Building off the resource‐based view and the knowledge‐based view, our study aims to examine determinants of firms’ R&D outsourcing, using annually‐conducted firm‐level survey data of Japanese R&D companies from 1984–2012. This survey allows us to measure strategic R&D outsourcing, isolated from those more for cost‐reducing, such as prototyping, testing and inspecting. The results corroborate the argument of complementarity in scale between internal R&D and R&D outsourcing. We also find that firms employing more doctorate holders and diversifying in knowledge spaces tend to make more use of R&D outsourcing. This study sheds light on firms’ absorptive capacity, associated both with higher‐order R&D human capital and diversified knowledge spaces, as determinants of R&D outsourcing.

中文翻译：

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谁在进一步探索？研发调查中的R＆D外包证据

本研究以资源为基础的观点和知识为基础的观点为基础，目的是使用1984-2012年间日本研究与开发公司每年进行的公司级调查数据来检验公司R＆D外包的决定因素。这项调查使我们能够测量战略研发外包，将其与更多用于降低成本的外包（例如原型设计，测试和检查）隔离开来。结果证实了内部研发与研发外包之间规模互补的观点。我们还发现，雇用更多博士学位持有人并在知识空间多样化的公司往往会更多地利用研发外包。这项研究揭示了企业的吸收能力，与更高层次的研发人力资本和多元化的知识空间相关，这是研发外包的决定因素。