Outside the Triad: An Examination of International R&D Investments within Peripheral Economies

Corporate R&D, traditionally one of the most shielded and most centralized activities in the corporate value chain, has experienced a rapid internationalization over the last decade and a half. The risks of technology leakages, expensive double inventions, difficulties to control and a desire to reap economies of scale have traditionally led firms to concentrate their R&D activities within close proximity to corporate headquarters (see Ambos and Schlegelmilch, 2004; Pearce, 1989). A changing competitive environment, the increasing dispersion of knowledge and the concentration of competencies in so-called ‘pockets of knowledge’ around the world, has forced firms to absorb the risks of loosening control on their core competencies and to set up R&D units in overseas locations.