An insight into R&D in emerging countries and prominent concepts within the literature

Abstract

Multinational companies (MNCs) show an apparent tendency toward research and development (R&D) for the last three decades. Many kinds of research have recently focused on R&D in emerging countries (ECs) to reveal the differences from R&D in developed countries. This paper presents a literature review consisting of 23 articles from 2004-2019 on R&D in emerging markets. By conducting content analysis, it has been analyzed their prominent concepts and results. According to the research focus, the articles examined have been classified into five main groups – internationalization of R&D, R&D activities, R&D investments, technology-based R&D, R&D offshoring – along with articles that cannot be grouped. The main purpose of this study is to determine the current tendency of R&D in emerging markets. Thus, it provides to understand in which position R&D has in emerging markets, and under which circumstances it is successful. Furthermore, practitioners can benefit from the results of the presented study. The systematic evaluation of the findings contributes to the formation of a general view for future research.