Factors Affecting
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FACTORS AFFECTING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (R&D) COLLABORATION OF MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES (MNEs) AND THEIR LOCAL PARTNER FIRMS: A CASE STUDY OF TURKISH AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY ASLI TUNCAY ÇELİKEL BS, Management, Işık University, 2001 MBA, Business Administration, Işık University, 2003 Submitted to the Graduate School of Social Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Contemporary Management IŞIK UNIVERSITY 2009 FACTORS AFFECTING RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (R&D) COLLABORATION OF MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES (MNEs) AND THEIR LOCAL PARTNER FIRMS: A CASE STUDY OF TURKISH AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY Abstract This thesis focuses on disclosing the factors that affect the Research and Development (R&D) collaboration between Multinational Enterprises (MNEs), and their Turkish partner firms, in the automotive industry. Following the literature review and pre-test interviews with the experts from the industry a number of different factors were identified. The methodology of the research was “Case Study” in order to provide an in-depth exploration of the factors. There are three case studies namely: Tofaş-Fiat, Ford Otosan-Ford and Hyundai Assan-Hyundai. The primary data was collected from 40 respondents (R&D/production managers and employees) by in-depth face-to-face interviewing. Findings yield that the most important factors affecting R&D collaboration for the local companies were production, innovation & R&D capabilities and then absorptive capacity of the local companies. The most important factor affecting MNE’s R&D location decisions was the main R&D policy of the MNE (criteria for possible R&D collaboration, openness to R&D collaboration and strategic goals). Another factor, competition between other R&D departments in different countries, and other R&D department’s competency were found as moderate level of importance. R&D Managers of Fiat, Ford and Hyundai found the Turkish government’s R&D incentives very attractive, and found that Turkey’s infrastructure, socio-economic conditions and cheap but skilled labor force were appropriate for undertaking R&D collaborations. Social factors (mutual trust, level of commitment and cultural conflicts) were found to be an important influence in MNE’s R&D location decisions. The findings are expected to contribute to the R&D efforts and innovativeness of the Turkish Automotive Industry. ii ÇOKULUSLU FİRMALAR VE YEREL ORTAK FİRMALARININ ARAŞTIRMA VE GELİŞTİRME (AR-GE) İŞBİRLİĞİNE ETKİ EDEN FAKTÖRLER: TÜRK OTOMOTİV ENDÜSTRİSİ ÖRNEĞİ Özet Bu tez çalışması, Türk otomotiv endüstrisinde faaliyet göstermekte olan çokuluslu firmalar ile yerel ortaklarının araştırma ve geliştirme (Ar-Ge) işbirliğine etki eden faktörlerin bulunması üzerine odaklanmıştır. Literatür taraması ve sektör çalışanları ile yapılan ön görüşmeler sonucunda yerel firmaya ve çok uluslu firmaya ait birçok faktör belirlenmiştir. Araştırma yöntemi olarak vaka analizi metodu kullanılarak faktörlerin önem dereceleri sorgulanmıştır. Bu araştırma Tofaş-Fiat, Ford Otosan- Ford ve Hyundai Assan-Hyundai’den oluşan üç vaka analizini içermektedir. Birincil veriler, toplam 40 kişiyle (Ar-Ge/üretim müdürleri ve çalışanları) derinlemesine yüz yüze mülakat metoduyla elde edilmiştir. Bulgulardan ortaya çıkan sonuçlar şu şekilde özetlenebilir: Ar-Ge işbirliğini etkileyen en önemli faktörlerin başında yerel firmanın üretim, Ar-Ge ve yenilikçilik kabiliyetleri ve ardından özümseme kapasitesi gelmektedir. Çok uluslu firma tarafından bakılacak olursa, çok uluslu firmanın temel Ar-Ge politikasının ne olduğu ve stratejik amaçları arasında Ar-Ge’de işbirliği yapmak var olup olmadığının, Ar-Ge işbirliklerine doğrudan etkisi olduğu anlaşılmıştır. Bir diğer faktör olan, çok uluslu firmanın diğer ülkelerdeki ortaklarının izlediği Ar-Ge politikası (aralarındaki rekabet ve Ar-Ge yetkinlikleri), Türkiye’deki Ar-Ge işbirliğini orta derecede etkiler görüşü ortaya çıkmıştır. Fiat, Ford ve Hyundai’nin Ar-Ge müdürleri Türk hükümetinin Ar-Ge teşviklerini olumlu bulduklarını ve Türkiye’de Ar-Ge yapmak fikrini doğru bulduklarını belirtmişlerdir. Türkiye’nin altyapısı, sosyo-ekonomik durumu ve ucuz ama eğitimli işgücüne sahip olmasının da Ar-Ge işbirliği yapmaya uygun olduğunu belirtmişlerdir. Ayrıca Ar-Ge projelerindeki karşılıklı güven ve uyumun, tarafların taahhütlerinde bulunması, kültürel anlamda sorun yaşayıp yaşamadıkları ve kültür çatışması olup olmadığı da önemli sosyal faktörler arasında yer almıştır. Sonuçların Türk ekonomisine ve otomotiv endüstrisine bir katkı yapması umut edilmektedir. iii Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to express my appreciation to my all lecturers at Feyziye Schools Foundation whom educated