Despite the argument that to leverage the expertise of foreign subsidiaries to the global firm is beneficial to the whole firm's competitive advantage, in the case of international innova-tion, such leverage does hardly take place. We investigate into this paradox, applying re-search on strategic initiatives to the context of international R&D. Developing a conceptual model on the basis of communication psychology, we analyse how the innovatory expertise of R&D subsidiaries can be leveraged to the global firm. Thus, we determine six elements the greater exploration of which can lead to a deeper understanding of how the innovatory exper-tise of a foreign R&D subsidiary may be leveraged to the global firm.