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Innovation in China – some evidence from foreign R&D centres in Shanghai

Seamus GrimesDepartment of Geography/ Centre for Innovation and Structural

Change, National University of Ireland, Galway

Debin DuDepartment of Urban and Regional Economics

East China Normal University, ShanghaiPresented to Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British

Geographers Annual Conference 26-28 August,2009, Manchester

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Decentralisation of R&D by ‘globalising’ corporations

• MNCs becoming global corporations and decentralising activities (including some HQ and also R&D) outside home countries

• Changing geography of market growth – emergence of China and India


Booz & Company Global Innovation 1000 (2008)

Overseas expenditure by top corporate R&D spenders (2007)

Top 80 US $80.1bn of $146bn

Top 50 European $51.4bn of $117bn

Top 43 Japanese $40bn of $71.6bn


Booz & Company Global Innovation 1000 (2008)

Share of R&D facilities outside home markets of MNCs (2007)

From 45% in 1975 to 66% in 2005

2004-2007 MNCs increased R&D sites by 6% and staff by 22%

83% of new sites in China and India

91% of additional staff in China and India

2007: China a net importer of $24.8bn R&D from top 1000


Branstetter and Foley (2007) Facts and fallacies about US FDI in China NBER Working Paper 13470

• US affiliate activity in China is relatively modest and likely to remain modest for some time

• Small scale of activity partly because of focus on local market

• China = 2% of US affiliate sales (2004)

• Carry out relatively little R&D which is quite dependent on supporting activity of parent

• China’s exports of high technology goods quite dependent on imported components, technology and expertise

• It will be many years before China is a significant exporter of innovative goods and services


China’s position as a major high tech exporter needs to be qualified (OECD, 2008)

Generally FIFs are less R&D intensive than domestic firms (not specific to China)

Pronounced differentials in some sectors contributed to a perception that technology transfer to China and related spillovers to the domestic economy have not met expectations

Lack of absorptive capacity of Chinese firms

Lack of IPR protection


The technology gap – a national challenge Zizhu chuangzin

• Priority recently given to ‘indigenous innovation’

• What does it mean?

• Zizhu chuangzin (independent innovation) – worries inside MNCs re definition – worries re drive to ‘absorb’ foreign technologies (Wilsdon and Keeley (2007)

• Estimated that only 15% of the value of China’s electronic and IT exports is added in China

• 50-70% of manufacturing costs of a Chinese PC represents license fees to Microsoft and Intel


A domestic standards regime to better capture the economic value from technological progress

techno-nationalism?

• R&D investment in ICT sector both technology and demand driven

• Domestic technical requirements and standards is why Motorola, Nokia, Microsoft and Ericsson were among the first to establish extensive R&D activity in China

• China has become a major arena for global competition among MNCs


Chinese policy is technology-driven

• Despite the development of a market economy, the role of the state in China is quite different to the West

• A top-down policy

• A strong focus on R&D as a driver of innovation and a neglect of the importance of markets and sophisticated customers

• Hence the gap between domestic and foreign firms

• Few spllovers from foreign firms in Shanghai related to a lack of trust and the absence of social capital

• Corruption, IPR infringement undermine innovative behaviour


Foreign R&D in China – some controversial issues(OECD, 2008)

• The number of foreign R&D organisations

• The type of R&D conducted

• Their importance in global R&D network

• Their impact on innovative capacity of Chinese industrial sector

• 1990s: much of the earlier R&D was more show than substance and the result of government initiatives


The type of R&D performed(OECD, 2008)

• ‘doing R&D in China often seen as a way of building a market or gaining favour with the government’ (Wilsdon and Keeley, 2007)

• Market-seeking

• Short-term adaption to market

• Overall perception: most is development-focused rather than research

• Largely targeted at Chinese market

• Only a minority succeeding in integrating their R&D in China into their global R&D network

• Some selecting China as one of a few countries in global R&D


Foreign R&D in ChinaBoutellier, Gassmann and Von Zedtwitz (2008)

Various sources: 2000: 34 foreign R&D units 2002 82 2007 507 (Chinese Government figures say 750)2nd only to US for foreign R&D labs But in 2007, the US was a net importer from top 1000 of

$108.5bn compared with China’s $24.8bnImpressive growth of foreign R&D in China, but still

relatively small


Rationale for offshoring R&D(OECD, 2008)

• Initially MNEs shifted a significant part of their manufacturing to China because of low costs

• Later they undertook related R&D activity

• More recently, they located research and product development for the global market in China

• Access to human resources a more important driver than market access, adaption of products to market or support of export-oriented manufacturing operations


Below is the chart of GDP by all major cities in China for the year of 2007:


Foreign R&D in ShanghaiMOST Survey 2006 + 2007 fieldwork

• 2004: 6.77bn RMB (USD 0.99bn)

• 22.6% of all FDI R&D in China

• 2005: 75% of Business Expenditure in R&D (BERD) and 43% of total R&D expenditure in Shanghai

• 2006: 9.7bn RMB (USD 1.42bn)


MOST Survey Shanghai 2006

• 156 R&D operations (123 centres) registered (Shanghai Bureau of Statistics)

• 2 > 1bn RMB (USD 146.3m)

• 10 > 100m RMB (USD 14.6m)

• 14 50-100m RMB (USD 7.3m – USD14.6m)

• 48 10-50m RMB (USD 1.46m – USD7.3m)

• 53 < 10m RMB (USD 1.46m)


MOST Survey Shanghai 2006

• 70% <100

• 42% <30

• 9 >500

• 4 >1000

• GM Joint Venture Pan Asia 1,240 employees

• GE 1,200

• 13,397 employed = 15% of total Shanghai R&D labour force (11,007 scientists/engineers)


Plans to grow

• AMD Shanghai to 400

• EMC China to 500

• Continental China 600 by 2011

• Honeywell to 3,000

• GlaxoSmithKline to 1,000 in 10 years

• SAP to 1,500

• 2/5 of all Shanghai R&D centres are Fortune 500 companies


R&D centres by functionMOST (2006)

• Tactical: early stage R&D centres for local production and technical support – may evolve over time to more significant functions

• Global/Regional Centres: 33 in Shanghai – in 7 cases they are the largest or only global R&D centre

• Many MNCs have relocated Asia Pacific R&D from Singapore and Japan to Shanghai (Danisco, Dow)

• Upgraded centres: SAP to SAP Research Institute


Conclusion

• Despite the rapid growth in foreign R&D centres in China and Shanghai, many investments are modest

• While there has been some outsourcing of tasks from HQ to Shanghai, and some contributions to global operations from Shanghai, the primary focus is on the local market and the Asia Pacific region

• The Chinese market has shifted from the earlier competition (and monopoly) between MNCs with high margins and major contracts to a new competition for the rapidly expanding middle market of lower priced products and lower margins.


Conclusion

• Many MNCs see China as a very significant market in the future and the arena where they must compete, not only with other MNCs, but with a growing number of Chinese companies.

• Winning and maintaining market share in this new market will determine for some their ability to compete globally.

• Thus R&D investment in China is part of growing with this new market.

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