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Reasons for R&D internationalization

There are various reasons why a firm decides to or not to internationalise. This section reviews these based on a survey, literature, interviews and other sources of information.

• An APEC-IST survey was carried out by the International R&D Cooperation Division, Agency of Industry Science and Technology, Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Japan in 1999, to study the R&D internationalization in industrial sector among APEC economies. 24 reasons were included in the survey form sent to the 21 economies. The following chapters give the results of the study:
  • The reasons given by the respondents as also those mentioned in other studies are included in the chapter on Reasons for/against internationalisation. The results are sorted out based on developed and developing economies.
  • The results are also available in tabulated form in Table 1.
• Other reports on the reasons for internationalisation are discussed in the chapter on Observations made by another study.
• The measurable share of international technology transfer i.e. trade with patents, licenses and technical know-how has been dominated by multinational companies for years, as also R&D internationalization i.e. setting up of own R&D laboratories abroad. Role of MNCs/TNCs reviews the role played by the MNCs in international trade. Statistics on the top 200 TNCs strongly backs up this role.
• Why do firms internationalise? It is basically because other economies offer them those facilities or advantages which they themselves may not have. Niche strengths of different economies brings out these for some of the APEC economies.