Determining Factors in TNCs' University R&D Partner Selection: An Empirical Study Based on China's Data

Research and development (R&D) partnerships between China-based transnational corporations (TNCs) and Chinese universities are proliferating. As such, it is important to understand how TNCs select universities for such partnerships. This paper attempts to establish a determining-factor model for this based on analysis of theoretical literature and data from an empirical survey questionnaire. Of the four hypothesized determining factors, 'mutual compatibility' and 'degree of mutual trustworthiness' outweigh 'partner's technical innovation' and 'intellectual property right and availability of partner's human capital'. The selection of R&D partnerships with Chinese universities by China-based TNCs is found to be a dynamic and integrated decision-making initiative due to the correlation and interaction between these four factors.