Globalisation of innovation in knowledge intensive industries : Lessons from the new China

Summary, in English

The global location of R & D labs by MNCs is a rather new phenomenon; especially when it comes to establishing R & D labs in developing countries. The existing and rather limited literature on globalisation of innovation provides four possible explanations of why multinationals locate R & D labs in developing countries: reduce research costs, access large markets, tap into a large pool of qualified human resources or benefit from knowledge spillovers available in the local/regional system of innovation. The empirical research presented in this paper reveals that none of these arguments can fully explain the increasing location of R & D labs in China. The in-depth study of MNCs R & D labs in Beijing and Shanghai, China, reveals that specific aspects of market, technological and political uncertainty provide a more adequate explanation to the increasing presence of R & D labs from MNCs in developing countries such as China and thus calls for an integration in the regional innovation systems framework.

• Author: Yun Chung Chen; Jan Vang; Cristina Chaminade
• Department/s: CIRCLE
• Publishing year: 2012
• Language: English
• Pages: 264-284
• Publication/Series: International Journal of Technology and Globalisation
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 4
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJTG.2012.050960
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Inderscience Publishers
• Topic: Economic Geography
• Keywords: Catching up; China; Development; Globalisation; Innovation
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1476-5667