Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
network
that funds high-tech start ups in the region. Thirdly,
regional organizational capacity benefits from corporate venture
capital units, which are often found in knowledge centres. Such
units present in Germany across the three sectors, foster the
commercialization of regionally created knowledge and IP by
supplying local innovative partners (universities, SMEs, and so
on) not only with venture capital, but also with access to the MNE
knowledge network.
From the region to the MNE:
The regional organization of
innovation can have important effects on the degree of territorial
embeddedness of MNEs' operations. In particular, we identify
three key aspects that strengthen MNEs' regional integration:
the presence of networking platforms and cluster initiatives; the
presence of regional policy incentives for innovation; and, most
importantly, a critical mass of innovative actors. In other words,
for MNEs to be attracted and effectively embedded in a location,
the presence of scientific excellence is a necessary condition.
This, however, is not sufficient, as multinationals can easily
access global scientific knowledge.
Internal-external knowledge linkages: how MNEs establish
knowledge network within and outside the firm
Three different stages are taken into account here, and for each
of them, the analysis takes into account both industrial and sci-
entific networks: (1)
Identification of research partners
. Based on
our interviews we identify two types of sources for the selection of
potential industry research collaborators: those which are internal
to
the MNE and those which are external. The MNE itself provides
the first internal avenue to select potential partners: not only R&D
centres in the headquarters, or in other branches and subsidiar-
ies which are obvious and common options for collaborations,
but, in certain cases, the R&D facilities of the parent company
can act as a 'repository' of partners by guiding subsidiaries in the
choice of collaborators within and beyond the corporate bounda-
ries. As for external sources of partnerships, these can be found
with competitors, customers and suppliers or contract research
organizations. The identification of these collaborators relies on
active and constant participation to industry activities (confer-
ences, publications, innovation competitions) and organizations
(industry boards). Although partnering options are scanned on
