Home base-compensating R&D: Indicators, public policy, and ramifications for multinational firms
The situation in which a multinational firm compensates for comparative weakness in home-country R&D by locating vital R&D activities in foreign countries with a stronger R&D base has generally been considered a fairly marginal phenomenon. Yet home base-compensating R&D by MNCs is mo...
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Veröffentlicht in: | Journal of international management 2011-03, Vol.17 (1), p.42-53 |
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Format: | Artikel |
Sprache: | eng |
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Zusammenfassung: | The situation in which a multinational firm compensates for comparative weakness in home-country R&D by locating vital R&D activities in foreign countries with a stronger R&D base has generally been considered a fairly marginal phenomenon. Yet home base-compensating R&D by MNCs is more prevalent and more important in its effects than generally assumed. Given intensifying competition among nations for R&D investment by MNCs, home base-compensating R&D may help stimulate R&D reform in the home country, as illustrated with the example of German biotechnology. The probability that home base-compensating R&D can stimulate R&D reform in the firm's home country is highest when practiced by “high-profile players” in sectors that are science-based and that are either strategic (inter-industry economic and knowledge spillovers), feature above-average growth, and/or are of high political importance. To the extent that home base-compensating R&D by MNCs can potentially encourage policy reforms in their home country, this adds a new level of complexity to discussions about the role of corporations in influencing public policy as a component of their corporate social responsibility. |
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ISSN: | 1075-4253 1873-0620 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.intman.2010.08.001 |