ABSTRACT
The basic assumption of this book is to understand MNEs as organisations capable of simultaneously exploiting globalisation and localisation advantages (e.g., Bartlett and Ghoshal 1989). MNEs are regarded as neither completely footloose nor completely embedded enterprises (Aharoni and Brock 2010). Depending on strategic decisions, they decide on the required types of organisational, corporate, national and regional resources and collaborations for their innovation activities. Another assumption is that the innovation output of MNEs is also shaped by their spatial embeddedness. New economic geography and the geography of innovation assume that innovative activity is influenced by the quality and strengths of the regional and national innovation systems in which the MNE or its subsidiaries are located and also by the cross-border utilisation of regional and national capabilities (Feldman 1994; Krugman 1998; Asheim and Gertler 2005). As elaborated in Chapter 1 and formulated by a set of research questions and basic assumptions, it was the objective of the contributions of this book to analyse the pattern of how MNEs combine advantages of internationally distributed innovation processes and institutionally embedded R&D competencies. These research questions are reflected in the concluding remarks of this chapter. While theoretical contributions often argue on the general level of the enterprise, our objective was to look especially at the level of individual innovation projects. The aim of the presented case studies was to show how MNEs deal with the dilemma of formalisation and flexibilisation in their research and innovation activities as well as with the dilemma of concentration and dispersal in knowledge production and its application.
