The Location Determinates of Overseas R&D across Developing and Developed Areas: The Case of Japan and the US

This paper aims to find out the overseas R&D location determinates of MNEs in Japan and the US. This paper found that the location determinates of American overseas R&D are impacted by GDP, GDPP, HTE, R&D/GDP, IPP, SCI, CCR and FREE of host countries, and it shares the same location determinates no matter investing in developed or developing areas. As the late comer of overseas R&D, Japan is different from the US. GDP, HTE, FREE and SCI are identified as location determinates when Japan invests overseas R&D in developed countries. And GDP, GDPP, HTE, FREE, IPP and CCR are identified as the location determinates when investing in developing countries. The conclusion is that MNEs in the US has established its strategic R&D system world wide, and some developing countries are involved in the development of new products and new technology. But Japan´s overseas R&D in developed host countries has mainly focused on technique and knowledge tracking, and focused on markets and products in developing countries.