To find out, we developed a measure and coined the term Global Engineering Intensity (GEI) as the ratio of the headcount of R&D staff in India plus China to a company’s current annual R&D expense. The count of R&D personnel for each company was obtained by queries on LinkedIn. While both measures are less than perfect, and we recognize that many companies use Eastern Europe and South American engineering sites, the GEI works well to demonstrate the diversity of industries—it isn’t just software and IT—with a significant portion of their R&D overseas.
Harvard Business Review
