Globalisation of Innovation : The Role of Multinational Enterprises

This paper undertakes a brief evaluation of the trends in the internationalization of innovative activities. We provide a taxonomy of R&D internationalization strategies, and discuss the main relevant theoretical and empirical issues, before discussing the centripetal and centrifugal forces underlying the nature and evolution of cross border innovation. We address the issue of international technology partnering as a key strategy that is complementary to the internationalisation of innovative activities through internal means, before raising important policy dimensions and directions for future research that derive from these debates.

[1]  Walter Kuemmerle,et al.  Foreign Direct Investment in Industrial Research in the Pharmaceutical and Electronics Industries: Results from a Survey of Multinational Firms , 1999 .

[2]  Stefano Brusoni,et al.  Knowledge Specialisation and the Boundaries of the Firm: Why Do Firms Know More Than They Do? , 2001 .

[3]  Will Mitchell,et al.  Incumbents' use of pre-entry alliances before expansion into new technical subfields of an industry , 1992 .

[4]  J. Dunning.  Multinational enterprises and the globalization of innovatory capacity , 1994 .

[5]  Rajneesh Narula,et al.  The R&D Activities of Foreign Firms in the United States , 1995 .

[6]  R. Findlay,et al.  Relative Backwardness, Direct Foreign Investment, and the Transfer of Technology: A Simple Dynamic Model , 1978 .

[7]  Paul Almeida,et al.  Knowledge sourcing by foreign multinationals: Patent citation analysis in the U.S. semiconductor industry , 1996 .

[8]  C. Kindleberger,et al.  American Business Abroad: Six Lectures on Direct Investment. , 1969 .

[9]  Mira Wilkins,et al.  American Business Abroad , 1964 .

[10]  D. Teece.  Firm organization, industrial structure, and technological innovation☆ , 1996 .

[11]  G. Pisano.  The R&D Boundaries of the Firm: An Empirical Analysis , 1990 .

[12]  Ivo Zander,et al.  The Tortoise Evolution of the Multinational Corporation: Foreign Technological Activity in Swedish Multinational Firms, 1890-1990 , 1994 .

[13]  Ivo Zander,et al.  How do you mean `global'? An empirical investigation of innovation networks in the multinational corporation , 1999 .

[14]  Georges Siotis.  Foreign Direct Investment Strategies and Firms' Capabilities , 1999 .

[15]  J. Hagedoorn.  Inter-firm R&D partnerships: an overview of major trends and patterns since 1960 , 2002 .

[16]  Sanjaya Lall,et al.  The International Allocation of Research Activity by US Multinationals , 1979 .

[17]  Keith Pavitt,et al.  National systems of innovation under strain: the internationalisation of corporate R&D. , 2000 .

[18]  Bart Nooteboom,et al.  Inter-firm alliances: Analysis and design , 1999 .

[19]  Antonello Zanfei.  Transnational Firms and the Changing Organisation of Innovative Activities , 2000 .

[20]  Christophe Sierra,et al.  The Internationalisation of R&D by Multinationals: A Trade-off between External and Internal Proximity , 1999 .

[21]  Ove Granstrand,et al.  Towards a theory of the technology-based firm 1 Paper originally presented at the workshop on `Techn , 1998 .

[22]  Antonello Zanfei,et al.  Choosing international linkage strategies in the electronics industry: the role of multinational experience , 2004 .

[23]  Andrea Fosfuri,et al.  Multinationals without Advantages , 1999 .

[24]  A. Arora,et al.  COMPLEMENTARITY AND EXTERNAL LINKAGES: THE STRATEGIES OF THE LARGE FIRMS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY* , 1990 .

[25]  Dieter Ernst,et al.  From Partial to Systemic Globalization: International Production Networks in the Electronics Industry , 1997 .

[26]  R. Narula,et al.  Environmental influences on MNE subsidiary roles: economic integration and the Nordic countries , 2003 .

[27]  William J. Abernathy,et al.  Patterns of Industrial Innovation , 1978 .

[28]  B. Verspagen,et al.  The relative importance of home and host innovation systems in the internationalisation of MNE R&D : a patent citation analysis , 2002 .

[29]  C. L. Bas,et al.  'Location versus home country advantages' in R&D activities: some further results on multinationals' locational strategies , 2002 .

[30]  D. Mowery,et al.  Technological overlap and interfirm cooperation: implications for the resource-based view of the firm , 1998 .

[31]  Benjamin Gomes-Casseres,et al.  Ownership structures of foreign subsidiaries : Theory and evidence , 1989 .

[32]  R. Veugelers,et al.  COMPLEMENTARITY BETWEEN TECHNOLOGY MAKE AND BUY IN INNOVATION STRATEGIES : EVIDENCE FROM BELGIAN MANUFACTURING FIRMS , 1998 .

[33]  G. Dosi.  Technological Paradigms and Technological Trajectories: A Suggested Interpretation of the Determinants and Directions of Technical Change , 1982 .

[34]  M. Trajtenberg,et al.  International Knowledge Flows: Evidence from Patent Citations , 1998 .

[35]  Alexander Gerybadze,et al.  Globalization of R&D: recent changes in the management of innovation in transnational corporations , 1999 .

[36]  A. Gambardella,et al.  Does technological convergence imply convergence in markets? Evidence from the electronics industry , 1998 .

[37]  O. Granstrand,et al.  Multi-Technology Corporations: Why They Have “Distributed” Rather Than “Distinctive Core” Competencies , 1997 .

