Can locally-recruited R&D personnel significantly contribute to multinational subsidiary innovation in an emerging economy?Xiaoying Li, Jue Wang and Xiaming Liu International Business Review, 2013, vol. 22, issue 4, 639-651 Abstract: This paper assesses the role of locally-recruited R&D personnel relative to their expatriate counterparts as regards innovation in multinational subsidiaries in an emerging economy. Two hypotheses are developed based on a network approach to multinational enterprises in an emerging economy setting, and tested on a sample of 317 multinational subsidiaries in China. Our results indicate that locally-recruited R&D personnel have played a limited role in innovation within multinational subsidiaries. While making a marginally significant contribution to R&D output due to their direct supply of technological knowledge, locally-recruited R&D personnel are unable to translate subsidiary R&D expenditure into successful patent applications probably because of their lack of technology management skills. In comparison, R&D expatriates significantly contribute to multinational subsidiary R&R output in both dimensions. Keywords: China; Innovation; Local R&D personnel; Multinational subsidiary; R&D expatriates (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:iburev:v:22:y:2013:i:4:p:639-651 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2012.12.002 Access Statistics for this article International Business Review is currently edited by P. Ghauri More articles in International Business Review from Elsevier |
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