Title: Location choice, management and performance of international R&D investments in peripheral economies

Authors: Bjorn Ambos, Tina C. Ambos

Addresses: Institute for International Marketing and Management, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Augasse 2-6, 1090 Vienna, Austria. ' Institute for International Marketing and Management, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Augasse 2-6, 1090 Vienna, Austria

Abstract: Corporate R&D, one of the most shielded and centralised activities in the value chain, has recently experienced rapid internationalisation. However, academic writing has primarily concentrated on investments within |core|, i.e. triad, countries. The question to what extent firms invest in R&D in non-triad economies remains fairly uncharted territory. This paper provides insights regarding the type as well as the management of non-triad R&D laboratories by building on survey data from 49 leading German MNCs. We shed light on the motivations and pace of R&D investments and reveal that the mechanisms used in |peripheral| countries considerably differ from |core| country laboratories.

Keywords: R&D investments; peripheral economies; R&D units; R&D management; research and development; non-triad R&D; Germany; MNCs; multinational corporations; location choice; performance; international R&D.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2009.024598

International Journal of Technology Management, 2009 Vol.48 No.1, pp.24 - 41

Published online: 10 Apr 2009 *

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