IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/ijecbs/v5y1998i3p383-408.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

MNCs, Technological Innovation and Regional Systems in the EU: Some Evidence in the Italian Case

Author

Listed:
  • John Cantwell
  • Simona Iammarino

Abstract

The increasing appreciation of the role of multinational corporations (MNCs) in the generation of technology across national boundaries has been facilitated by the recent trend for MNCs to establish internal and external networks for innovation. The development of cross-border corporate integration and intra-border inter-company sectoral integration makes it increasingly important to examine where and how innovative activity by MNCs is internationally dispersed and regionally concentrated. By using patents granted to the largest industrial firms for innovation located abroad-arranged by the host region-we test the nature of the relationship between the foreign-owned and the indigenous company profiles of technological specialisation in the Italian regions. We argue the MNC networks for innovation in Europe conform to a geographical hierarchy of regional centres. Accordingly, the technological specialisation of foreign-owned affiliates in different regional locations depends upon the position of the region in the hierarchy, i.e. whether the regional system is at the top of the hierarchy (higher order location) or is a lower order regional centre.

Suggested Citation

  • John Cantwell & Simona Iammarino, 1998. "MNCs, Technological Innovation and Regional Systems in the EU: Some Evidence in the Italian Case," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(3), pages 383-408.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:ijecbs:v:5:y:1998:i:3:p:383-408
    DOI: 10.1080/13571519884459
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13571519884459
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/13571519884459?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jan Fagerberg & Bart Verspagen & Marjolein Caniëls, 1997. "Technology, Growth and Unemployment across European Regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(5), pages 457-466.
    2. Quah, Danny T., 1996. "Regional convergence clusters across Europe," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(3-5), pages 951-958, April.
    3. Jonathan Perraton, 2012. "Globalization," Chapters, in: Jan Toporowski & Jo Michell (ed.), Handbook of Critical Issues in Finance, chapter 20, pages i-ii, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Stefano Breschi, 2000. "The Geography of Innovation: A Cross-sector Analysis," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(3), pages 213-229.
    5. Damien Neven & Claudine Gouymte, 1995. "Regional Convergence in the European Community," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 47-65, March.
    6. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    7. repec:fth:harver:1473 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Zvi Griliches, 1998. "Patent Statistics as Economic Indicators: A Survey," NBER Chapters, in: R&D and Productivity: The Econometric Evidence, pages 287-343, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Krugman, Paul, 1991. "Increasing Returns and Economic Geography," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(3), pages 483-499, June.
    10. Jan Fagerberg & Bart Verspagen, 1996. "Heading for Divergence? Regional Growth in Europe Reconsidered," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 431-448, September.
    11. Patel, Pari, 1995. "Localised Production of Technology for Global Markets," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 19(1), pages 141-153, February.
    12. Kaldor, Nicholas, 1970. "The Case for Regional Policies," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 17(3), pages 337-348, November.
    13. Cantwell, John & Janne, Odile, 1999. "Technological globalisation and innovative centres: the role of corporate technological leadership and locational hierarchy1," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(2-3), pages 119-144, March.
    14. Soete, Luc, 1987. "The impact of technological innovation on international trade patterns: The evidence reconsidered," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(2-4), pages 101-130, August.
    15. Costas Megir & Danny Quah, 1996. "Regional Convergence Clusters Across Europe," CEP Discussion Papers dp0274, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    16. Audretsch, David B & Feldman, Maryann P, 1995. "Innovative Clusters and the Industry Life Cycle," CEPR Discussion Papers 1161, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. John H. Dunning & Peter Robson, 1987. "Multinational Corporate Integration and Regional Economic Integration," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 103-125, December.
    18. Simona Iammarino & M Rosaria Prisco & Alberto Silvani, 1995. "On the importance of regional innovation flows in the European Union: some methodological issues in the Italian case," Research Evaluation, Oxford University Press, vol. 5(3), pages 189-206, December.
    19. François Perroux, 1950. "Economic Space: Theory and Applications," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 64(1), pages 89-104.
    20. Young, Allyn A., 1928. "Increasing Returns and Economic Progress," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 38, pages 527-542.
