The Internationalization of Corporate R&D

THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF CORPORATE R&DAll major Swedish universities have India-related R&D activity. Examples include theRoyal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm which has established closer collaborationwith the Indian government and universities. Karolinska Institutet Medical Universityin Stockholm signed a MoU with Indian parties in 2006 to further develop collaboration inresearch and education. The Swedish South Asian Studies Network was launched in 2001 atLund University (SASNET 2006). The aim is to encourage and promote an open and dynamicnetworking process in which Swedish researchers co-operate with researchers inSouth Asia and globally.11.5.2 Swedish and Indian Corporate OperationsThe Swedish manufacturing industry has a long tradition of exporting to andproducing goods locally in India. The scale and scope of these activities havegradually expanded and now often include production as well as sales directed atboth the Indian and other markets (Mitra 1986). Furthermore, since around 2003there has been significant expansion of R&D activities by Swedish companies inIndia. Several multinational Swedish-related companies now have both adaptiveR&D to serve local market requirements and innovative R&D that is mostly aimedat global markets.The following companies have established and expanded significant R&Doperations in India in the 2000s: ABB, AstraZeneca, Ericsson, Sandvik, SKF,Telelogic AB and Volvo. Alfa Laval and Atlas Copco are well-established playersin the Indian market but do not conduct significant R&D in the country. SvenskaHandelsbanken decided to open a representative office in India in 2006 and therebybecome the first bank from a Nordic country to do so (Nyhetsbrev Indien 2006).Swedish banks, accounting and management consulting firms and other servicesproviders have no or little BPO-KPO operations in India.Large companies, such as Ericsson and ABB, dominate R&D activities in India.Major multinational companies are often well-placed in establishing R&Doperations as they already have significant sales and production operations inIndia. The situation is different for SMEs or newcomers. Swedish SMEs typicallydo not have significant production or R&D activities in the country. They tend toprefer to operate in North America or neighboring European countries, includingthe Nordic countries and Eastern Europe. They often lack the financial recoursesand country knowledge required to set up in-house R&D centers in Asian locations.In some cases, they have encountered intellectual property rights issues associatedwith outsourcing arrangements. There are however, signs that SMEs are looking atIndia more seriously.Indian private and public sector companies have a long history of buyingtechnology from Sweden in a wide range of areas. In first half of the 2000s there293