International evidence on R&D services outsourcing practices by technological firms
- Autores: Andrea Martínez Noya, Esteban García Canal
- Localización: The Multinational Business Review, ISSN 1525-383X, ISSN-e 2054-1686, Vol. 22, Nº. 4, 2014, págs. 31-40
- Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
Purpose Outsourcing practices of some stages of the R&D process to specialized providers have been gaining momentum during the last years even by firms operating in high-tech sectors. Through the disintegration of the innovation process in this paper, we 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? Design/methodology/approach The data used in this paper stems from an original international survey on R&D services outsourcing. This survey includes a sample of 182 US and EU firms competing in technology-intensive industries.
Findings 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.
Originality/value 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.
