How import integration changes firms' decision to innovate

Annals of Regional Science. 2018. Vol. 60. No. 3. P. 501–528.

Gonchar K. R., Kuznetsov B.

This paper examines how Russian manufacturing firms pursue technology innvation in responce to imports. The research is based on the data from two surveys of manufacturing companies performed in 2005 and 2009. The findings show beneficial effects of imports on innovation. The previous involvement in the imports of equipment and intermediates leads to future innovation, and there is evidence of simultaneous choice in favor of imports and innovation in case of equipment. The learning effects from import seem to be higher for product than for process innovations. Firms’ decision to invest into innovation and to import is sensitive to their technological position, pressure from import competition and their efforts to conduct R&D in addition to importing embodied knowledge.

Keywords: technological innovations, технологические инновации, learning effects, imports of equipment, imports of intermediates, импорт оборудования, импорт промежуточных товаров, обучающие эффекты

Publication based on the results of: Institutional Factors of Russian Manufacturing Firms’ Competiveness (2015)