Whither geographic proximity? Bypassing local R&D units in foreign university collaboration.

ABSTRACT: MNCs often engage in international research collaborations with foreign universities through one of their central R&D laboratories (at headquarters or elsewhere) even though they operate a local R&D unit close to that university, and hence forego the benefits of geographic proximity and local collaboration. Drawing on the knowledge-based theory of the firm, we hypothesize that the choice between distant and local collaboration systematically relates to the knowledge capabilities of the firms' R&D units, the characteristics of the focal knowledge, and local knowledge leakage risks. Analysis of close to 13,000 research collaborations with foreign universities by the world's major biopharmaceutical firms (1995-2015) confirms that collaboration at distance occurs if this allows the firm to ben

SUBMITTER: Belderbos R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8039807 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature