국제적 다각화가 기업의 연구개발(R&D) 지출 및 투자에 미치는 영향에 관한 연구

Recently, many Korean firms expand their business internationally because of the limited domestic market demand and growth. Once they start operating in international markets, they makes lots of efforts to build competitive advantages through product diversification and differentiation. In this situation, we need to examine if the firm's international diversification coming along with product diversification and differentiation will enhance the firm's R&D activities or they will reduce their R&D expenditures due to the increased risks and costs in new markets. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether firms with high level of international diversification also increase their R&D expenditures or not. Using a sample of 4,150 firm-year observations during the year 2001 to 2013 period, I find that there is a positive relationship between firms' international diversification and R&D intensity. This implies that the firms with more international diversification have experienced the significant increase in their R&D expenditures. This paper is a first attempt to explore the functional relationship between the level of international diversification and R&D costs. The results of this study have implications for managers in multinational companies, government, standard setters, and researchers in enhancing their understanding of international diversification strategy and R&D expenditures of multinational firms.