IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hst/hstdps/d05-91.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Overseas R&D Activities by Multinational Enterprises: Evidence from Japanese Firm-Level Data

Author

Listed:
  • Yasuyuki Todo
  • Satoshi Shimizutani

Abstract

This paper investigates both the determinants and the impact of overseas subsidiaries' R&D activities, using firm-level panel data for Japanese multinational enterprises. We distinguish between overseas innovative and adaptive R&D and find substantial differences between the two types of R&D. The evidence suggests that overseas innovative R&D aims at the exploitation of foreign advanced knowledge, and by doing so, it helps to raise the productivity of the parent firm. In contrast, the primary role of overseas adaptive R&D is to enhance the productivity of overseas subsidiaries through the use of parent firms' knowledge. In addition, we find no complementarity between home and overseas innovative R&D, i.e., no evidence that overseas innovative R&D raises the marginal effect of home R&D on home productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Yasuyuki Todo & Satoshi Shimizutani, 2005. "Overseas R&D Activities by Multinational Enterprises: Evidence from Japanese Firm-Level Data," Hi-Stat Discussion Paper Series d05-91, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
  • Handle: RePEc:hst:hstdps:d05-91
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hi-stat.ier.hit-u.ac.jp/research/discussion/2005/pdf/D05-91.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bas, Christian Le & Sierra, Christophe, 2002. "'Location versus home country advantages' in R&D activities: some further results on multinationals' locational strategies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 589-609, May.
    2. Johannes Van Biesebroeck, 2007. "Robustness Of Productivity Estimates," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 529-569, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Neil Foster-McGregor, 2012. "Innovation and Technology Transfer across Countries," wiiw Research Reports 380, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    2. Shimizutani, Satoshi & Todo, Yasuyuki, 2008. "What determines overseas R&D activities? The case of Japanese multinational firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 530-544, April.
    3. Dachs, Bernhard, 2017. "Internationalisation of R&D: A Review of Drivers, Impacts, and new Lines of Research," MPRA Paper 83367, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Massimo Colombo & Annalisa Croce & Samuele Murtinu, 2014. "Ownership structure, horizontal agency costs and the performance of high-tech entrepreneurial firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 265-282, February.
    2. Dolores Añón Higón & Miguel Manjón Antolín & Juan A. Mañez, 2011. "Multinationals, R&D, and productivity: evidence for UK manufacturing firms," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 20(2), pages 641-659, April.
    3. Tomasz Kijek & Anna Matras-Bolibok, 2020. "Knowledge-intensive Specialisation and Total Factor Productivity (TFP) in the EU Regional Scope," Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis, Mendel University Press, vol. 68(1), pages 181-188.
    4. Kerstens, Kristiaan & Van de Woestyne, Ignace, 2014. "Comparing Malmquist and Hicks–Moorsteen productivity indices: Exploring the impact of unbalanced vs. balanced panel data," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 233(3), pages 749-758.
    5. Alessandra Tucci, 2005. "Trade, Foreign Networks and Performance: a Firm-Level Analysis for India," Development Working Papers 199, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    6. Majiwa, Eucabeth Bosibori Opande & Lee, Boon & Wilson, Clevo, 2015. "Multi-lateral multi-output measurement of productivity: the case of African agriculture," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212769, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Löschel, Andreas & Lutz, Benjamin Johannes & Managi, Shunsuke, 2019. "The impacts of the EU ETS on efficiency and economic performance – An empirical analyses for German manufacturing firms," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 71-95.
    8. Zhang, Zibin & Yang, Wenxin & Ye, Jianliang, 2021. "Why sulfur dioxide emissions decline significantly from coal-fired power plants in China? Evidence from the desulfurated electricity pricing premium program," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 148(PB).
    9. Matthias Arnold, Jens & Javorcik, Beata S., 2009. "Gifted kids or pushy parents? Foreign direct investment and plant productivity in Indonesia," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 42-53, September.
    10. Rubini, Lauretta & Pollio, Chiara & Spigarelli, Francesca & Lv, Ping, 2021. "Regional social context and FDI. An empirical investigation on Chinese acquisitions in Europe," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 402-415.
    11. Hall, Bronwyn H., 2011. "The internationalization of R&D," MERIT Working Papers 2011-049, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    12. Cozza, Claudio & Perani, Giulio & Zanfei, Antonello, 2016. "Are multinationals better at creating technical linkages with local firms?," Papers in Innovation Studies 2016/14, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    13. Patricia Laurens & Christian Le Bas & Antoine Schoen, 2019. "Worldwide IP coverage of patented inventions in large pharma firms: to what extent do the internationalisation of R&D and firm strategy matter?," Post-Print hal-01725229, HAL.
    14. Andrea Lasagni & Annamaria Nifo & Gaetano Vecchione, 2015. "Firm Productivity And Institutional Quality: Evidence From Italian Industry," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(5), pages 774-800, November.
    15. Sabri Boubaker & Riadh Manita & Wael Rouatbi, 2021. "Large shareholders, control contestability and firm productive efficiency," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 296(1), pages 591-614, January.
    16. Emanuela Marrocu & Raffaele Paci & Marco Pontis, 2012. "Intangible capital and firms' productivity," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 21(2), pages 377-402, April.
    17. Santiago-Rodriguez, Fernando, 2008. "Facing the Trial of Internationalizing Clinical Trials to Developing Countries: Some Evidence from Mexico," MERIT Working Papers 2008-023, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    18. Andrea Boitani & Marcella Nicolini & Carlo Scarpa, 2013. "Do competition and ownership matter? Evidence from local public transport in Europe," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(11), pages 1419-1434, April.
    19. Meng-Chun Liu & Shin-Horng Chen, 2003. "International R&D Deployment and Locational Advantage: A Case Study of Taiwan," NBER Working Papers 10169, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Byung-Seong Min & Peter Verhoeven, 2013. "Outsider Board Activity, Ownership Structure and Firm Value: Evidence from Korea," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 13(2), pages 187-214, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    overseas R&D activities; multinational enterprises; total factor productivity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • O30 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hst:hstdps:d05-91. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Tatsuji Makino (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iehitjp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.