R&D Collaboration and Global Strategy in High-tech SMEs

摘要

This paper explores which mechanism is involved between firms' global strategy and R&D collaboration mode. Innovation is originally linked to the role of R&D which is the most significant strategy in technological companies (Yip, 1989; Conte & Vivarelli, 2014). To penetrate global markets, firms, especially SMEs, select local partners for R&D to minimize risks and save cost, whereas few firms choose global partners. It would be easy if we could collaborate with partners abroad who are in the target market and understand their market needs. However, global partnership is challenging for SMEs due to the lack of networks, lack of top level human resources, lack of budget, and lack of experience. There are certain criteria involved when firms select partners or conduct in-house R&D. To examine the criteria, we select high-tech firms who export and collaborate R&D with local and/or global partners. The purpose of our study is to encourage SMEs to achieve globalization and benefit from collaboration with local and/or global partners. The impact of collaborative innovation on SMEs and how it influences globalization is valuable to examine. We used the Upsala model for understanding the steps of globalization, and ‘Global Strategy' theory (Laanti, Gabrielsson, & Gabrielsson, 2007) to analyze case firms' global strategies. Our study explores this phenomenon for the first time: How do SMEs leverage globalization successfully through different types of R&D partners? At the end of our study, we recommend an appropriate collaboration mode for each case firm based on the firm's circumstances and the decision of globalization strategy.