IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/ifwkwp/2100.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

What induces firms to license foreign technologies? International survey evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Dohse, Dirk
  • Goel, Rajeev K.
  • Nelson, Michael A.

Abstract

The paper provides firm-level insights into the drivers of foreign technology licensing from the perspective of the licensee, using data across 114 nations. Drawing on the theoretical foundations related to knowledge spillovers, results show that manufacturing firms with own R&D capabilities were more likely to license foreign technologies, as were larger firms and those situated in the nations' main business city. Greater literacy facilitated foreign technology licensing, while overall economic prosperity of a nation did not have a significant impact. Interestingly, higher domestic interest rates, related to capital costs and to overall monetary policy, induced firms to license technology from abroad. Finally, some institutions like greater economic freedom aided technology licensing, while others like strong patent protection were not found to have a sizable impact.

Suggested Citation

  • Dohse, Dirk & Goel, Rajeev K. & Nelson, Michael A., 2018. "What induces firms to license foreign technologies? International survey evidence," Kiel Working Papers 2100, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ifwkwp:2100
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/174593/1/1013717325.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. d'Aspremont, Claude & Jacquemin, Alexis, 1988. "Cooperative and Noncooperative R&D in Duopoly with Spillovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(5), pages 1133-1137, December.
    2. Eaton, Jonathan & Kortum, Samuel, 1997. "Engines of growth: Domestic and foreign sources of innovation," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 235-259, May.
    3. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    4. Rajeev Goel & James Saunoris & Xingyuan Zhang, 2015. "Innovation and underground entrepreneurship," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 40(5), pages 800-820, October.
    5. Daron Acemoglu, 2002. "Directed Technical Change," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 69(4), pages 781-809.
    6. Dominik H. Enste & Friedrich Schneider, 2000. "Shadow Economies: Size, Causes, and Consequences," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 38(1), pages 77-114, March.
    7. Suyi Kim & Jungsoo Park, 2017. "Foreign Direct Investment and International R&D Spillovers in OECD Countries Revisited," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 173(3), pages 431-453, September.
    8. Farok J Contractor, 1984. "Choosing Between Direct Investment and Licensing: Theoretical Considerations and Empirical Tests," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 15(3), pages 167-188, September.
    9. David N. Weil, 1996. "Appropriate Technology and Growth," Working Papers 96-24, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    10. Grossman, Gene M. & Helpman, Elhanan, 1995. "Technology and trade," Handbook of International Economics, in: G. M. Grossman & K. Rogoff (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 25, pages 1279-1337, Elsevier.
    11. Friedrich Schneider & Dominik Enste, 1999. "Shadow Economies Around the World - Size, Causes, and Consequences," CESifo Working Paper Series 196, CESifo.
    12. Stephen Knack & Philip Keefer, 1995. "Institutions And Economic Performance: Cross‐Country Tests Using Alternative Institutional Measures," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(3), pages 207-227, November.
    13. Dasgupta, Partha & Stiglitz, Joseph, 1980. "Industrial Structure and the Nature of Innovative Activity," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 90(358), pages 266-293, June.
    14. YoungJun Kim & Nicholas S. Vonortas, 2006. "Determinants of technology licensing: the case of licensors," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(4), pages 235-249.
    15. Kamal Saggi, 2002. "Trade, Foreign Direct Investment, and International Technology Transfer: A Survey," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 17(2), pages 191-235, September.
    16. Fu, Xiaolan & Pietrobelli, Carlo & Soete, Luc, 2011. "The Role of Foreign Technology and Indigenous Innovation in the Emerging Economies: Technological Change and Catching-up," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 1204-1212, July.
    17. Acemoglu, Daron & Zilibotti, Fabrizio, 1999. "Information Accumulation in Development," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 4(1), pages 5-38, March.
    18. David B. Audretsch & Dirk Dohse, 2007. "Location: A Neglected Determinant of Firm Growth," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 143(1), pages 79-107, April.
    19. Colombo, Luca & Dawid, Herbert, 2014. "Strategic location choice under dynamic oligopolistic competition and spillovers," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 288-307.
    20. Michael Storper & Anthony J. Venables, 2004. "Buzz: face-to-face contact and the urban economy," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 4(4), pages 351-370, August.
    21. Jesper Christensen & Ina Drejer, 2005. "The strategic importance of location: Location decisions and the effects of firm location on innovation and knowledge acquisition," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(6), pages 807-814, September.
    22. Françoise Bastié & Sylvie Cieply & Pascal Cussy, 2018. "Does mode of transfer matter for business performance? Transfers to employees versus transfers to outsiders," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 77-89, January.