[38]  J. Cantwell.  The Globalisation of Technology: What Remains of the Product Cycle Model? , 1995 .

[39]  Daniele Archibugi,et al.  The globalization of technological innovation: definition and evidence , 2002 .

[40]  Nagesh Kumar,et al.  Globalization, Foreign Direct Investment and Technology Transfers : Impacts on and Prospects for Developing Countries , 1998 .

[41]  D. Teece.  Profiting from technological innovation: Implications for integration, collaboration, licensing and public policy , 1993 .

[42]  P. Patel,et al.  Patterns of internationalisation of corporate technology: location vs. home country advantages. , 1999 .

[43]  Will Mitchell,et al.  Evolutionary diffusion: internal and external methods used to acquire encompassing, complementary, and incremental technological changes in the lithotripsy industry , 1998 .

[44]  Kim B. Clark,et al.  Architectural Innovation: The Reconfiguration of Existing Product Technologies and the Failure of , 1990 .

[45]  Daniel Barnett Creamer,et al.  Overseas Research and Development by United States Multinationals, 1966-1975: Estimates of Expenditures and a Statistical Profile , 1976 .

[46]  G. Ietto-Gillies.  Transnational Corporations: Fragmentation amidst Integration , 2001 .

[47]  Richard Florida,et al.  The globalization of R&D: Results of a survey of foreign-affiliated R&D laboratories in the USA , 1997 .

[48]  Hiroyuki Odagiri,et al.  The determinants of overseas R&D by Japanese firms: an empirical study at the industry and company levels , 1996 .

[49]  Robert Ronstadt,et al.  International R&D: The Establishment and Evolution of Research and Development Abroad by Seven U.S. Multinationals , 1978 .

[50]  D. Teece.  Competition, Cooperation, and Innovation Organizational Arrangements for Regimes of Rapid Technological Progress , 1992 .

[51]  P. Patel,et al.  Are large firms internationalizing the generation of technology? Some new evidence , 1996 .

[52]  K. Sauvant.  UNCTAD, World Investment Report 2002: Transnational Corporations and Export Competitiveness (Geneva and New York: United Nations, 2002). , 2002 .

[53]  F. Sjöholm.  International transfer of knowledge: The role of international trade and geographic proximity , 1996 .

[54]  G. Hedlund.  The hypermodern MNC—A heterarchy? , 1986 .

[55]  E. Strobl,et al.  Multinational Companies and Productivity Spillovers: A Meta‐Analysis , 2001 .

[56]  Rajneesh Narula,et al.  Choosing Between Internal and Non-internal R&D Activities: Some Technological and Economic Factors , 2001, Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manag..

[57]  D. Teece,et al.  Overseas Research and Development by US-Based Firms , 1979 .

[58]  Roger Miller,et al.  Global R & D networks and large-scale innovations: The case of the automobile industry , 1994 .

[59]  Rajneesh Narula,et al.  Technological catch-up and strategic technology partnering in developing countries , 2002, Int. J. Technol. Manag..

[60]  James N. Danziger.  Technology and Productivity , 1979 .

[61]  John Cantwell,et al.  Technological Innovation and Multinational Corporations , 1989 .

[62]  Grazia D. Santangelo,et al.  Corporate strategic technological partnerships in the European information and communications technology industry , 2000 .

[63]  R. Narula,et al.  R&D Collaboration by SMEs: Some Analytical Issues and Evidence , 2002 .

[64]  J. Hennart,et al.  The Impact of Culture on the Strategy of Multinational Enterprises: Does National Origin Affect Ownership Decisions? , 1998 .

[65]  A. Kokko.  Technology, market characteristics, and spillovers , 1994 .

[66]  Antonello Zanfei,et al.  Technology gaps, absorptive capacity and the impact of inward investments on productivity of European firms * , 2003 .

[67]  A. Jaffe,et al.  Evidence from Patents and Patent Citations on the Impact of Nasa and Other Federal Labs on Commercial Innovation , 1997 .

[68]  Youngil Lim,et al.  Technology and Productivity: The Korean Way of Learning and Catching up , 2001, The Journal of Asian Studies.

[69]  Bruce Kogut,et al.  Research notes and communications a note on global strategies , 1989 .

[70]  K. Pavitt,et al.  Knowledge Specialization, Organizational Coupling, and the Boundaries of the Firm: Why Do Firms Know More than They Make? , 2001 .

[71]  D. Archibugi,et al.  The globalisation of technology: a new taxonomy , 1995 .

[72]  M. Hannan,et al.  Structural Inertia and Organizational Change , 1984 .

[73]  R. Narula,et al.  Innovating through strategic alliances: moving towards international partnerships and contractual agreements , 1999 .

[74]  L. Turner.  Managing the Multinational Enterprise: Organisation of the Firm and Ownership of the Subsidiaries , 1973 .

[75]  Manuel G. Serapio,et al.  Globalization of industrial R&D: an examination of foreign direct investments in R&D in the United States , 1999 .

[76]  M. Colombo,et al.  Technological and Output Complementarities, and Inter-Firm Cooperation in Information Technology Ventures , 2000 .

[77]  John Cantwell,et al.  The Role of Multinational Corporations and National States in the Globalization of Innovatory Capacity: The European Perspective , 2000 .

[78]  Karl P. Sauvant.  UNCTAD, World Investment Report 2001: Promoting Linkages (Geneva and New York: United Nations, 2001). , 2001 .

[79]  Rajneesh Narula,et al.  Innovation systems and ‘inertia’ in R&D location: Norwegian firms and the role of systemic lock-in , 2002 .