International R&D and MNCs' innovation performance: An integrated approach
研究了在什么条件下跨国公司的研发活动分散能提升创新绩效，发现当研发规模经济小、研发地点技术强、内部知识整合好时，分散研发更有利。
We propose an integrated framework establishing the environmental and organizational contingencies under which the international dispersion of R&D activities benefits innovation performance in multinational firms. We suggest that R&D dispersion is more likely to enhance innovation performance – the smaller economies of scale and scope in R&D, the greater the technological strength of R&D locations and the stronger intra-firm knowledge integration. Employing a panel dataset of 175 R&D intensive US, EU, and Japanese firms, our findings provide support for this framework and suggest that these contingencies need to be taken into account simultaneously. Technology diversification strengthens rather than weakens the relationship between international R&D and performance, which we attribute to the positive influence of recombining knowledge sourced across diverse locations.