Breadcrumbs Section. Click here to navigate to respective pages.
Chapter

Chapter
Introduction
DOI link for Introduction
Introduction book
Introduction
DOI link for Introduction
Introduction book
ABSTRACT
Internationalization of corporate technology development activities is not as recent a phenomenon as it is thought to be. Since the 1960s, companies have been performing some sort of research and development (R&D) activities outside their home countries for one reason or the other. In a study, Cantwell (1998) found that even as early as in the 1930s, the largest European and American companies performed about 7 per cent of their total R&D outside their home countries. But, the magnitude, nature and scope of the overseas R&D performed in the past were limited. Much of such R&D was undertaken either to facilitate technology transfer by adapting the parent’s technology to local operating conditions or to gain a greater share of the local markets by developing products that met the preferences of the local customers better.