Many Taiwanese multinational corporation (MNC) increase the proportion of their foreign direct investment in R&D activities year by year. The companies investing in the advanced nations operate R&D activities in the local market obviously. Through this thesis, we desire to know the status of overseas R&D sites in these cases and their motives. Futhermore, we also want to discuss how they build up and operate these R&D sites. Due to much more innovative knowledge resources outside the parent country, Taiwanese companies need to globalize their R&D sites to acquire the R&D results; in addition, establish the network of overseas R&D sites makes MNCs to promote their products in the global market smoothly. However, MNCs have to disperse their corporate resources in diffirent locations, and give each site diffirent roles and tasks. Other important issues among these MNCs are how to manage these dispersed R&D sites to achieve the efficiency and the flexibility and what the strategies they consider. Overseas R&D activity of Taiwanese MNCs is still evolving, and Taiwanese companies have their particular background. In order to find out the causes of this situation, we used the case study approach. We selected the cases which had the complete building process of overseas R&D activities, and interviewed the top managers who had the experiences in the process to gather the materials. Besides, other second-hand materials are also providing us more information to comprehend our sample cases. We found that Taiwanese MNCs had diffirent motives in each stage. They need to respond to local market, and provide the commercial products rapidly. In addition, local technology and human resource are also the important wealth to strengthen headquarters¡¦ R&D capabilities. Under the consideration of speed, cost and competition, MNCs integrated the R&D resources of parent and host countries aggressively, and they had to think how to match the corporate strategy. Further, they tried to manage organizational information flows and coordinate these R&D activities. Moreover, using several kinds of communication patterns helps headquarters to understand and control overseas R&D activities, and makes R&D knowledge and experiences circulate inside the organization to stimulate organizational innovative capacity.

This paper investigates the impact of returnee entrepreneurs and their knowledge spillovers on innovation in high-tech firms in China. Using panel data for 1,318 high-tech firms in Beijing Zhongguancun Science Park (ZSP) we find that returnee entrepreneurs create a significant spillover effect that promotes innovation in other local high-tech firms. The extent of this spillover effect is positively moderated by the non-returnee firm's absorptive capacity approximated by the skill level of employees. Multinational enterprises' R&D activities positively affect the innovation intensity of non-returnee firms only when these local firms possess the sufficient level of absorptive capacity. Our findings have important policy and managerial implications for policy-makers and practitioners.

The importance of product design has been getting attention in the past decade from scholars and practitioners. Design plays a critical role in firms’ product development and business strategies. In recent years, scholars began to see design innovation as another vital innovation element of a new product. A new product should encompass at least two innovation elements: technology innovation and design innovation. While technology points to the function of a product, design points to the form of a product. Despite the advocacy of scholarly examination of design innovation, there are few studies of design innovation. In this dissertation, two empirical studies have been conducted to examine the outcome of design innovation and the antecedents of design activities, respectively. Study 1 examines the effect of design innovation (as well as technology and service innovation) on new product performance. Additionally, the study examines the roles of marketing innovation and process innovation in mediating the relationships between these innovation activities and new product performance. Study 2 examines how firms’ absorptive capacity, competitive responsiveness, and product development resources drive design and R&D activities. Design and R&D activities typically lead to the introduction of design and technology innovation. Regarding the findings from this dissertation, the first study shows that design, technology, and service innovation (which, argued by this study, are the three main innovation elements of a new product) all contribute to new product performance. Additionally, marketing innovation and process innovation are found to mediate the relationship between these innovation elements and performance. The second study shows that a firm’s competitor responsiveness, absorptive capacity (captured by “institutional sources” and “market sources of information”), and product development resources (captured by “cross-functional design team”, “design or information control technologies”, and “concurrent engineering”) are positively related to firms’ design and R&D activities. / Thesis / Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) / Design plays a critical role in firms’ product development and business strategies. Traditionally, technology innovation has been the focus of new product development. In recent years, scholars have begun to see design innovation as another vital innovation element of a new product. In this dissertation, two empirical studies have been conducted to examine the outcome of design innovation and the antecedents of design activities, respectively. There are two key goals of this dissertation. The first goal is to understand the outcome of design innovation and what other factors jointly contribute to the outcome. The second goal is to understand what strategies that firms adopt lead to design activities. Answers to the first question show the performance implication of design innovation and the factors that drive the performance. Meanwhile, answers to the second question shed light on the firm strategies that drive design activities, which may lead to the introduction of design innovation. Empirical studies that tackle these questions are sparse.

Att mäta hur effektivt aktiviteter och processer utförs för att lokalisera förbättringspunkter är både svårt och komplext på en utvecklingsavdelning. Förbättringsmöjligheterna står i relation till hur väl de anställda är benägna att förmedla upplevelser av processerna, vad som kunde gjorts annorlunda för att korta ned delprocesserna inom avdelningen men likväl tvärfunktionellt. Utförandet av examensarbetet har varit förankrat på Scania Tekniskt Centrums avdelning för transmissionsutveckling. Fokus har legat på att, genom kartläggning av provprocessen och dess aktiviteter utföra en fallstudie mellan tidigare utförd dokumentation och pågående ärende för att se om liknande problematik upprepas och på så vis pekar på att inga förbättringsåtgärder implementerats sedan föregående version växellådor. Genom att analysera orsaker som ligger till grund för att provobjekt inte utnyttjas effektivt, utvärderades om ett gemensamt arbetssätt saknades och om implementering avstandardiserade arbetssätt skulle kunna medföra minskade ledtider samt säkra att informationsflöden inte faller bort. En nulägeskartläggning utfördes genom intervjuer och observationer för att under bearbetning sedan analyseras och belysa hur tillvägagångssätt ilika aktiviteter mellan grupper skiljer sig. Resultatet av fallstudien blev grunden till att ett ramverk för hur definitioner i förhållande till provobjektets värdeskapande-, icke värdeskapande men nödvändiga- och icke värdeskapande aktiviteter skapades. Detta för att möjliggöra framtida mätbarhet av provobjektens effektiva utnyttjande då definitionen tidigare inte varit klar. Definitionerna står i relation till teorin om slöseri men är anpassad till provobjekten i samråd med Scaniaanställda. Av studien kunde författarna med hjälp av hängiven personal peka påbrister i och emellan provprocessens aktiviteter. / Measuring how efficiently activities and processes are performed to identify improvement pointsis both difficult and complex for a research and development department. The possibilities of improvement are related to how well the employees are inclined to convey experiences of the processes, what could have been done differently to shorten the sub-processes within the department but also cross-functional. The execution of the thesis project has been based at Scania Technical Center’s department for transmission development. The focus has been on, by mapping the test process and its activities, carrying out a case study between previously performed documentation and an ongoing case to see if similar problems are repeated and thus pointing out that no improvement have been implemented since the previous version of gearboxes. By analyzing causes that determine test objects not being used effectively, the authors evaluated whether a common work method was lacking and whether implementing standardized working methods could lead to reduced lead times and ensure that information would not disappear in the process. A current situation survey was carried out through interviews and observations in order to analyze and clarify during the processing how approaches in equal activities between groups differ. The result of the case study formed a framework to define the relations to the test objects value added-, non-value-added but necessary- and non-value-added activities. This is to enable future measurability of the test objects effective utilization when the definition has not previously been completed. The definitions are in relation to the theory of waste but are adapted to the test objects in consultation with Scania employees. From the study, the authors could, with the help of dedicated staff, point out deficiencies in and between the test process activities.