Managing R&D innovation in India and China

Growing number of foreign firms have been launching their R&D operations in China and India. However, in spite of such growing trend of foreign R&D investment in Asia, academic research in this field has largely remained within the domain of Western (and Japanese) MlNCs. It is only recently that the interest in R&D investment in China and India has grown. The key research question that we address in this article is the opportunities and dilemmas facing MNCs in managing their R&D in China and India. In particular, we investigate the degree to which opportunities and challenges are different in these countries from those of the Western counterparts. After briefly summarizing some of the conventional wisdom of international R&D management in general, we turn our attention to the uniqueness of China and India as the host countries of R&D localization. We suggest that MNCs should not forget the conventional way of managing their innovative R&D policies but learn and combine their approaches, styles of management and their capabilities in Asia (particularly in India and China). We propose that there is no either/or solution but an orchestrated strategy that might bridge the gap between the different strategies that MNCs are focusing today, which might affect their own rule of the game.