Domestic and Foreign Knowledge Sources for Innovation in Internationalized Production Networks: The Automotive and Iron and Steel Cases

MORERO, HERNÁN ALEJANDRO

Revista Brasileira de Inovação

Instituto de Geociências - UNICAMP

Lugar: Campinas; Año: 2015 vol. 14 p. 193 - 216

1677-2504

This paper studies the relative relevance of domestic knowledge sources for innovation in internationalized production activities in an emerging economy. Two production networks from Argentina with a different kind of internationalization were considered: organized around subsidiaries of multinational companies (the automotive case) and organized around local headquarters (the iron and steel case). A multiple factor analysis is carried out and cluster techniques are applied using a specific innovation survey done to 163 automotive and iron and steel firms from Argentina for the period 2001-2005, to evaluate the relative importance of the domestic and foreign knowledge sources. The main finding is that in a production network organized around domestic headquarters the best innovative performance underrates the importance of international linkages, as regards a network organized around foreign subsidiaries.