The impact of internationalization on the technology sourcing performance of high-tech business units

Abstract

The internationalization of the technology sourcing of business firms is increasing globally. A review of the literature on this topic suggests, however, that firms are facing a trade-off between gains in output performance (effectiveness) and losses in input performance (efficiency) when internationalizing their technology sourcing activities. An analysis of 158 questionnaires from the R&D managers of 16 leading pharmaceutical and semiconductor business units in Germany and Japan reveals that the internationalization of internal technology sourcing leads to an improvement in the output performance of technology sourcing, whereas no strong adverse impact on input performance can be observed. These findings have largely been confirmed for two different countries, two different industries and technological fields. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.