Live and Let Die: A Survival Analysis of Foreign R&D Units in Swedish MNEs

This paper develops and tests a set of hypotheses regarding factors that influenced the longevity of foreign research and development units in Swedish multinational enterprises over the period 1992–2012. The results reveal an underexplored aspect of the R&D internationalization—the volatility of foreign R&D laboratories. During the investigated period, more than 40% of the R&D units in the sample had been terminated. The results substantiate earlier research regarding the negative effects of mergers and acquisitions on R&D in acquired units but show that these effects are not immediate. They appear – if at all – with a time lag of several years. The hazard of closure for an individual unit seems to be more strongly related to its role and position within the MNE than to local country characteristics. It was smaller for strongly locally embedded units and units with global mandates, but – contrary to expectations – the hazard was greater for units highly integrated with the rest of the MNE.