The book uses interview and survey information from 300 of the world's leading industrial enterprises to provide an in-depth investigation of the issues relating to the internationalisation of R & D by multinational enterprises. The viewpoints of central coordinating R & D units and their overseas subsidiaries are analysed. The issues covered include the nature and funding of the work done in overseas facilities; the specialisation of roles in globalised R & D; coordination practices; sources of ideas implemented in R & D programmes and attitudes to government policies.

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.