Does R?D Internationalization Promote Firm Innovation Performance?

R&D internationalization is an important method for multinational companies(MNCs)to learn and introduce advanced foreign technology,and an important way for emerging economies multinationals(EMNs)to improve their technology and achieve technological catch-up.Under the new situation,the previous location advantage of the cheap labor and raw materials is gradually disappearing.More and more Chinese firms have begun to implement R&D internationalization,in order to establish new competitive advantages based on technology and knowledge innovation,conduct upgrading and transformation,and so as to cope with the increasingly fierce competition in the international market.China's R&D internationalization projects have been rising continually and steadily since 2006,with an average annual growth rate around 170%.So,does R&D internationalization of MNCs truely improve their innovation performance? Previous literatures have studied on this question.They never come to an agreement,but come out with various theoretical models,such as positive linear,negative linear,quadratic or cubic curves and so on.Various theoretical models and conclusions have promoted further research on the contextual factors,such as corporation's absorptive capabilities and internationalization experience,which moderate the correlation between R&D internationalization and innovation performance.These studies,however,focus merely on the direct effect between R&D internationalization and innovation performance,and never explore further to understand their mediation mechanism and path.It's an important goal for R&D internationalization to acquire advanced technologies and knowledge abroad.MNCs expand the scale and diversity of their knowledge base(KB)through R&D internationalization,and thus further improve their innovation performance.KB may play as an important mediator between R&D internationalization and innovation performance.This mediation effect can be moderated by other contextual factors,of which institution factor,as an important consideration for FDI of EMNs,is the most critical one.Therefore,with a sample of 249 listed companies with overseas R&D projects in Chinese knowledge-intensive industries from 2009 to 2015,this paper comes up with KB's mediation model moderated by institutional distance,and studies the specific mediation mechanism of Chinese enterprises' R&D internationalization on innovation performance.This study comes to following conclusions.1)With the increasing R&D internationalization(intensity and diversity),it is easier for enterprises to embed in the R&D network of host country,benefit from collaboration effect,and thus promote innovation performance.2)KB(scope and diversity)plays as a mediator between R&D internationalization and innovation performance.The increasing R&D internationalization(intensity and diversity)enables MNCs to access,acquire more knowledge resources,enhance their KB(scope and diversity),and thus improve the efficiency of knowledge absorption and integration process,promote innovative performance.3)By moderating the correlation between KB(scope and diversity)and innovation performance,institutional distance enforces an impact on KB's mediation effect.A farther institutional distance will increase the liability of foreignness,increase the communication and coordination cost,and thus reduce the efficiency of knowledge absorption and integration.4)According to the comparation between subsamples by industry,IT service enterprises have strong mediation effect and less contribution from R&D internationalization(intensity and diversity)to innovation performance than traditional manufacture enterprises.This paper study mediation mechainism between R&D internationalization and innovation performance,and the moderation effect of institutional distance in great depth,which expands the theoretical study of R&D internationalization and innovation performance.This paper also has certain guiding significance for the internationalization and the practice to improve innovation performance of Chinese MNCs.