Thursby, Jerry, Thursby, Marie. "Factors in the Selection of R&D Sites." Here or There? A Survey of Factors in Multinational R&D Location -- Report to the Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2006.
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Here or There? A Survey of Factors in Multinational R&D Location
BOX 2
Factors in Selection of Site
There are highly qualified R&D personnel in this country. (QualR&D)
There are university faculty with special scientific or engineering expertise in this country. (UnivFac)
We were offered tax breaks and/or direct government assistance. (TaxBreaks)
In this country it is easy to negotiate ownership of intellectual property from research relationships. (Ownership)
Exclusive of tax breaks and direct government assistance, the costs of R&D are low in this country. (Costs)
The cultural and regulatory environment in this country is conducive to spinning off or spinning in new businesses. (Spin)
It is easy to collaborate with universities in this country. (CollabUniv)
There is good protection of intellectual property in this country. (IPProtect)
There are few regulatory and/or research restrictions in this country. (FewRestrict)
The R&D facility was established to support sales to foreign customers. (SupSales)
This country has high growth potential. (Growth)
The R&D facility was established to support production for export to other countries. (SupExport)
The establishment of an R&D facility was a regulatory or legal prerequisite for access to the local market. (LegalReg)
Note that each statement was worded so that agreement implies that the factor is favorable, from the standpoint of the firm, for the location.
The data generated by this procedure allow a variety of comparisons regarding the factors that influence location. Factors can be compared for sites in the home country versus sites outside the home country. Sites outside the home country and in a developed economy can be compared to sites in a developing or emerging economy. Another stratification of interest is between the responses of U.S.-based firms versus those firms whose home country is in Western Europe. With the exception of a few factors, however, U.S. and Western European firms did not differ in their responses
