Who explores further? Evidence on R&D outsourcing from the survey of research and development

Abstract

Building off the resource‐based view and the knowledge‐based view, our study aims to examine determinants of firms’ R&D outsourcing, using annually‐conducted firm‐level survey data of Japanese R&D companies from 1984–2012. This survey allows us to measure strategic R&D outsourcing, isolated from those more for cost‐reducing, such as prototyping, testing and inspecting. The results corroborate the argument of complementarity in scale between internal R&D and R&D outsourcing. We also find that firms employing more doctorate holders and diversifying in knowledge spaces tend to make more use of R&D outsourcing. This study sheds light on firms’ absorptive capacity, associated both with higher‐order R&D human capital and diversified knowledge spaces, as determinants of R&D outsourcing.

The strategic role of R&D outsourcing practices and partners in the relationship between product modularization and new product development efficiency

“…Adopting three items from the work of Parente et al (2011), we measured R&D outsourcing to capture the extent to which the firm conducted its outsourced activities. The items were subsequently used by Kamuriwo and Baden-Fuller (2016) and Yamaguchi et al (2021). Competency trust was measured with three items to evaluate the extent to which the firm trusted its outsourcing partners concerning their capabilities, resources and performance.…”

“…(2011), we measured R&D outsourcing to capture the extent to which the firm conducted its outsourced activities. The items were subsequently used by Kamuriwo and Baden-Fuller (2016) and Yamaguchi et al . (2021).…”

Is boundary-spanning exploration effective?

“…This database was created by collating the bibliographic information from the standardized data organized by the Japan Patent Office and extracting the items necessary for innovation research. For example, this database has been used by Yamaguchi, Nitta, Hara, and Shimizu (2021). The 2020 version that was used in this study contains data from 1964 to mid-2019 and a total of 14 million lines of application data, including patent citation information.…”

Modeling and analysis of effective factors in the outsourcing of R&D projects by SEM and ISM approaches: A case study of "Iranian aviation industries organization"

“…Bruccoleri et al, [19] suggest that offshore outsourcing and captive offshoring have opposite effects in terms of their influence on the magnitude of product recall. Damanpour et al [20] indicate that the outsourcing process mechanisms, especially the mechanisms associated with implementing the outsourcing decision, predict insourcing.Thakur-Wernz&Wernz [21]provide evidence that knowledge spillovers do happen, and R&D offshore outsourcing can turn vendors into potential competitors.HA et al, ' [22] findingis that outsourcing innovation is risk-taking behavior, but outsourcing product innovation strategy is a less risky option as compared to the outsourcing process innovation.Yamaguchi et al, [23] state that firms employing more doctorate holders and diversifying in knowledge spaces tend to make more use of R&D outsourcing.…”