Technological Innovation Multinational Corporations And New International Competitiveness

This book examines those countries of Southern Europe influenced by the phases of European construction and countries of Latin America where the opening up process has changed the traditional role played by multinational corporations.

The aim of this book is to contribute to a better understanding of those intermediate countries with specific reference to two relevant international areas; those countries of southern Europe whose dynamic is very much influenced by the phases of European construction, and in countries of Latin America where the opening up process has changed the traditional role played by multinational corporations.

This book explores how companies combine technological innovation and competitive actions that create new opportunities for business growth in the international market. The complexity of designing today’s technology platforms requires profound knowledge in multiple areas. Technology development and commercialization as an ongoing competitive process involves enabling and inhibiting mechanisms, which govern the speed and acceleration of technological innovation. To compete more effectively, potential competitors are using coopetition and pooling their resources for shared gain in areas where they do not compete directly. Thus, a thorough examination of the current paradigms, theories, and frameworks is needed to increase our understanding of the technology-innovation-competitiveness linkages of business growth. This book brings together recent developments and methodological contributions within technological innovation, international competitiveness, and business growth that bridge the existing gaps and simultaneously advances the debate on this research topic.

World Bank Technical Paper No. 300. Provides an overview of past experiences with the introduction of agricultural technologies in World Bank-funded projects in Mediterranean climates, with an emphasis on the Middle East and North African region. The authors review the adequacy of present crop and livestock technologies, identify technical and socio-economic constraints on their adoption, and describe prospective technologies for pilot testing and full-scale introduction in future Bank-funded projects.

Multinationals are increasingly taking internationalised approaches to the ways in which they generate new knowledge and develop innovative new products from it in the pursuit of global competitiveness. These new perspectives in MNEs' technological behaviour open up important additional possibilities for those countries that play host to operations of these companies. This book analyses in detail the new dimensions in MNEs' approach to global competitiveness and the role played in this by overseas R & D units, and discusses the implications of this for host countries' growth and welfare.

This book explores some aspects of the interface between technology, competitiveness and the role of multinational enterprises in the world economy. This group of essays stresses the role of asset creation and usage, rather than reliance on natural factor endowments as a basis for national competitiveness and examines the role of multinational enterprises as vehicles for technological transfer, and the efficient co-ordination of economic activity across national boundaries.

Marcela Miozzo is Reader in Innovation Studies at Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester, UK. Her teaching and research activities are the innovation and the internationalization of services; technological and organisational changes in the construction sector; and technological capabilities of firms in Latin America. Vivien Walsh is Professor of Innovation Management at Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester, UK. Her teaching and research activities are the areas of globalization; networks and collaboration in the innovation process.

The first volume in a major new series, this book will be an essential read for all those who need to deal with the causes and consequences of rapid technological change in an increasingly globalized world, whether they be government policy-makers, managers of multi-national corporations, commentators on the international scene or specialists in and students of international politics, economics and business studies. The authors discuss three related areas: * How do we think about technology and international relations/international political economy? How does technology relate to competitiveness? How does it inlfuence our culture and how is it influenced by it? * In what sense is technology a fundamental component of national competitive advantage and what ought national, local and corporate policy to be in the light of this? * What is the relationship between technological innovation and global political and economic change? Technology is discussed not just in an instrumental sense - as a tool of power and an object of policy - but equally in a transcendental sense - as a key to shaping and structuring how we understand and interpret reality. The final section of the book presents case studies of three core sectors of the world political economy, finance , aviation and automobiles.