Foreign direct investment may promote economic development by helping to improve productivity growth and exports in the multinationals ’ host countries. But the exact nature of the relationship between foreign multinational corporations and their host economies seems to vary between industries and countries.

Abstract not found

The notion of tacit knowledge has been widely and diversely adopted in the knowledge management literature. It is used to cover knowledge which hasn’t yet been articulated as well as knowledge which various authors argue cannot ever be articulated. This paper seeks to review these differences and proposes a conceptual means of understanding the issues associated with tacit knowledge. It draws on the work of Collins and Kusch to introduce notions of polimorphic and mimeomorphic actions before raising implications for the practice of knowledge management.

High-technology companies that discover new technological opportunities face two critical decisions: whether and when to collaborate in exploiting these opportunities. Prior research has examined factors such as transaction costs that determine whether firms decide to collaborate. In this study we aim to understand when firms collaborate in exploiting opportunities. To this end we study the history of 86 biopharmaceutical product development projects. We find that factors that reduce articulation and appropriation uncertainties in these projects- patent protection, high R&D intensity of the firm, partners ’ prior collaboration experience, and support infrastructures in the industry- can speed up collaboration. Interestingly, project specific factors do not seem to affect timing. Key words: technological opportunities, product innovation, collaboration 2 This study examines how high-technology companies exploit technological opportunities. More specifically, we study how two characteristics of technological opportunities – the short window of opportunity and the different perceptions about the value of the opportunity among

Abstract not found

All remaining errors are my own. Innovation and technological advance depend on the accumulation and diffusion of research knowledge. Firm R&D often depends on access to and utilization of knowledge that originates outside the boundaries firm, and a firm’s ability to access and exploit this knowledge is affected by the prevailing intellectual property environment. Universities, traditionally a source of ba-sic science and technological innovation available to industrial researchers, have increasingly patented research results produced by academic researchers. Increased patenting by universities may limit or slow the dissemination and exploitation of patented and non-patented university research results. In this paper, I examine the relationship between the change in university patenting and changes in firm citation of public science, as well as changes in the pace of knowl-edge exploitation by firms, measured using changes in the distribution of backward citation lags in industrial patents. Results suggest that increasing university patenting is associated with a slowing pace of knowledge exploitation.

Abstract not found

doi 10.1287/orsc.1080.0412

When firms form an alliance, it often involves one firm acquiring an equity stake in its alliance partner. Such an alliance lessens the competition, but induces knowledge transfer within the alliance. This paper explores oligopoly models that capture this important link between partial equity ownership (PEO) and knowledge transfer. We consider an industry consisting of three firms, where firm 1 has superior knowledge that other firms in the industry do not have. Firms 1 and 2 have an option of forming an equity strategic alliance in which firm 1 owns a fraction of firm 2’s share. The equilibrium level of PEO is endogenously determined in our model. Previous theoretical models of PEO, in which the levels of PEO are exogenously given, have shown that PEO arrangements would decrease welfare by reducing the degree of competition in the industry. We demonstrate that endogenously determined levels of PEO can increase welfare under a range of parameterizations. Our analysis indicates that there are three relevant policy interventions (prohibit PEO, partially permit PEO, or permit PEO) for antitrust authorities to maximize welfare, and shows that any one of the three can be optimal depending on parameterizations.

We would like to acknowledge our debt to Mr. Reinhard Schulte (DG RESEARCH) for many useful comments during the preparation of this report. Thanks are also due to all the Commission officers from DG RESEARCH, DG COMPETITION and DG ENTERPRISE, as well as the members of the Steering Committee, who participated in the meetings in which various versions of the report were presented and provided useful advice. The authors would finally like to thank Victor do Prado- World Trade