The Internationalization of Research and Development by Multinational Enterprises

Providing a broadly based survey of existing knowledge of the important emerging phenomenon of internationalized research and development operations by multinational enterprises, this book argues that alongside their established international producing and marketing networks, multinational enterprises are now also recognizing the need for a global perspective on the creation of the technology so vital to their continued competitiveness. Documentation surveyed indicates that such internationalized research and development has not only reached significant quantitative levels but differs in important qualitative respects according to firms' circumstances and motivations. Delineation of these various roles for globalized research and development in the multinational enterprises leads to some important predictions about its consequences when it is carried out. The book also reviews the determinants of overseas multinational enterprises research and development and presents two new empirical studies using industry and firm level data.