臺商母公司研發資產與大陸子公司財務績效之關聯性：論企業策略之調節角色

The Relation between R&D Assets of Taiwan's Parent Firms and the Financial Performance of their Subsidiaries in Mainland China: The Moderating Role of Business Strategy

台灣企業因應全球化競爭積極從事海外投資，迄今以投資中國大陸之金額居冠。儘管研發創新為台灣企業的競爭優勢，惟在海外投資情境中，母公司之研發創新能否擴展至大陸子公司並挹注其經營績效，為本研究首要目的；其次，聚焦於企業之策略定位，本研究進一步探討台商母公司研發資產與子公司績效的關係是否因母公司採行之策略型態而異。以1999年至2007年台灣上市、櫃公司為研究對象，本研究實證發現，台商母公司研發資產與大陸子公司財務績效具有顯著正向關係，支持研發資產之跨地理疆界外溢效果。此外，相對於採成本領導策略之台商母公司，採差異化策略者其研發資產對海外子公司之外溢效果較大，顯示台商母公司值得重視策略型態之選擇或調整。

With the increasing global competition nowadays, firms in Taiwan have been actively engaged in foreign investments to enhance their competitiveness. China is the biggest recipient of Taiwan's outward foreign direct investment (FDI) for years, at least recent years. Given that Taiwan's parent firms continuously invest in R&D activities with a higher level, we are motivated to examine whether such R&D investments of parent firms can contribute to their China subsidiaries, i.e., R&D spillover effects. In addition, we further examine whether different parent firms' strategies lead to differential R&D spillover effects. Using a sample of Taiwan's listed and OTC firms for the 1999-2007 period, we find that there exists a significant positive relation between R&D assets of Taiwan's parent firms and the financial performance of their subsidiaries in Mainland China. This implies that the R&D spillover effect of Taiwan parent firms can be important drivers of their China subsidiaries' performance. Furthermore, the next investigation reveals that this R&D spillover effect is stronger for Taiwan parent firms adopting differentiation strategy compared to those adopting cost leading strategy. These results suggest Taiwan firms to pursue success in foreign investments through engaging in an intra-firm international transfer of R&D knowledge, based on the differentiation strategy, from parent firms in the home countries.