Sourcing Technological Knowledge Through Foreign Inward Licensing to Boost the Performance of Indian Firms: The Contingent Effects of Internal R&D and Business Group Affiliation

Sourcing technological knowledge from abroad is becoming a popular strategy among emerging market firms (EMFs). Combining the Knowledge-Based View and the Resource Dependence Theory, we argue that augmenting technological knowledge through foreign licensing enables EMFs to access state-of-the-art technological knowledge, reduce operational costs and risks associated to the innovation process, and develop a knowledge-based competitive advantage, ultimately boosting their financial performance. Using data about Indian firms observed from 2001 to 2013, we find that firms with a higher share of foreign inward technology licenses report better financial performance. However, the positive impact of technological knowledge accessed through inward licensing on firm performance is contingent upon: (1) the internal knowledge developed through R&D activity, and (2) the affiliation with business groups. While Indian firms with higher level of internal R&D are able to better leverage the value of foreign technological knowledge, thus reaching higher performance, firms affiliated to business groups gain fewer benefits from licensed foreign technological knowledge than non-business-group affiliated firms

Have Chinese firms learned from their prior technology in-licensing? An analysis based on patent citations

With the rapid rise of Chinese economy, now ranking as the second largest economy in the world in 2010, many Chinese firms have started taking technological lead in the global market. Nevertheless, whether Chinese firms have learned from their prior in-licensing technologies and accumulated technological capabilities in sustaining their economic growth remains underexplored. This paper aims to fill this void. Using a unique dataset containing the information on licensing for 83 large Chinese firms in the electronic sector during 2000-2004, we find that these firms have successfully learned from the international technologies that they previously licensed-in when subsequent patent citations made by these Chinese licensee firms to their licensed patents are used to identify these successful learners.computer science; interdisciplinary applications; Information Science & Library Science; technological learning; technology license; patent citations; Chin

How fast do Chinese firms learn and catch up? Evidence from patent citations

There is a wealth of research on technological learning in developing countries, but few scholars have clearly addressed the issue of learning time in an empirical way. This paper aims to fill this void by presenting an empirical investigation of the time needed by Chinese firms to learn from the technologies that they have in-licensed. Furthermore, we analyzed in detail the antecedents leading to an acceleration or deceleration of the learning process among Chinese licensees. The results of an event history analysis indicate that recipient firms take on average 5.8 years to learn from their in-licensed technologies. The absorptive capacity and firm age of the licensees, the technology licensing scale, the age of the licensed technology, and the desorptive capability of the licensor firm all play a role in shortening the learning time.Sichuan Universitytechnological learning; innovation speed; technology license; event history analysis; patent citations; Chin