Globalization of Technology and the Movement of Scientific Personnel in Multinational Enterprises in Europe

Abstract

In this chapter we examine the movement of scientific personnel involved in Research and Development (R&D) within Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). Traditional theories on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the MNE view, in general, any transfer of any form of knowledge as a one way centrifugal movement (Dunning, 1988). Thus knowledge is centrally created (within the headquarters of a limited number of home countries) and then is transferred to the periphery of MNE groups (i.e. subsidiaries) in order to assist in the realization of production and marketing plans of MNEs. Pioneering work by Ronstadt (1977, 1978) and Behrman and Fischer (1980a, b) and some recent research has shown that this trend in MNEs is more or less obsolete (Papanastassiou and Pearce, 1996b, 1997a; Chapter 7). Papanastassiou and Pearce have shown in previous work that MNEs have a globalized perspective on technology which is closely related to the different roles of MNE subsidiaries. Although MNEs try to internalize most of their creative resources through the development of internal linkages many external linkages are also developed in order to make more efficient the creation and spread of these assets. In this chapter we examine some aspects of the generation of internal linkages in the creation and transmission of technology within MNE groups.