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Only a few foreign companies have started significant R&D activities in China. Although these forerunners have opened the door, their experience now needs to be transferred to followers. The purpose of this paper is to use this experience to offer some guidance to foreign companies wishing to launch R&D activities in China.

The authors’ recommendations are based on their investigation into 50 existing foreign R&D centers in China and one pioneering experience into the management of one of those centers. The authors especially investigated the questions of location, people and intellectual property rights, and relationships with authorities.

Foreign companies wishing to do R&D in China will have to adapt to an environment different from those they are used to. The authors draw up recommendations that should help them to find their way. They particularly emphasize location in or close to clusters, the type of relationships to be developed with public authorities and with the communist party, the specific characteristics needed by workers in those centers, the need for a cautious intellectual property rights approach and the key role of returnees in R&D centers. These findings are based on previous experience and lessons learned directly by the authors as well as through meetings with R&D executives and managers of medium/large foreign companies or joint ventures s in China.

The Chinese research, development and innovation landscape has evolved rapidly and has still not stabilized. Consequently, the authors’ recommendations, which capture best practices and recently learned lessons, are applicable for the next five years. Some of them might change in the future as the overall national and international situation evolves.

These recommendations offer guidelines to companies without R&D centers established in China for expanding their international technology strategy. They will help companies already operating successful R&D centers to better leverage previous investments and efficiently set up and operate R&D activities in China.

China has been on the R&D map for only a few years as exemplified by the surge of scientific publications and patent deposits, making China the country with the most patents in the world. No foreign company engaged in R&D can ignore this fact. Yet, few papers have been published with “how to?” guidelines.

This paper explores the major factors influencing multinational companies’ (MNCs) propensity to change the level of resource commitments during financial crises in emerging markets. Favorable changes in the host government policies, market demand, firm strategy, and infrastructural conditions are hypothesized to influence the MNCs’ decision to increase resource commitments during a crisis. The hypotheses are tested with data collected in a survey of 82 MNCs during the recent Argentine financial crisis (late 2002). While all the above variables are considered by the respondents as generally important reasons for increasing resource commitments during a crisis, only favorable changes in government policies significantly influence MNCs’ decisions to change the level of resource commitments during the Argentine financial crisis. The research, managerial implications, and policy‐making implications are discussed.

China's research and development (R&D) internationalization has grown rapidly in the 1990s. However, academic research has not kept pace with it. The purpose of this paper is to study the development characteristics and evolution pattern of China's R&D internationalization, explore its challenges to China's traditional science and technology (S&T) system, and to give some suggestions for the reform of China's S&T system as well.

An in‐depth case study about Huawei is conducted by focusing on its strategy and development pattern of overseas R&D activities. It involves two methods of data collection: comprehensive interviews and administrative records and documents of the company. More information about China's R&D internationalization and S&T system is obtained through literature review, policy documents collection and a previous questionnaire survey of 28 leading Chinese firms.

Based on the literature review, previous survey and study of the strategy and development of R&D internationalization of Huawei, a three‐stage model is proposed to explain the evolution of R&D internationalization in China. The challenges to the traditional S&T system in China are summarized. In the future, R&D internationalization should be considered as an important factor in the reform of China's S&T system. Some suggestions are given as well.

This paper puts forward a three‐stage model to explain the evolution of R&D internationalization in China, which may add both academic and practical value to the field of internationalization of R&D. It brings some valuable implications to the reform of China's S&T system as well. This paper analyzes the challenges and opportunities brought by R&D internationalization to China's S&T system on the basis of case study and policy documents collection. The suggestions of the reform of China's S&T system are presented.

This paper aims to, through the disintegration of the innovation process in this paper, attempt to shed light on what are some of the distinctive features of this phenomenon, such as: Who is outsourcing R&D? What types of R&D services are being outsourced across the R&D value chain and to whom? Where are firms outsourcing these services? and Why do firms decide to outsource them? Outsourcing practices of some stages of the R&D process to specialized providers have been gaining momentum during the past years even by firms operating in high-tech sectors.

