The lab and the plant: Offshore R&D and co-location with production activities

• 成果类型: Article; Proceedings Paper
• 署名作者: Castellani, Davide; Lavoratori, Katiuscia
• 署名单位: University of Reading; University of Warwick
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2506
• DOI: 10.1057/s41267-019-00255-3
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 121-137
• 关键词: R&D; location choice; CO-LOCATION; multinational enterprises; firm heterogeneity; random parameter models; cities; Organizational learning; knowledge bases

摘要

The literature has highlighted that the propensity of MNEs to co-locate offshore R&D labs with their production plants can vary substantially according to firm and industry characteristics. In this paper, we apply a novel two-stage estimation procedure that allows us to tease out this heterogenous behavior and investigate the factors that are associated with a higher propensity to co-locate production and R&D activities abroad. Using data on 1483 greenfield international investments in R&D activities made by 855 firms in 587 cities worldwide, we uncover that the strength of the co-location effect is indeed highly heterogenous across firms. In particular, it is higher among firms with less international experience and geographical dispersion of international activities, as well as with a lower share of intangible assets. These results are consistent with the idea that co-location is a substitute for firms' ability to coordinate complex and dispersed organizational structures, and that firms relying relatively less on codified knowledge can use co-location of offshore R&D and production to facilitate knowledge transfer across activities.