Multinational corporations claim that their synergistic innovative capabilities--their ability to create and deploy innovations rapidly and successfully--have been enhanced by global R&D. But have they? In attempting to answer this question, the authors seemlessly integrate rigorous quantitative analysis--e.g., multivariate regression, factor analysis, and partial least squares analysis--with qualitative analysis of data from interviews and surveys.

The data are provided by senior R&D executives in approximately 80 global R&D facilities from leading North American, European, and...