Knowledge sourcing, geopolitics, and FDI : An empirical analysis on the US green and digital sectors
研究了地缘政治摩擦下，美国企业通过外国直接投资在绿色和数字领域获取东道国知识的效果，发现绿色领域投资更有效，而地缘距离和政治风险会削弱收益。
Abstract Research Summary This paper examines how foreign direct investment (FDI) shapes firms' sourcing of knowledge in the digital and green domains under rising geopolitical frictions. We assemble a firm–country dyadic panel (2013–2020) linking US patent backward citations to firms' FDI, enriched with bilateral geopolitical distance and host‐country geopolitical risk (GPR), and estimate a gravity model of knowledge flows. We find that while in green technologies both the presence and cumulative scale of FDI are robustly associated with higher local knowledge integration, in digital technologies FDI effects are weaker and emerge through innovative mergers and acquisitions. Geopolitical distance is systematically associated with lower learning payoffs from FDI, especially in green activities, while host‐country GPR tends to weaken green FDI returns but to interact positively in the digital domain. Managerial Summary This study shows that foreign direct investment (FDI) remains an important channel through which US firms tap foreign expertise, but its effectiveness depends on sector, entry mode, and geopolitics. In green technologies, FDI is consistently associated with greater absorption of host‐country knowledge, but these benefits are lower when host countries are geopolitically distant or politically riskier. In digital technologies, smaller or generic investments yield limited learning gains, whereas more targeted and innovation‐oriented investments, especially innovative acquisitions, are more effective. Unlike in green sectors, political risk in digital settings does not systematically undermine learning and may sometimes support the value of selected investments.