    23. Mukherjee, Arijit & Mukherjee, Soma, 2013. "Technology licensing and innovation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 120(3), pages 499-502.
    24. Rajeev K. Goel & Shoji Haruna, 2011. "Cost-Reducing R&D with Spillovers and Trade," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 167(2), pages 314-326, June.
    25. Jason Owen-Smith & Walter W. Powell, 2004. "Knowledge Networks as Channels and Conduits: The Effects of Spillovers in the Boston Biotechnology Community," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 15(1), pages 5-21, February.
    26. Françoise Bastié & Sylvie Cieply & Pascal Cussy, 2018. "Does mode of transfer matter for business performance? Transfers to employees versus transfers to outsiders," Post-Print halshs-01683613, HAL.
    27. Rachel Griffith & Stephen Redding & John Van Reenen, 2004. "Mapping the Two Faces of R&D: Productivity Growth in a Panel of OECD Industries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(4), pages 883-895, November.
    28. Susanto Basu & David N. Weil, 1998. "Appropriate Technology and Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(4), pages 1025-1054.
    29. Li, Xibao, 2011. "Sources of External Technology, Absorptive Capacity, and Innovation Capability in Chinese State-Owned High-Tech Enterprises," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 1240-1248, July.
    30. Basant, Rakesh & Fikkert, Brian, 1996. "The Effects of R&D, Foreign Technology Purchase, and Domestic and International Spillovers on Productivity in Indian Firms," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(2), pages 187-199, May.
    31. Dohse, Dirk & Vaona, Andrea, 2014. "Start-up complexity and the thickness of regional input markets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 124(3), pages 424-427.
    32. Saggi, Kamal, 1996. "Entry into a Foreign Market: Foreign Direct Investment versus Licensing," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(1), pages 99-104, February.
    33. Cohen, Wesley M & Levinthal, Daniel A, 1989. "Innovation and Learning: The Two Faces of R&D," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 99(397), pages 569-596, September.
    34. Sanjaya Lall, 2001. "Competitiveness, Technology and Skills," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2298.
    35. Goel, Rajeev K. & Saunoris, James W., 2016. "Institutional path dependence and international research intensity," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 52(PB), pages 851-858.
    36. Sourafel Girma, 2005. "Absorptive Capacity and Productivity Spillovers from FDI: A Threshold Regression Analysis," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 67(3), pages 281-306, June.
    37. Rajeev K. Goel, 1999. "On contracting for uncertain R&D," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(2), pages 99-106.
    38. Anna Hammerschmidt, 2009. "No Pain, No Gain: An R&D Model with Endogenous Absorptive Capacity," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 165(3), pages 418-437, September.
    39. Motohashi, Kazuyuki, 2008. "Licensing or not licensing? An empirical analysis of the strategic use of patents by Japanese firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(9), pages 1548-1555, October.
    40. Ashish Arora & Marco Ceccagnoli, 2006. "Patent Protection, Complementary Assets, and Firms' Incentives for Technology Licensing," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 52(2), pages 293-308, February.
    41. Goel, Rajeev K, 1994. "Industrial Location, Advertising, and Entry Deterrence," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(62), pages 53-61, June.
    42. Juan Alcácer & Wilbur Chung, 2007. "Location Strategies and Knowledge Spillovers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(5), pages 760-776, May.
    43. World Bank, 2000. "World Development Indicators 2000," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13828, December.
    44. Brown, Marilyn A. & Berry, Linda G. & Goel, Rajeev K., 1991. "Guidelines for successfully transferring government-sponsored innovations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 121-143, April.
    45. Seung Ho Park & Gerardo R. Ungson, 2001. "Interfirm Rivalry and Managerial Complexity: A Conceptual Framework of Alliance Failure," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(1), pages 37-53, February.
    46. Kim,Linsu & Nelson,Richard R. (ed.), 2000. "Technology, Learning, and Innovation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521770033.
    47. Yang, Guifang & Maskus, Keith E., 2001. "Intellectual property rights, licensing, and innovation in an endogenous product-cycle model," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 169-187, February.
    48. Atkinson, Anthony B & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1969. "A New View of Technological Change," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 79(315), pages 573-578, 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. Rajeev K. Goel & Ummad Mazhar & Rati Ram, 2022. "Informal competition and firm performance: Impacts on input‐ versus output performance," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(2), pages 418-430, March.
    2. German Blanco & Rajeev K. Goel, 2023. "Do weak institutions undermine global innovation production efficiency?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 1813-1838, October.
    3. Rajeev K. Goel & James W. Saunoris, 2022. "Foreign direct investment (FDI): friend or foe of non-innovating firms?," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 1162-1178, August.

