TY - JOUR

T1 - Offshore versus domestic: Can EM MNCs reach higher R&D quality abroad?

AU - Schaefer, Kerstin Jutta

AU - Liefner, Ingo Matthias

N1 - Funding information: well as bibliographic formalities, and Kerry Jago for proofreading. We acknowledge funding from the Foundation German-American Academic Relations (Grant Number: T260/25622/2014/kg).

PY - 2017/12

Y1 - 2017/12

N2 - In the current discourse about the technological development of emerging market multinational companies (EM MNCs), the internationalization of research and development (R&D) activities is increasingly discussed as a strategy for catching-up to established MNCs. EM MNCs attempt to use international R&D to tap into technologically superior resources abroad which are not available to them in their home market. This study compares the performance of domestic and offshore R&D activities to look into EM MNCs’ ability to conduct high-quality R&D abroad. We use the Chinese telecommunication equipment manufacturer Huawei as a best practice case study. To map their worldwide patent quality pattern, we propose a multiple-patent-office-approach to ensure a balanced view on their activities with data from SIPO, USPTO and EPO. We also employ three different measures to capture different dimensions of patent quality. The results of the empirical model support the assumption of higher quality for patents with knowledge from advanced offshore locations.

AB - In the current discourse about the technological development of emerging market multinational companies (EM MNCs), the internationalization of research and development (R&D) activities is increasingly discussed as a strategy for catching-up to established MNCs. EM MNCs attempt to use international R&D to tap into technologically superior resources abroad which are not available to them in their home market. This study compares the performance of domestic and offshore R&D activities to look into EM MNCs’ ability to conduct high-quality R&D abroad. We use the Chinese telecommunication equipment manufacturer Huawei as a best practice case study. To map their worldwide patent quality pattern, we propose a multiple-patent-office-approach to ensure a balanced view on their activities with data from SIPO, USPTO and EPO. We also employ three different measures to capture different dimensions of patent quality. The results of the empirical model support the assumption of higher quality for patents with knowledge from advanced offshore locations.

KW - Chinese MNCs

KW - Emerging market MNCs

KW - Measuring patent quality

KW - Multiple-patent-office-approach

KW - R&D internationalization

KW - R&D off-shoring

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85030173611&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s11192-017-2533-5

DO - 10.1007/s11192-017-2533-5

M3 - Article

VL - 113

SP - 1349

EP - 1370

JO - SCIENTOMETRICS

JF - SCIENTOMETRICS

SN - 0138-9130

IS - 3

ER -