D roles.     

R&D Productivity and the Spillover Effects of High‐tech Industry on the Traditional Manufacturing Sector: The Case of Taiwan

This study sets out to estimate the impact of R&D on productivity within the private sector, with further analysis of the different impacts of R&D within high‐tech and traditional manufacturing firms. We also attempt to examine the spillover effects from R&D investment in the high‐tech sector on productivity growth within the traditional industries. Using a sample of 136 large manufacturing firms during the period 1994–2000, we develop an extended version of the Cobb‐Douglas production function model, and our findings suggest that Taiwan's R&D investment had a significant impact on firm productivity growth, with output elasticity standing at around 0.18. When the sample is divided into high‐tech and traditional firms, the R&D output elasticity in high‐tech firms is significantly greater than that found in traditional firms. In addition, the average rate of return in high‐tech firms is much greater than that estimated for other industries. Besides, our empirical results show that, although significant, the impact of R&D investment from the high‐tech sector, on the productivity growth of traditional firms, is rather limited.     

How Do Ownership Concentration and Family Control Affect R&D Investments? New Evidence from Taiwan

This study finds a nonlinear relationship between ownership concentration and R&D investments. Specifically, ownership concentration is positively related to R&D investments at a low level of ownership concentration; the relationship becomes negative when ownership concentration is at a high level. However, the impact of ownership concentration on R&D investments is lessened in family‐controlled firms; that is, family control moderates the relationship between ownership concentration and R&D investments. Overall, this study suggests that the ownership concentration's nonlinear impact on R&D investments differs between family‐controlled firms and nonfamily‐controlled firms.     

Globalization of R&D and China: An Introduction

In this introduction, we discuss the recent changes in multinational corporations' (MNCs) research and development (R&D) strategies and China's rising role in this new development. Significant changes include: 1) More and more corporations have started overseas R & D operations; 2) the missions of many overseas R&D facilities have shifted from the traditional supplementing and supporting roles to become critical and strategic components of MNCs' global R&D networks; and 3) MNC overseas R&D operations have expanded their geographic reach to carefully selected developing countries. China has benefited from such changes and has become one major attraction for such R&D facilities due to its rich endowment of low-cost and well- trained scientists and engineers as well as its fast growing domestic market and burgeoning foreign investment in manufacturing. The explosion of foreign R&D investment has also been accompanied by the rapid growth of China's domestic investment in R&D. The growth in both domestic and foreign investment in R&D implies that China will improve its position in global economic and technological competition. However, it is unclear to the rest of the world about the implications of China's rising R&D and whether or not China can capture the value from the presence of foreign R&D centres. We conclude that issues related to China's science and technology development in general and foreign R&D in China in particular warrant more research in the future.     

From new-product development to commercialization through networks

The research on research and development (R&D) networks is plentiful but network relations in commercialization of innovations attract surprisingly little attention. This study analyzes how firms combine resources and utilize their relations in order to ensure the success of their innovations. The theoretical basis combines literature on innovation, industrial networks, and innovation networks. The study includes two cases on commercialization networks. The results indicate that an innovating firm needs resources to engage in customer education, distribution, marketing communication, relationship mediation, and credibility building when moving from R&D tasks to commercialization tasks. To acquire these resources, the firm needs to experience changes in network relations. Accordingly, the innovating firm needs particular commercialization competence in terms of accessing, mobilizing, and organizing relational resources.     

Inter-firm R&D collaboration within and across national borders

We set up a model to investigate the strategic aspect of a firm's incentive to collaborate in cost-reducing R&D with either a local or a foreign partner. We argue that collaboration with a foreign firm is preferred to collaboration with a local firm if the extra profits generated by a foreign collaboration exceed the additional cost of coordinating collaboration across national borders. We show that foreign collaboration is more likely the bigger the home market size of the foreign firm and, given certain conditions, the higher the international trade cost. We also show that whenever a foreign collaboration arises in equilibrium, it is efficient (i.e., world-welfare-maximising) and that there are cases where (a) a foreign collaboration would be efficient but a local collaboration emerges in equilibrium, and (b) an efficient foreign collaboration emerges in equilibrium, but one of the countries would prefer a local collaboration. We briefly consider the policy implications of these findings.     

美日跨国公司全球R＆D网络比较及启示

在R&D全球化的背景下,以美日跨国公司全球R&D网络为研究对象,从国际R&D组织模式的选择、与海外学术机构的跨国界合作、全球人力资源战略三个方面进行比较和分析,揭示两国差异和原因,给出我国如何提高科技竞争力的启示。     

The Effect of R&D Services Offshoring on Skilled Employment: Firm Evidence

The offshoring of high‐tech services has greatly increased in recent years, with consequences for firms demand for skilled employment in firms. This paper specifically analyses the relationship between R&D offshoring and the demand for R&D employment using firm‐level data for Spanish manufacturing and services companies during the period 2004–11. Estimating different specifications with panel data techniques, we find that this association is statistically positive. In particular, for services firms a 1 percentage point increase in R&D offshoring raises the demand for researchers by about 11 per cent.     

A theoretical and empirical investigation into investment activities of technologically-intensive Chinese state-owned enterprises in the UK

This paper examines the determinants of direct investment in the UK by technology-intensive Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs). It also investigates the ways in which investment strategies are being employed for entry to the UK and to achieve access to technology. Drawing on an inductive case study strategy it is found that Chinese SOEs are motivated by their ambitions to close the technology gap by tapping into UK knowledge networks. In terms of entry strategies, the findings indicate that the initial focus on existing technology subsequently shifts to the creation of added R&D capacity and new technology. This is achieved from a permanent UK R&D base which is integrated into the parent companies’ wider R&D networks. Technology creation is enabled by adoption of divergent management practices, especially at operational level, reflecting the parent companies’ surprisingly adaptable mindsets.     

Collaborate at Home to Win Abroad: How Does Access to Local Network Resources Influence Export Behavior?

By drawing on the resource‐based view and on elements from social network theory, we use a sample of southern Brazilian small and medium‐sized furniture manufacturers to find evidence for the hypothesis that access to local network resources, facilitated by a firm's membership in an industry association, strongly predicts the propensity to export. Likewise, we find that a firm's local collaborative intensity is positively related to its export intensity and that both relations are moderated by the firm's distance from the local network's center. This study contributes to the literature on how local collaboration may facilitate overcoming export barriers.