The role of public funding in nanotechnology scientific production: Where Canada stands in comparison to the United States

This paper presents cross-country comparisons between Canada and the United States in terms of the impact of public grants and scientific collaborations on subsequent nanotechnology-related publications. In this study we present the varying involvement of academic researchers and government funding to capture the influence of funded research in order to help government agencies evaluate their efficiency in financing nanotechnology research. We analyze the measures of quantity and quality of research output using time-related econometric models and compare the results between nanotechnology scientists in Canada and the United States. The results reveal that both research grants and the position of researchers in co-publication networks have a positive influence on scientific output. Our findings demonstrate that research funding yields a significantly positive linear impact in Canada and a positive non-linear impact in the United States on the number of papers and in terms of the number of citations we observe a positive impact only in the US. Our research shows that the position of scientists in past scientific networks plays an important role in the quantity and quality of papers published by nanotechnology scientists

The evolutionary view of the MNE and the future of internalization theory

Kogut and Zander's 1993 JIBS article, which developed an evolutionary perspective on the multinational enterprise (MNE), has had three critical impacts on MNE research. First, it has stimulated scholars to conduct more eclectic, empirical analyses, which should include both transaction cost related parameters, and broader learning/competence related variables. Second, it has usefully argued that the rigorous study of MNE behavior does not need to reply upon the Williamsonian, behavioral assumption of opportunism. Third, it has (implicitly) suggested a new path to be followed by internalization theory scholars, in order to remain relevant to the field of international business. The transaction cost economics lens adopted in internalization theory clearly remains critical to any analysis of MNE strategy with impacts on the boundaries of the firm. In addition, the co-evolution of the MNE's governance structure and its technological competences determines present and future strategy choices. Here, both transaction cost considerations and learning effects influence strategy selection. Journal of International Business Studies (2003) 34, 498–504. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400062

The underdetermined knowledge-based theory of the MNC

In this note we revisit two core propositions of the knowledge-based view of the firm found in the seminal work of Kogut and Zander: (1) that multinational corporations (MNCs) exist because transfers and re-combinations of knowledge occur more efficiently inside MNCs than between MNCs and third parties; and (2) that the threat of opportunism is not necessary, although it may be sufficient, to explain the existence of the MNC. Their knowledge-based view shifted the conceptualization of the firm from an institution arising from market failure and transaction costs economizing to a progeny of superior knowledge governance. We question these conclusions, arguing that firms are but one of the many types of epistemic communities possessing and nurturing procedural norms, identity, and the cognitive, linguistic and reflexive attributes conducive to efficient exchange and re-combination of knowledge among their members. Important insights may be gained by applying the concept of epistemic communities implicit in the knowledge-based perspective beyond firm-level hierarchies

Knowledge transfer capacity and its implications for the theory of the multinational corporation

This study updates and extends research on foreign entry modes by examining the impacts of knowledge transfer capacity and knowledge tacitness. Research on international corporate expansion has long emphasized that deploying intangible knowledge-based assets is required for successful international expansion. More recently, research from a ‘knowledge-based’ perspective has addressed the role of tacitness in constraining a firm's ability to transfer knowledge internationally. We combine these perspectives to describe how knowledge tacitness affects the relative suitability of four archetypal entry modes: exporting, licensing, establishing an alliance, and wholly owned entry. We then examine and develop conceptually a seldom-studied firm characteristic, knowledge transfer capacity. We offer predictions that describe the combined effects of knowledge tacitness and transfer capacity on entry mode choice. We distinguish between the transfer capacity of the organization that develops knowledge (source transfer capacity) and that of the organization that seeks to access that knowledge (recipient transfer capacity). The discussion addresses how our model generalizes to knowledge-seeking strategies and to the study of ongoing multinational networks. The study enriches and reconciles multiple theoretical perspectives on entry strategy. It brings together the study of knowledge characteristics and firm heterogeneity in the theory of the multinational corporation, and in international and strategic management more generally. Journal of International Business Studies (2003), 34, 356–373. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400037

Is compulsory licensing bad for public health: some critical comments on drug accessibility in developing countries

International audienceAs one of the flexibilities provided by the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) establishing minimum standards for the protection of property rights, compulsory license (CL) represents a means towards the protection of public health issues within a context of stringent protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs), most notably in poor-resource settings. However, recent literature asserts that CL constitutes a serious limitation to the full enjoyment of property rights by innovators and may therefore threaten drug accessibility in developing countries. This paper outlines the impact of CL on drug accessibility in developing countries by addressing the three main dimensions of accessibility (availability, affordability and quality) and proceeding to a literature survey of key arguments for and against CL. It concludes that CL inhibits neither the availability of essential drugs nor the affordability of life-saving treatments or the supply of high-quality drugs in developing countries, in particular antiretroviral drugs

Internalization and the MNE: a note on the spread of ideas

This paper examines the reasons for the impact of Buckley and Casson's The Future of the Multinational Enterprise (1976) on research in international business (IB). Earlier work concentrated on ownership-specific advantages or locational determinants rather than the central concept of internalization. The few exceptions were incomplete or not well known. Internalization as applied to the MNE spread rapidly because of the appeal to IB researchers of an analytically powerful idea that was based on institutional economics and involved an accessible methodology. The spread was also helped by the parallel growth of transaction costs in the domestic theory of the firm, and the publication activity of the authors and their associates. Journal of International Business Studies (2003) 34, 116–124. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400011