Proceedings - Academy of International Business - Michigan State ...

SUNDAY PROGRAMKnowledge Sources and Foreign Investment Location in the USWilbur Chung, University of Pennsylvania, wcchung@wharton.upenn.eduJuan Alcacer, New York University, jalcacer@stern.nyu.eduRecent research demonstrates that firms, motivated by differences in nations' technical capabilities, expand abroad to seekknowledge. Unclear is what knowledge it is that these firms are seeking and how firms' preference for knowledge varieswith their own technical capabilities. We investigate the attractiveness of industry, academic, and government knowledgesources using locations' stock of patent counts. We use both broad and finer grained counts along industry and geographicdimensions. For foreign entrants in the US from 1987-1993, we find that foreign firms are attracted primarily to locationsrich with industry patents. Interestingly, lagging tecknical firms are more attracted to academia while leading firms findgovernment research more desirable. This suggests that laggards catch up using academia while leaders look to governmentresearch to support their lead.Determinants of cross-national knowledge sourcing and its effect on firm innovationMasaaki Kotabe, Temple University, mkotabe@sbm.temple.eduHarsh A. Mishra, State University of New York, mishrah@newpaltz.eduDenise Dunlap-Hinkler, Temple University, ddunlap@temple.eduThis study examines the determinants of international knowledge flow. From a learning perspective, it evaluates the impactof cross-national knowledge sourcing on firm innovative performance. In a sample of 53 U.S. pharmaceutical firms, usingU.S. patent based pooled data, the results suggest that innovative performance is a curvilinear function of the internationalknowledge content used by a firm to innovate. As hypothesized, it was found that at (1) low and moderate levels ofinternational knowledge content, a firm's strategy to source international knowledge improves its innovative performanceand at (2) higher levels of international knowledge content, there are diminishing marginal returns to sourcing knowledgefrom overseas.Technology Sourcing by Foreign-owned MNEs in Germany — An analysis using patent citationsJohn Cantwell, Rutgers University, Cantwell@rbs.rutgers.eduCamilla Noonan, University College Dublin, Camilla.noonan@ucd.ieThis paper presents a preliminary examination of technology sourcing and knowledge localisation in the context ofGermany. We use US patent citation data to examine the technology sourcing activities of foreign-owned multinationalfirms located in Germany over the 1975-1995 period. Particular attention is given to the age profile, the home-baseaugmenting/exploiting characteristics of such activity and the degree to which local sourcing might be deemed regionallybounded. While regionally bounded activity is seen to depend upon the technological specialisation of foreign firms, astrong relationship exists between the technological specialisation of the indigenous sector and inter-regional sourcing byforeign firms.AIB 2003 - Monterey, California, USA July 5-8, 2003 33