me continuously from primary school to the end of the university. The time that I was able to spend at both Işık University and WZB Wissenschaftszentrum für Sozialforschung Berlin (Social Science Research Center of Berlin) gave me the opportunity to broaden my research and academic experience. My great respect therefore goes to my supervisor Prof. Dr. Hacer Ansal, the director of Humanities and Social Sciences Department of Işık University, for inspiring me to write this thesis, providing me with the freedom of action while supporting convergence at the same time. I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Ulrich Juergens director of Production, Work and Environment of WZB who let me work as a researcher at his research team and guided my thesis when I was in Berlin. As a basis for the thesis I conducted around 40 interviews and discussions with experts from practice and academia. In this context, I am especially grateful to Assoc. Prof. Orhan Alankuş (former director of Tofaş R&D), Dr. A. Murat Yıldırım (R&D coordination manager of Ford Otosan), Kemal Yazıcı (R&D director of Tofaş) and Prof. Dr. Ercan Tezer (director of Automotive Manufacturers Association). I would like to offer special thanks to my respondents of in-depth case studies, who took time off from their busy schedules to answer my questions and share with me their valuable opinions during our interviews, each of whom was a goldmine of information and insight. I would also like to thank members of my dissertation committee, Prof. Dr. Toker Dereli, the director of Management Department of Işık University who contributed to the development of this research starting from the early stages and Prof. Dr. Mehmet iv Kaytaz, the dean of Faculty of Business Administration of Işık University who monitored my thesis regularly and helped me in order to make progress for this thesis. I would like to thank my colleagues from Işık University Management Department especially Prof. Dr. Murat Ferman for helping me to contact managers of automotive companies and Assist. Prof. Gamze Karayaz for providing me resources about the research section of the thesis. In addition, I would like to thank my colleagues from Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Bilge Uyan Atay, Dr. Gaye Özçelik, Gökçe Baykal Gezgin, Dr. Pınar Soykut Sarıca, Assist. Prof. Aslı Şen Taşbaşı, Cem Birsay, Dila Buz and Çağla Özsoy for their support. I also would like to thank Jeremy Lamaison and Sandy Winfield for editing. In addition, I would like to thank all the members from WZB Production, Work and Environment research team especially to Dr. Antje Blöcker and Dr. Martin Krzywdzinski for helping to collect the relevant literature for my thesis. I would like also thank Prof. Dr. Nick Von Tunzelmann from Sussex University Science and Technology Policy Research (SPRU) for giving me feedback about my thesis which was very beneficial. I would like to also thank Prof. Dr. Lale Duruiz from Bilgi University for her contributions and help for my thesis. Finally I would like to thank my parents Serap Tuncay and Prof. Dr. R. Nejat Tuncay and my husband Alper Çelikel for their support, patience and love, solidly standing behind me in this difficult as well as immensely gratifying endeavor. Thanks to all the members from my family for all their support especially to Dr. İsmail Nevzat Tuncay, Tamay Işıklı and Prof. Dr. Emin Işıklı. v To my parents Serap Tuncay & Prof. Dr. R. Nejat Tuncay and my husband Alper Çelikel vi Table of Contents Abstract ii Özet iii Acknowledgements iv Table of Contents xii List of Tables xiii List of Figures xv List of Abbreviations xvi 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Significance of the Research………………………………………………..2 1.2 Objectives of the Research………..….……………………………………..2 1.3 Original Contribution………………..……………………………………...2 1.4 Outline of the Research…………...………………………………………...3 Part 1 Background of the Research 5 2 Literature Review 5 2.1 Theoretical Framework………………….…………………….…………....5 2.1.1 Definition and Types of Innovation……………..……..…..…………6 2.1.2 Definition and Forms of R&D ………………......…...……..………...7 2.1.3 New Product Development Process and R&D’s Role….…...……….10 2.2 R&D Collaborations………..……………………………….………….….14 2.2.1 Definition and Types of R&D Collaborations……….….…...……...14 2.2.2 Motivation behind R&D Collaborations …………………................19 2.2.3 Managing R&D Collaborations…………………….……………….20 2.2.4 Partner’s Alignment in R&D Collaborations …………………...…..22 2.2.5 Negative Aspects and Risks of R&D Collaborations ………..……..22 2.3 MNEs’ Role in R&D Collaborations..……………………………………..25 2.3.1 Supplier Relations…… ……………..………………………….…....26 2.3.2 Main R&D Policy of the MNEs..……………………..………….......28 vii 2.3.3 MNEs’ Decision of Location………………………………………...28 2.3.4 Social Factors Affecting R&D Collaborations……………………....30 2.4 Local Firm’s Role in R&D Collaborations………………………………....31 2.4.1 Production