Which forms of R&D internationalisation behaviours promote firm's innovation performance? An empirical study from the China International Industry Fair 2016–2018

ABSTRACT

Chinese enterprises are increasingly operating R&D internationalisation to promote their innovation performance in forms of cross-border R&D collaboration, setting up offshoring R&D centres and transnational merger and acquisition (M&A), but the existing literature has not yet discussed this topic thoroughly regarding the effect of various forms of R&D internationalisation behaviour. Based on 738 Chinese enterprises examined using a questionnaire survey at the China International Industry Fair (CIIF) 2016–2018, this study analyses the impacts of different R&D internationalisation behaviour on firms’ innovation performance and the moderating effect of a firm's absorptive capacity and international experience on the relationship. The empirical results reveal (1) that three different forms of R&D internationalisation behaviour all contribute to enhancing a firm's innovation performance, (2) that Chinese enterprises can capture their innovation performance by operating multiple R&D internationalisation behaviour forms simultaneously, and (3) that a firm's absorptive capacity only exerts a positive moderating effect on the relationship between the cross-border R&D collaboration and the firm's innovation performance, which implies to some extent that operating R&D internationalisation in the form of cross-border R&D collaboration for Chinese firms demands higher absorptive capacity in comparison to setting up offshoring R&D institutions and transnational merger and acquisition (M&A).

KEYWORDS:

• R&D internationalisation
• innovation performance
• Chinese enterprises
• China International Industry Fair (CIIF)

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant number 41871110].

Notes on contributors

Yuefang Si

Yuefang Si is an Associate Professor and the head in the Department of Economic Geography, School of Urban & Regional Sciences, East China Normal University, 3663 North Zhongshan Road, Shanghai, China 200062. Her research interests include firm innovation, Chinese outward FDI and innovation networks, etc. Her work widely appears in peer-reviewed journals such as Technovation, Journal of Contemporary China and Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, among many others.

Wanxin Liu

Wanxin Liu is a Postgraduate in the School of Urban & Regional Sciences, East China Normal University, 3663 North Zhongshan Road, Shanghai, China 200062.

Yi Zhang

Yi Zhang is a PhD candidate in the School of Urban & Regional Sciences, East China Normal University, 3663 North Zhongshan Road, Shanghai, China 200062. Her research interests include internationalization of Chinese firms, high-technology parks and regional innovation development. She has published papers in peer-reviewed journals such as Growth and Change and so on.