Working Paper #2008-045
Intra-firm Technology Transfer and R&D in Foreign Affiliates: Substitutes or Complements? Evidence from Japanese Multinational Firms
R&D in foreign affiliates and technology transferred from their parent
firms are important potential drivers of productivity in host countries.
In this paper we examine the simultaneous impact of local R&D and
intra-firm international technology transfer on productivity growth in
foreign affiliates. We estimate a dynamic productivity model on a large
sample of Japanese manufacturing affiliates worldwide in 1996-1997 and
1999-2000. We find that both affiliate R&D and intra-firm technology
transfer contribute to productivity growth, while technology transfer
exhibits decreasing marginal returns. The two sources of technology are
complements: use of one source of technology increases the marginal
impact of the other.
- Keywords
-
- R&D
- technology transfer
- multinational firms
- JEL codes
-
- F23
- O32
- O33
- UNU-MERIT
- Working
- Papers
- ISSN
- 1871-9872
Cite this as
APA 7th ed.Belderbos, R., Ito, B., & Wakasugi, R. (2008). Intra-firm Technology Transfer and R&D in Foreign Affiliates: Substitutes or Complements? Evidence from Japanese Multinational Firms (UNU-MERIT Working Paper No. 2008-045). UNU-MERIT. https://unu-merit.nl/publications/working-papers/abstract/?id=3494