Event_
Sustainability-oriented subsidiaries’ R&D strategies during disruption
Sept 10, 2026 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm
AEST
Co-authored with Omid Aliasghar, Annique Un and Pedro Mendi.
Abstract
This study examines how subsidiaries of foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) contribute to sustainability in the host country through investments in research and development (R&D), and the extent to which they maintain these commitments during periods of economic disruption. While MNEs are seen as important agents of global sustainability, prior research offers limited insight into how their subsidiaries navigate home- and host-country institutional pressures and balance the liabilities of foreignness and advantages of multinationality when translating sustainability goals into innovation strategies. Building on studies of multinationality and innovation in subsidiaries, we first separate R&D into internal, which involves investment in in-house R&D, and external, which involves purchasing R&D from external sources. We argue that sustainability-oriented subsidiaries are more likely than domestic firms to invest in internal R&D because of the liability of foreignness, but they are less likely than domestic firms to invest in external R&D because of their advantage of multinationality. Second, the above arguments are likely to hold even during economic disruptions as subsidiaries continue to invest in internal R&D to protect critical sustainability capabilities, uphold environmental commitments, and sustain legitimacy. However, they are less likely than domestic firms to invest in external R&D, as they can also rely on their multinational advantage.
Keywords: Internal R&D, external R&D, subsidiaries of MNEs, sustainability, disruptions
Bio
Kaz Asakawa is Professor of Global Innovation Management at Graduate School of Business Administration, Keio University, Japan, where he was appointed a Mitsubishi Chair in 2013. Kaz received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. from INSEAD, France, and his MBA from Harvard Business School. His research interest lies in the areas of global innovation and R&D strategy, with a particular focus on the impact of digital, geopolitical, economic and natural disruptions on global innovation by Multinational Corporations. More recently, he examines creative coordination mechanisms for innovation in AI-human interaction and space-terrestrial interaction.
He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of International Business (AIB) in 2015, and a Distinguished Fellow of the International Engineering and Technology Institute (IETI) in 2025. He was Vice President Program of AIB in 2021-2024, and a Program Chair of AIB 2023 Warsaw. Kaz is currently an Area Editor of Journal of International Business Studies (JIBS), Academic Editor at Global Strategy Journal (GSJ), Consulting Editor at Journal of International Management (JIM), Advisory Editor at Research Policy (RP), Co-Editor of the Special Issue on AI-Human Nexus for Innovation at Nature: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (HSSC) (2025-2026), and a Co-Editor of a Special Issue at Journal of International Management (2026-). He served as an Associate Editor of Global Strategy Journal (GSJ) and Asia Pacific Journal of Management (APJM). In Japan, he served as President of Japan Academy of Multinational Enterprises (AMNE), a Faculty Fellow at the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI) at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan, and a Visiting Fellow at the National Institute of Science and Technology Policy (NISTEP) of the Ministry of Education, Japan.