Title: Driving forces and organisational configurations of international R&D: the case of technology-intensive Chinese multinationals

Authors: Jingjiang Liu, Yi Wang, Gang Zheng

Addresses: College of Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, P.R. China. ' School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100086, P.R. China. ' National Institute for Innovation Management, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, P.R. China

Abstract: International R&D by multinational corporations (MNCs) from developing countries is on the increase. Some technology-intensive Chinese MNCs, which are playing an increasingly significant role in carrying out Chinese innovation strategies, have recently established global R&D networks. Based on the evidence from two technology-intensive Chinese MNCs in the telecommunications equipment industry, this paper focuses specifically on exploring the driving forces and organisational configurations of international R&D in these MNCs. Our findings and results show, firstly, that establishing home-base-augmenting/strategic R&D sites in developed and other developing countries is the predominant driving force behind R&D internationalisation in these Chinese MNCs. Secondly, in terms of the dispersion of R&D activities and the degree of cooperation between individual R&D units, each of these MNCs has successively gone through different organisational configurations of international R&D at its three strategic stages: ethnocentric centralised R&D, geocentric centralised R&D, and R&D hub model.

Keywords: R&D internationalisation; multinational corporations; technology intensive MNCs; driving forces; organisational configurations; home-base-augmenting R&D; strategic R&D; innovation capabilities; developing countries; China; research and development; telecommunications equipment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2010.033812

International Journal of Technology Management, 2010 Vol.51 No.2/3/4, pp.409 - 426

Published online: 06 Apr 2013 *

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