The data used in this paper stem from an original international survey on R&D services outsourcing. This survey includes a sample of 182 US and European Union firms competing in technology-intensive industries.

This study provides evidence of the existence of a global outsourcing market that covers practically all the R&D stages and is widely used by technological firms. However, it highlights the importance of multinationality to be able to use R&D outsourcing as a tool for value creation.

Despite the relevance of this phenomenon, previous studies tend to analyze the R&D function as a whole. However, through the disintegration of the innovation process, this paper provides original international data which helps to analyze the real magnitude and scope of this R&D offshore outsourcing process at the transactional level.

Cities are host to many of the world’s knowledge intensive research and innovation clusters. As such, they are likely to be attractive locations for emerging market multinational enterprises (MNEs) seeking to engage in knowledge seeking “springboard” type firm-level catch-up strategies. The purpose of this study is to therefore explore whether city-based research-intensive clusters containing deep pools of location bounded (i.e. “sticky”) knowledge are a stronger driver for greenfield research and development (R&D)-related FDI projects for Chinese MNEs than they are for developed market MNEs.

The authors use logistic modelling on 97,163 worldwide greenfield FDI projects to explore the relative likelihoods of Chinese MNEs engaging in R&D-related greenfield (i.e. “strategic asset seeking”) FDI projects as well as how city type (global or research-intensive cluster city) moderates this relationship for Chinese MNEs.

The authors find that Chinese MNEs are more likely to engage in overseas R&D FDI projects (compared with other types of project) than DMNEs and that research-intensive city clusters hold a stronger attraction for Chinese MNEs than developed market MNEs.

The authors discuss how the research contributes to the debate on emerging market MNE catch-up theory, as well as that on sub-national city location choice, by highlighting the growing importance of sub-national geography to understanding strategic asset seeking related greenfield FDI.

Sub-national city location choice is an important driver of strategic asset seeking FDI for Chinese MNEs, one that both national and local city level policymakers should pay attention to.

Chinese FDI via aggressive mergers and acquisitions to acquire key technologies has been restricted in recent years. Policymakers must consider whether they may also wish to restrict Chinese greenfield FDI in R&D-related projects, which now exhibit a pronounced upward trend.

The authors highlight the growing importance of sub-national geography to understanding strategic asset seeking related greenfield FDI in Chinese MNEs (and how it plays, more generally, a central role in their strategies).

In this study, we examine the location strategies (e.g., developing versus developed countries) of Chinese multinational firms (Pantzalis 2001). We argue that domestic firm‐specific ownership advantages of a firm, in the form of larger size and higher degree of diversification, will induce internationalization into developed countries rather than into developing countries. We also predict that internationalization into developed countries will help performance, but internationalization into developing countries will hurt performance. Based on an analysis of data on 154 Chinese‐listed MNCs from 1992 to 2002, we find support for our predictions.

The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the evolution, characteristics, motivations, entry patterns, organizational structure and effectiveness of the internationalization of Chinese research institutions in the past 40 years of reform and opening-up.

This paper describes the evolution and practice of Chinese research institutions “going out” by constructing a theoretical framework diagram and uses official statistics and existing research to explain the authors’ points.

The research results show that the internationalization of research institutions has undergone four phases: sprout period, starting period, adjustment period and accelerating period. It shows a rapid growth of investment scale, diversification of investment entities, rich and varied forms, and transition to major countries along the “One Belt and One Road.” Expanding the international market, tracking and acquiring technological frontiers, nurturing domestic R&D talents, and evading the risks of political, economic, cultural and scientific differences between home and host countries are the main motivations for Chinese research institutions to “go global.” Multinational corporations have entered the host country with modes such as M&A, greenfield investment and joint R&D alliances in their own strengths and also presented a variety of organizational structures such as integrated R&D networks.

This paper systematically summarizes the internationalized experience model of research institutions with Chinese characteristics since the reform and opening-up. From the perspective of internationalization model transformation, policy integration and cooperation among emerging economies, it presents the opportunities and challenges faced by the research institutions in the process of internationalization and provides a theoretical basis for improving the internationalization ability of research institutions.

