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The Internationalization of R&D — the Swiss Case

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Abstract

Technological activity is becoming increasingly internationally dispersed and international linkages of technological activity through cross-border knowledge flows are playing an ever more important role in the competitiveness of MNCs and domestic companies.

This paper analyses the extent and the pattern of specialization of the internationalization of R&D since 1969 by the largest Swiss firms abroad, and by the largest non-Swiss firms in Switzerland, focusing both on changes in indigenous technological capabilities as well as the role of inward and outward foreign direct investment in the process.

The evidence used is the geographical and sectoral profiles of invention revealed by patents granted in the US to the world’s largest firms.

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Cantwell, J., Glac, K., Harding, D.R. (2004). The Internationalization of R&D — the Swiss Case. In: Macharzina, K., Oesterle, MJ., Wolf, J. (eds) Management International Review. mir Special Issue. Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-91001-1_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-91001-1_4

  • Publisher Name: Gabler Verlag, Wiesbaden

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-409-12719-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-322-91001-1

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