Drivers for international innovation activities in developed and emerging countries

This paper aims to shed light on firm specific drivers that lead firms to internationalise their innovation activities. The paper draws a comprehensive picture of driving forces by including firm capabilities, characteristics of the firm’s competitive environment and the influence of innovation obstacles in the home country. In particular, the role of the potential driving forces is tested on the probability to carry out different innovative activities abroad (R&D, design/conception of new products, manufacturing of innovative products and implementation of new processes). In a second step these driving forces are used to observe their impact on the decision to locate innovation activities in various countries and regions (China, Eastern Europe, Western Europe and North America) as well as in groups of countries with similar levels of knowledge (country clubs). The analysis is based on the Mannheim Innovation Panel survey which represents the German CIS (Community Innovation Survey) contribution. Two survey waves are combined and result in a sample of about 1400 firms. The results show that the decision to perform innovation activities abroad is mainly driven by organisational capabilities such as absorptive capacities, international experience and existing technological competences of the respective firm. Innovation barriers at the German home base such as lack of labour and high innovation costs foster the set up of later-stage innovation activities abroad while the lack of demand demonstrates a barrier to the internationalisation decision for the development and manufacturing of new products. Location decisions receive the strongest influencing effects from the international experience of the firm. Firms which innovate in developing countries seem to require a more extensive level of international experience by international R&D cooperation

Changing perspectives on the internationalization of R&D and innovation by multinational enterprises: a review of the literature

Internationalization of R&D and innovation by Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) has undergone a gradual and comprehensive change in perspective over the past 50 years. From sporadic works in the late 1950s and in the 1960s, it became a systematically analysed topic in the 1970s, starting with pioneering reports and “foundation texts”. Our review unfolds the theoretical and empirical evolution of the literature from dyadic interpretations of centralization versus decentralization of R&D by MNEs to more comprehensive frameworks, wherein established MNEs from Advanced Economies still play a pivotal role, but new players and places also emerge in the global generation and diffusion of knowledge. Hence views of R&D internationalization increasingly rely on concepts, ideas and methods from IB and other related disciplines such as industrial organization, international economics and economic geography. Two main findings are highlighted. First, scholarly research pays an increasing attention to the network-like characteristics of international R&D activities. Second, different streams of literature have emphasized the role of location- specific factors in R&D internationalization. The increasing emphasis on these aspects has created new research opportunities in some key areas, including inter alia: cross-border knowledge sourcing strategies, changes in the geography of R&D and innovation, and the international fragmentation of production and R&D activities

Measures of the performance of France in Mathematics

France is the third publishing country in mathematics, behind China and the United States. France is strongly specialized in mathematics. Besides, French researchers in mathematics are internationally recognized with prestigious prizes. Between 1936 and 2014, French doctorate holders were awarded 14 such prizes (Fields medal, Abel, Gauss or Wolff prizes). France is second ex aequo with Russia on this measure, behind the United States (40). Yet, bibliometric impact indicators measure a less outstanding performance. For example the French share of the 1% most cited publications, at 5.5%, is lower than its share of publications in the discipline. This paper explores this uneven performance of France when different indicators are being used. In order to do so, it compares different corpora. It first shows that French performance in mathematics is driven by its stronger results in fundamental mathematics. It then compares results in two selective corpora. It finally discusses the profile and performance of French publications within the field of Statistics & Probability. The last section draws conclusions and suggests further research

Measures of the performance of France in Mathematics

France is the third publishing country in mathematics, behind China and the United States. France is strongly specialized in mathematics. Besides, French researchers in mathematics are internationally recognized with prestigious prizes. Between 1936 and 2014, French doctorate holders were awarded 14 such prizes (Fields medal, Abel, Gauss or Wolff prizes). France is second ex aequo with Russia on this measure, behind the United States (40). Yet, bibliometric impact indicators measure a less outstanding performance. For example the French share of the 1% most cited publications, at 5.5%, is lower than its share of publications in the discipline. This paper explores this uneven performance of France when different indicators are being used. In order to do so, it compares different corpora. It first shows that French performance in mathematics is driven by its stronger results in fundamental mathematics. It then compares results in two selective corpora. It finally discusses the profile and performance of French publications within the field of Statistics & Probability. The last section draws conclusions and suggests further research