How does the internationalization of R&D influence the development of dynamic capabilities? Based on the observation that Chinese high‐tech companies internationalize parts of their R&D activities to Western countries before they have established sound domestic R&D capabilities and in opposition to other held beliefs about internationalization drivers this paper aims to investigate the role of global R&D organizational structure in the development of dynamic capabilities.

This research is based on a qualitative case study using data of one Chinese high‐tech firm to develop testable propositions.

The research develops three main propositions: the loss of competitive advantage and relevant capabilities in the domestic market is more important to the internationalization of R&D than an attempt to enter new international markets; in joint development teams with a partner company, a functional R&D team sub‐structure using heavyweight or autonomous teams leads to a higher degree of knowledge exchange in the partner sub‐project organization; R&D projects conducted in organizations with higher formal control lead to a higher degree of learning than R&D projects conducted when control is shared with a partner; R&D projects which rely extensively on external knowledge (with no formal control) produce better outcomes for learning than projects conducted under joint control; R&D projects which rely extensively on external knowledge (with no formal control) produce better outcomes for learning than projects conducted in full control.

As the research is based on data of one single case study there are several inherent limitations regarding validity and reliability which need to be covered by future research.

This paper posits that R&D internationalization has a positive influence on the development of dynamic capabilities.

The article aims to explain how the drivers of subsidiary evolution influence a multinational company's (MNC) research and development (R&D) subsidiary's evolution over time.

The article draws on insights from a longitudinal comparative case study of three Swedish MNCs' Indian R&D units.

The study shows that the evolution of R&D units is a triangular showdown among headquarter assignments, local market constraints, and opportunities, and that subsidiary choice is an important driver of both mandated extension and stagnation. We summarize our findings in various propositions that emphasize different drivers over time and that highlight the strong impact of a subsidiary's understanding of the corporate immune system on the evolution of that subsidiary's R&D mandate.

Drawing on the common limitations of a case study approach, further research is needed to test the suggested propositions with larger samples, ideally with subsidiaries in other emerging and developed markets.

The study illustrates the risks involved for subsidiary managers when pushing an R&D mandate-related initiative too far and provoking the corporate immune system. For headquarters management, the study highlights the importance of understanding that the development of R&D competence and capability at a subsidiary cannot be guided solely by headquarter assignments and local market characteristics; rather, the subsidiary's initiatives also need to be considered.

The study contributes to the literature on R&D internationalization by showing how the drivers of subsidiary evolution influence a subsidiary's R&D mandates over time and that subsidiary choice is an important driver of both mandated extension and stagnation.

In order to enhance the performance of R&D in manufacturing organizations, the R&D managers need to identify the internal as well as the external factors that affect the R&D performance of manufacturing organizations in India. They need to understand the inter‐dependencies of these factors. This paper seeks to identify the critical success factors for R&D in Indian manufacturing firms.

There may be a number of factors that are critical for achieving acceptable R&D performance and these factors have been identified by a number of instruments or means, such as questionnaire surveys, brainstorming, and consolidation by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). A total of 14 factors have been identified by using principal component analysis and finally we have developed a structure of interrelationship among the identified critical success factors using an interpretive structural model.

The results show that R&D vision and direction and R&D oriented culture are the most important critical success factors (CSFs) and they have a great influence on the other CSFs. Though R&D vision and direction and R&D oriented culture are the short‐term objectives, Indian manufacturing firms should be equipped with proper R&D management strategy to achieve the long‐term objectives, such as achievement of revenue and profitability within a quick time frame.

Although R&D managers of Indian manufacturing firms are aware of various critical success factors, a systematic approach is required for identifying them, and as these factors may have complex interrelations between them for analyzing R&D performance in a manufacturing firm, it is essential that such an approach is in place. The hierarchy based ISM further defines those factors which are really critical and need more focus on the root causes of the success. In addition to that, the proposed ISM model acts as a good guideline in order to improve the performance of the manufacturing R&D organizations in India.

The paper provides an interpretive structural model to develop a map of the complex relationships and magnitude among identified critical success factors.