Trade, imitative ability and intellectual property rights

Intellectual property rights, International trade, Gravity equation, Imitative ability, F10, F13, O34,

Intellectual Property Rights and the Governance of International R&D Partnerships

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Regional competitive advantage based on pioneering economic reforms: the case of Chilean FDI

Foreign affiliates of Chilean companies operating in Latin America were more profitable than similar local firms, but this difference in profitability has been decreasing over time. Two case studies of Chilean multinationals illustrate our hypothesis that one source of competitive advantage for Chilean firms was their know-how of business strategy during economic liberalization. Using empirical and theoretical considerations, we analyze whether this hypothesis is valid for other firms and industries. Journal of International Business Studies (2007) 38, 901–927. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400299

Patent rights and innovative activity: evidence from national and firm-level data

Global standards of patent protection have been strengthened and harmonized in recent years. Despite the heated policy debates and theoretical controversies, empirical studies of the consequences for innovative activity are scant. This paper contributes to the debate by providing an empirical analysis of the effects of patent strength on different aspects of innovative activity, namely firm-level research and development (R&D), domestic patenting, and foreign patenting. The analysis employs an updated index of patent rights. The results show the complexity of evaluating the effects of patent reform on innovative activity, since the effects vary nonlinearly (depending on the initial level of patent strength) and vary by a country's level of economic development. Overall, for developing economies, patent strength negatively affects domestic patent filings and insignificantly affects R&D and foreign patent filings. For developed economies, patent strength positively affects R&D and domestic patent filings, and negatively affects foreign patent filings, after some critical level of patent protection is reached. Journal of International Business Studies (2007) 38, 878–900. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400306

Institutions and inflows of foreign direct investment: a fuzzy-set analysis

This study addresses the essential question of causal complexity and diversity related to the influence of institutions on the direct investments (FDI) of multinational enterprises. Using a relatively new methodological approach of fuzzy-set analysis, and 47 host countries from the period 1999 to 2003, the paper analyses how and why countries with different degrees of membership in different institutional constraints either attract or do not attract FDI. The findings show that institutional factors have diverse influences. Similar institutions may even be associated with different outcomes if different regional categories of countries are examined. Countries may neither be attractive nor unattractive owing to the presence or absence of a single institutional factor. Instead, the outcome usually results from a combination of institutional conditions. Moreover, there typically are several possible paths to a specific outcome. The study confirms some of the propositions of previous theory, but, most importantly, it explains why earlier research has provided conflicting conclusions related to institutional factors. The study also offers an approach for future international business research to apply fuzzy-set methods and develop mid-range theories. Journal of International Business Studies (2008) 39, 652–669. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400371