Subsidiary-level R&D and Competitive Development in China

Abstract

Two of the most important conclusions of the preceding chapters are, firstly, the increasing emphasis on development of new products specifically for the Chinese market amongst the competitive imperatives of MNE subsidiaries and, secondly, the central role of in-house R&D in acquiring, assimilating and generating the technologies needed to achieve this. Here we see an in-house R&D unit as building on the core technologies of the parent MNE but, crucially, as operationalising this within the Chinese NSI and its emerging level-three resources. This positioning we see as allowing the subsidiary to continue to assert a distinctive competitive strength in China from its parent company’s technological heritage, but to then leverage local knowledge sources and competences to generate the specific individualised product scopes that target the local market.