한국 제조기업의 오프쇼어링이 R&D에 미치는 효과

The Effects of Offshoring on R&D in Korean Manufacturing Firms

Purpose – This paper investigates empirically the relationship between offshoring and innovation by examining the channels through which offshoring impacts on R&D of the individual firm in manufacturing industry. Design/methodology/approach – To estimate the effects of offshoring on the firm’s R&D investment, this paper uses firm level panel data for the Republic of Korea; specifically, the micro dataset of “Survey of Business Activities” surveyed by the Statistics Korea for the years 2006 to 2015. The various specifications of R&D model are estimated by using fixed effect (FE) and FE-IV estimation methods. This paper checks whether the effect of offshoring on R&D can be fully explained by the profit variable, and whether the offshoring-profit channel and its relationship with R&D can be observed. Findings – The results of empirical analysis show that offshoring has a positive effect on R&D intensity at the firm-level, while offshoring does not impact on firm’s profit ratio. These results are robust to various specifications of R&D model and various estimation methods. Research implications or Originality – These results suggest that offshoring affects positively on R&D intensity through the offshoring-restructuring channel which offshoring leads to restructure production activities towards innovation. This paper is the first to address empirically the link between offshoring and R&D activity in Korea.