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Intangible assets and foreign ownership in international joint ventures: The moderating role of related and unrelated industrial agglomeration

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  • Hu, Tiancheng
  • Guo, Rui
  • Ning, Lutao

Abstract

When multinational enterprises form international joint ventures (IJVs) with local firms, the knowledge exchange between the two can expose foreign firms’ intangible assets to local competitors. We study how foreign ownership is used to manage knowledge leakage and how local industrial structures moderate the relationship between intangible assets and foreign ownership. Using a dataset of 25,447 IJVs in China, our results reveal that foreign ownership rises with the increase in intangible assets in IJVs. Related variety further enhances this relationship, whereas unrelated variety has a positive moderating effect only when foreign ownership is within a certain range.

Suggested Citation

  • Hu, Tiancheng & Guo, Rui & Ning, Lutao, 2022. "Intangible assets and foreign ownership in international joint ventures: The moderating role of related and unrelated industrial agglomeration," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:riibaf:v:61:y:2022:i:c:s0275531922000423
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ribaf.2022.101654
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Intangible asset; Knowledge leakage; Foreign ownership; Joint venture; Industrial structure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • L16 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics; Macroeconomic Industrial Structure
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O53 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Asia including Middle East

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