The Internationalization of Corporate R&D

THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF CORPORATE R&DA fifth data set is the European Community Innovation Survey (CIS 3) (Ebersberger &Lööf 2005). The survey is a European harmonized study which aims at studying thelevel of innovation in companies. The most recent data is from 2001. The data that isused discusses Nordic multinational companies and their investments in innovationsand R&D, and covers about 3,400 companies. See Figure 4-1 for a summary of therecent empirical studies.Figure 4-1 Empirical studies concerning the internationalization of Swedish R&D.Study of Inward R&D Data Set Main FindingsBandick & Hanson (2006)Ebersberger & Lööf (2005)ITPS (2004b)Swedish manufacturingindustry 1986–2000Observations: 13,490Data sources: ITPS andSCBCompanies in theNordic countries, 2001Observations. 5,186Data source: CIS3Swedish manufacturingindustry 1990–2000Observations: 2,200,companiesData sources: ITPS andSCB• No evidence that foreign-owned companiesacquiring Swedish multinational companies(MNCs) have removed R&D activity from Sweden.• Swedish non-multinational 5 companies’ R&Dintensity 6 seem to increase in Sweden after aforeign acquisition.• The share of high-skilled workers increases whennon-multinational Swedish companies becomeforeign-owned, but not when Swedish MNCschange ownership.• Technology sourcing is an important motive behindthe acquisitions of Swedish MNCs.• The probability of engaging in R&D and innovationactivity does not differ between domestic-ownedmultinational companies and foreign-ownedmultinational companies.• In Sweden, the R&D intensity of Swedish-ownedMNCs is significantly higher compared to all othertypes of companies.• Nordic-controlled MNCs were much moreembedded in the four home-countries nationalinnovation systems compared to Anglo-Saxonownedor Continental European-ownedcompanies.• Foreign-owned companies did not have asignificantly lower R&D investment ratio in Swedencompared to the Swedish-owned manufacturingcompanies in the 1990s.• Multinational companies conducted more R&D inSweden compared to non-multinational companiesactive in Sweden.5 Non-multinational companies are companies without affiliates outside of Sweden.6 R&D intensity can be defined in different ways, such as a country’s total business R&D expenditure as ashare of GDP, a company’s R&D expenditure as share of sales or R&D personnel per 1000 employees. Inthis section it is defined as R&D expenditure as a share of sales.107