中资企业离岸研发的空间格局与动力机制研究——以上海张江高新区企业为例

The majority of multinational enterprises (MNEs) carrying out direct investment in multiple countries or regions traditionally originate from developed economies. Since the beginning of this century, however, there has been dramatic growth in foreign direct investment from China not only to developing but also to developed economies, which share little similarity as host countries. It is a comparatively new phenomenon that challenges the classic economic globalization theories, such as global production networks, governance of global value chain and upgrading of local industrial cluster and so on. In this project, we review the pros and cons of important theories, known as the location theories, global innovation networks, global cluster networks and global innovation systems, on the basis of which we build the home country-global knowledge pipeline-host country framework. We take Zhangjiang High-tech Park, Shanghai as an example. Firstly, we use the social network analysis method and complex geography method, to analyze the geographical distribution of Chinese offshoring research and development activities, and to test the role of geographical distance and spatial scales in determining the location of offshoring activities. Then we apply the statistic model analysis and firm interviews to detective the driving forces, entry models and development stages of offshoring activities, as to summarize the models of Chinese firms’ offshoring research and development actives. By doing this, we compare the cross-country investment of them with traditional western MNEs. Thirdly, we trace the knowledge flows between foreign R&D in China, R&D headquarters of Chinese firms, the offshoring R&D of Chinese firms and the R&D quarter of foreign MNEs in their home countries, on the basis of firm interviews and expert interviews, to understand the contribution of Chinese MNEs to regional development. This project thus fills a gap in research into the geographical patterns of Chinese offshoring research and development activities. This project offers a deeper understanding of the reverse knowledge transfer carried out by Chinese MNEs and its contribution to the changing global innovation geography.

金融危机后，中资企业离岸研发成为获取全球先进技术的重要途径。基于西方跨国公司降低生产成本的国际扩张理论，难以解释中资企业离岸研发的空间布局和机理。本项目拟综合对外直接投资、研发区位和全球创新地理的相关理论研究，构建东道国—知识通道—母国分析框架；以上海张江企业为例，集成大规模企业数据和专利数据，融合社会网络分析和混合地理方法，刻画中资企业离岸研发的空间布局特征，甄别距离和空间尺度在离岸研发区位选择中的作用；结合统计模型定量分析和企业访谈质性研究，辨析中资企业离岸研发的驱动因素、进入模式和发展阶段，提炼离岸研发模式，归纳中资企业与西方跨国公司的异同；基于企业和专家访谈，探讨区域内在华外资研发中心、已开展和未开展离岸研发的中资企业之间的竞合关系，分析“引进来”和“走出去”的耦合机制对区域发展的贡献，丰富全球—地方、区域—企业互动视角下的经济地理学研究，为中资企业全球研发治理提供理论指导。

在国际科技竞合变化背景下，如何使中资企业开展离岸研发，从依赖区域创新资源的本地企业成长为整合全球创新资源的跨国公司，是关系到“中国制造”走向“中国创造”战略目标能否实现的重要命题。本项目构建了“国家-城市-企业”多尺度分析框架，集成企业数据库和专利库数据，融合社会网络分析与典型案例分析等方法，克服了现有统计数据仅支持国家尺度分析的不足，刻画了城市尺度上中资企业离岸研发大分散、小集中的空间图景，分析了中资企业离岸研发的区位因素，辨析中资企业离岸研发的进入模式和创新绩效，归纳中资企业与西方跨国公司的异同。研究发现：在区位选择方面，中资企业首先在邻近的香港、新加坡等先进区位布局，之后在美国硅谷、德国慕尼黑等全球卓越中心布局；中资企业离岸研发不仅是企业个体行为，也是群体选择，存在羊群效应：一方面选择模仿前人成功的投资案例以降低风险，一方面追求在投资地抱团发展以降低其“外来者劣势”和“局外人劣势”，因此会倾向于去中资海外R&D中心集聚度高的城市做跟随投资，且这种倾向在民营企业和低技术企业更为突出；城市层面的科技集群等级、世界级高校数量等也是重要的区位因素。在进入模式和创新绩效方面，跨国并购、建立国际技术联盟以及设立海外研究机构是中资企业研发国际化的主要模式。其中，跨国并购与设立海外研发机构与企业创新存在显著正相关，由企业雇佣的海外华人数量具有完全调节作用，企业雇佣的国外专业人员具有部分调节作用。这些发现将创新区位选择细化至城市尺度，更符合创新集聚在城市尺度的事实，突破了原来仅止于国家层面分析的局限；突破了将空间视为资源容器的传统认识的局限，引导了创新区位研究的关系转向；发现中资企业主要通过在全球卓越城市建立研发中心、与国际一流大学和科研院所合作等方式融入全球创新网络成长为领先企业，这与韩国、中国台湾企业通过嵌入全球价值链实现升级的路径存在不同，这一发现丰富了后进企业升级路径研究。