    21. Archibugi, Daniele & Iammarino, Simona, 1999. "The policy implications of the globalisation of innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(2-3), pages 317-336, March.
    22. Quah, Danny, 1996. "Regional Convergence Clusters Across Europe," CEPR Discussion Papers 1286, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    23. Miller, Roger, 1994. "Global R & D networks and large-scale innovations: The case of the automobile industry," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 27-46, January.
    24. Cantwell, John, 1995. "The Globalisation of Technology: What Remains of the Product Cycle Model?," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 19(1), pages 155-174, February.
    25. Foreman-Peck,James (ed.), 1991. "New Perspectives on the Late Victorian Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521391078, January.
    26. John Cantwell, 1987. "The Reorganization of European Industries After Integration: Selected Evidence on the Role of Multinational Enterprise Activities," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 127-151, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. John Cantwell & Simona Iammarino, 2001. "The technological relationships between indigenous firms and foreign-owned MNCs in the European regions," ERSA conference papers ersa01p269, European Regional Science Association.
    2. John Cantwell & Simona Iammarino, 2000. "Multinational Corporations and the Location of Technological Innovation in the UK Regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 317-332.
    3. Maurseth, Per Botolf, 2001. "Convergence, geography and technology," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 247-276, September.
    4. Sjoerd Beugelsdijk, 2010. "Entrepreneurial Culture, Regional Innovativeness and Economic Growth," Springer Books, in: Andreas Freytag & Roy Thurik (ed.), Entrepreneurship and Culture, chapter 0, pages 129-154, Springer.
    5. Nosvelli, Mario & Maggioni, Mario A. & Uberti, Teodora Erika, 2006. "Space Vs. Networks in the Geography of Innovation: A European Analysis," Knowledge, Technology, Human Capital Working Papers 12078, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    6. Archibugi, Daniele & Iammarino, Simona, 1999. "The policy implications of the globalisation of innovation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(2-3), pages 317-336, March.
    7. John A. Cantwell & Lucia Piscitello, 2003. "The Recent Location of Foreign R&D Activities by Large MNCs in the European Regions. The Role of Different Sources of Spillovers," ERSA conference papers ersa03p322, European Regional Science Association.
    8. Eckey, Hans-Friedrich & Türck, Matthias, 2007. "Convergence of EU-Regions. A Literature Report," INVESTIGACIONES REGIONALES - Journal of REGIONAL RESEARCH, Asociación Española de Ciencia Regional, issue 10, pages 5-32.
    9. Pantelis Kazakis, 2019. "On the nexus between innovation, productivity and migration of US university graduates," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(4), pages 465-485, October.
    10. Petrakos, George & Dimitris, Kallioras & Ageliki, Anagnostou, 2007. "A Generalized Model of Regional Economic Growth in the European Union," Papers DYNREG12, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    11. Kerstin Enflo & Per Hjertstrand, 2009. "Relative Sources of European Regional Productivity Convergence: A Bootstrap Frontier Approach," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(5), pages 643-659.
    12. Jesus Lopez-Rodriguez & Andres Faiña, 2009. "Regional Policy and Convergence in Europe: The Case of Backward Regions," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 29(2), pages 1046-1053.
    13. Boiscuvier, Éléonore, 2001. "Innovation, intégration et développement régional," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 77(2), pages 255-280, juin.
    14. Azomahou, Théophile T. & El ouardighi, Jalal & Nguyen-Van, Phu & Pham, Thi Kim Cuong, 2011. "Testing convergence of European regions: A semiparametric approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 1202-1210, May.
    15. Thomas Straubhaar & Marc Suhrcke & Dieter Urban, 2002. "Divergence. Is it Geography?," Development Working Papers 158, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    16. Cem Ertur & Julie Le Gallo & Catherine Baumont, 2006. "The European Regional Convergence Process, 1980-1995: Do Spatial Regimes and Spatial Dependence Matter?," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 29(1), pages 3-34, January.
    17. Le Pen, Yannick, 2011. "A pair-wise approach to output convergence between European regions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 955-964, May.
    18. Stavros Rodokanakis, 2006. "“How Effective are the Regional Policies of Convergence in the EU?”," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3-4), pages 59-74.
    19. Roberto Basile & Sergio de Nardis & Alessandro Girardi, 2001. "Regional inequalities and cohesion policies in the european union," ISAE Working Papers 23, ISTAT - Italian National Institute of Statistics - (Rome, ITALY).
    20. Simona Iammarino & Philip McCann, 2010. "The Relationship between Multinational Firms and Innovative Clusters," Chapters, in: Ron Boschma & Ron Martin (ed.), The Handbook of Evolutionary Economic Geography, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:ijecbs:v:5:y:1998:i:3:p:383-408. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CIJB20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.