IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unm/unumer/2009033.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Attracting and embedding R&D by multinational firms: policy recommendations for EU new member states

Author

Listed:
  • Narula, Rajneesh

    (John H Dunning Centre for International Business, Henley Business School, University of Reading)

Abstract

This paper asks: what can governments of new member states do to encourage MNEs to invest in R&D? There are two types of MNE R&D. Innovation can be undertaken in order to adapt its existing products and services to local stimuli. This is 'demand-driven R&D'. Innovation can also be in stand-alone R&D facilities which are considerably more knowledgeintensive, and imply a considerably greater dependence on domestic knowledge sources and infrastructure. This is 'supply-side R&D'. These two types of R&D require somewhat different approaches, and necessarily imply different policy options. In this paper, furthermore, we focus on the MNE and the potential for linkages, and do not limit ourselves to FDI and spillovers. MNEs engage in a variety of other informal and non-equity agreements to engage in knowledge exchange. We also deliberately consider the scope and competence at the MNE subsidiary level. These two novelties are useful in helping highlight the point that the tendency to focus on FDI flows is flawed, since knowledge exchanges and innovation are establishment level phenomena. An MNE policy is required which must link FDI policy and industrial policy in tandem. This paper argues that it is most practical to recommend that new member states focus on attracting and fostering demand-driven R&D activities by MNEs. Furthermore, we recommend that governments reduce the emphasis on costs while increasing the emphasis on specialised locationbound knowledge assets, and setting up programmes that foster demand-oriented upgrading of public R&D and human capital.

Suggested Citation

  • Narula, Rajneesh, 2009. "Attracting and embedding R&D by multinational firms: policy recommendations for EU new member states," MERIT Working Papers 2009-033, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
  • Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2009033
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2009/wp2009-033.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jude Cristina & Pop Silaghi Monica, 2011. "Innovation Versus Income Convergence In Central And Eastern Europe. Is There A Correlation?," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(1), pages 72-79, July.
    2. Uros Delevic & Irina Heim, 2017. "Institutions In Transition: Is The Eu Integration Process Relevant For Inward Fdi In Transition European Economies?," Eurasian Journal of Economics and Finance, Eurasian Publications, vol. 5(1), pages 16-32.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    R&D; MNEs; EU expansion; human capital; new member states; innovation policies;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • P36 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions - - - Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training; Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2009033. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ad Notten (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/meritnl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.