    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. Fu, Xiaolan & Pietrobelli, Carlo & Soete, Luc, 2011. "The Role of Foreign Technology and Indigenous Innovation in the Emerging Economies: Technological Change and Catching-up," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 1204-1212, July.
    2. Jan Van Hove, 2008. "The Impact of R&D Spillovers on Export Value: Does the Transmission Channel matter?," Working Papers 2008.3, International Network for Economic Research - INFER.
    3. Sanghamitra Chakravarty & Georgina Mercedes Gómez, 2024. "A Development Lens to Frugal Innovation: Bringing Back Production and Technological Capabilities into the Discourse," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 36(1), pages 82-101, February.
    4. Wei Jin, 2012. "Can China Harness Globalization to Reap Carbon Savings? Modeling International Technology Diffusion in a Multi-region Framework," CAMA Working Papers 2012-52, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    5. Tieli Li & Miao Fu & Xiaolan Fu, 2013. "Regional technology development path in an open developing economy: evidence from China," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(11), pages 1405-1418, April.
    6. Piva, Mariacristina., 2004. "The impact of technology transfer on employment and income distribution in developing countries : a survey of theoretical models and empirical studies," ILO Working Papers 993666903402676, International Labour Organization.
    7. Cornelia Storz & Tobias ten Brink & Na Zou, 2022. "Innovation in emerging economies: How do university-industry linkages and public procurement matter for small businesses?," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 1439-1480, December.
    8. Mathew, Nanditha & Napolitano, Lorenzo & Rizzo, Ugo, 2020. "The role of domestic-firm knowledge in foreign R&D collaborations: Evidence from co-patenting in Indian firms," MERIT Working Papers 2020-044, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    9. Poncet, Sandra & Starosta de Waldemar, Felipe, 2013. "Export Upgrading and Growth: The Prerequisite of Domestic Embeddedness," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 104-118.
    10. Markus Grillitsch & Magnus Nilsson, 2019. "Knowledge externalities and firm heterogeneity: Effects on high and low growth firms," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 98(1), pages 93-114, February.
    11. Neil Foster-McGregor, 2012. "Innovation and Technology Transfer across Countries," wiiw Research Reports 380, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    12. Acemoglu, Daron & Gancia, Gino & Zilibotti, Fabrizio, 2012. "Competing engines of growth: Innovation and standardization," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(2), pages 570-601.3.
    13. Elif Bascavusoglu-Moreau & Qian Cher Li, 2013. "Knowledge Spillovers & Sources of Knowledge in the Manufacturing Sector: Literature Review & Empirical Evidence for the UK," Working Papers wp451, Centre for Business Research, University of Cambridge.
    14. Sandra Poncet & Felipe Starosta, 2013. "Export upgrading and growth in China: the prerequisite of domestic embeddedness," PSE - G-MOND WORKING PAPERS halshs-00960684, HAL.
    15. Costantini, Valeria & Liberati, Paolo, 2014. "Technology transfer, institutions and development," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 26-48.
    16. Bos, Jaap W.B. & Kolari, James W. & van Lamoen, Ryan C.R., 2013. "Competition and innovation: Evidence from financial services," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1590-1601.
    17. Franco Malerba & Maria Mancusi & Fabio Montobbio, 2013. "Innovation, international R&D spillovers and the sectoral heterogeneity of knowledge flows," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 149(4), pages 697-722, December.
    18. repec:awi:wpaper:0480 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Jaap W. B. Bos & Bertrand Candelon & Claire Economidou, 2016. "Does knowledge spill over across borders and technology regimes?," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 46(1), pages 63-82, August.
    20. Johanna Vogel, 2015. "The two faces of R&D and human capital: Evidence from Western European regions," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(3), pages 525-551, August.
    21. Xiaolan Fu & Liu Shi, 2022. "Direction of innovation in developing countries and its driving forces," WIPO Economic Research Working Papers 69, World Intellectual Property Organization - Economics and Statistics Division.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    technology licensing; R&D; firm size; location; taxes; informal competition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L24 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Contracting Out; Joint Ventures
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries

    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:zbw:ifwkwp:2100. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iwkiede.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.