The spatial distribution of foreign direct investment in R%D within host countries. An empirical examination of foreign subsidiaries in Spain

Adelheid Holl and Ruth Rama

International Journal of Multinational Corporation Strategy, 2016, vol. 1, issue 1, 65-86

Abstract: We discuss the patterns of foreign direct investment in R%D within host countries and provide an empirical analysis for Spain by comparing foreign subsidiaries' R%D location patterns with that of domestic plants. We find that foreign subsidiaries' R%D is strongly concentrated in Madrid and Catalonia, the two largest Spanish regional agglomerations. Networked foreign subsidiaries involved in external technology sourcing still centralise to a greater extent their R%D activities in these leading regions. The concentration of foreign direct investment in R%D is significantly greater than that of domestic firms' R%D. The most technologically intensive foreign subsidiaries, however, are not attracted to Madrid, in spite of the alleged advantages of global cities in terms of openness and connectivity; but this is not a specificity of foreign subsidiaries as we observe a similar pattern for domestic firms.

Keywords: Spanish regions; foreign subsidiaries; spatial distribution; foreign direct investment; FDI; R%D location patterns; research and development; innovation; networking; Spain; domestic plants. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=76663 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijmcst:v:1:y:2016:i:1:p:65-86

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Multinational Corporation Strategy from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().