On the R&D giants' shoulders: do FDI help to stand on them?

• Autores: Sandro Montresor, Antonio Vezzani
• Localización: Economia e Politica Industriale, ISSN 0391-2078, ISSN-e 1972-4977, Vol. 42, Nº. 1, 2015, págs. 33-60
• Idioma: italiano
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• Dialnet Métricas: 1 Cita
• Resumen

  • We investigate the impact of outward Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) on the Multinational Corporations technological leadership, meant as the capacity of entering and remaining among the top Research & Development (R&D) world investors. The research hypotheses are formulated by distinguishing FDI in R&D from FDI in other economic activities. The findings support our hypotheses with respect to the top R&D circles of the European Industrial Research and Innovation Scoreboard. Increasing the number of FDI projects in R&D makes the entrance in these circles more probable. The same holds true for non-R&D FDI, but with a lower impact. The number of R&D-FDI also reduces the probability of exiting from the circles, while that of non-R&D ones does not. These results are robust when the value of FDI projects in R&D is considered, apart from their impact on the exit from the circles, which appears to vanish. Although with caveats, the policy support to R&D internationalization provides companies with a sustainable competitive advantage in the race for the most substantial R&D investments and for the entailed economic and financial benefits.