Internal capabilities, network resources and appropriation mechanisms as determinants of R&D outsourcing

Data from the Third and Fourth European Community Innovation Survey for Belgium reveal internal R&D intensity to exert a strong positive association with R&D outsourcing intensity, emphasising the importance of absorptive capacity and the complementary nature of internal and outsourced R&D. Network resources are also positively associated, suggesting that firms involved in a mixture of informal and formal networks tend to outsource relatively more R&D. In terms of appropriation mechanisms there is a positive association formal and informal protection, but this last mostly through complexity of design.