IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jtecht/v27y2002i1p111-22.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Location of Multinationals in Industrial Districts: Knowledge Transfer in Biomedicals

Author

Listed:
  • Biggiero, Lucio

Abstract

In order to access and exploit knowledge, MNCs are induced to make FDI in technological districts. It occurs in a two-step process: first joint venture and then acquisition. This perspective is consistent with the evolutionary theory of multinational corporations, which looks at technology transfer as a sound rationale for FDI. The location strategy of multinationals produces a reorganization of district structure and a change in its evolutionary pattern: MNCs become catalysts, bring in new finance, ideas and managerial practices, open the district to external markets and international flows of technology. Biomedical Valley in Italy is a recent high-tech district that fits this picture well. It demonstrates that the rationale for FDI was not wage differentials with parent countries, but rather local knowledge and innovation. Knowledge transfer through subcontractors diffuses and recombines inside the district in two ways: becoming the medium for the dissemination of new codes, procedures and knowledge within the district, and evolving from the role of subcontractors to that of independent producers of final products. The case of biomedical district also induces changes of a number of stereotypes and common beliefs about industrial districts and MNCs. Copyright 2002 by Kluwer Academic Publishers

Suggested Citation

  • Biggiero, Lucio, 2002. "The Location of Multinationals in Industrial Districts: Knowledge Transfer in Biomedicals," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 27(1), pages 111-122, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:27:y:2002:i:1:p:111-22
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://journals.kluweronline.com/issn/0892-9912/contents
    File Function: link to full text
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fiorenza Belussi & Luciano Pilotti & Silvia Rita Sedita, 2006. "Learning at the boundaries for industrial districts between exploitation of local resources and exploration of global knowledge flows," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0033, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    2. Trippl , Michaela & Grillitsch , Markus & Isaksen , Arne, 2015. "External “energy” for regional industrial change: attraction and absorption of non-local knowledge for new path development," Papers in Innovation Studies 2015/47, Lund University, CIRCLE - Centre for Innovation Research.
    3. Stefano Elia & Lucia Piscitello & Sergio Mariotti, 2013. "Industrial Districts, Core Cities And Ownership Strategy Of Multinational Firms Investing In Italy," ERSA conference papers ersa13p27, European Regional Science Association.
    4. Sergio Mariotti & Lucia Piscitello & Stefano Elia, 2014. "Local Externalities and Ownership Choices in Foreign Acquisitions by Multinational Enterprises," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 90(2), pages 187-211, April.
    5. Sandrine Labory, 2011. "Role of external knowledge flows in cluster upgrading: an empirical analysis of the Mirandola biomedical district in Italy," Working Papers 201114, University of Ferrara, Department of Economics.
    6. Lengyel, Balázs & Leydesdorff, Loet, 2015. "The Effects of FDI on Innovation Systems in Hungarian Regions: Where is the Synergy Generated?," MPRA Paper 73945, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Fiorenza Belussi & Silvia R. Sedita, 2012. "Industrial Districts as Open Learning Systems: Combining Emergent and Deliberate Knowledge Structures," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(2), pages 165-184, April.
    8. Enrico Santarelli, 2004. "Patents and the Technological Performance of District Firms Evidence for the Emilia-Romagna Region of Italy," Papers on Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy 2004-29, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Entrepreneurship, Growth and Public Policy Group.
    9. Michel Barabel & Isabelle Huault & Olivier Meier, 2007. "Changing Nature and Sustainability of the Industrial District Model: The Case of Technic Valley in France," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 595-620, December.
    10. Huo, Jingjing, 2015. "How Nations Innovate: The Political Economy of Technological Innovation in Affluent Capitalist Economies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198735847.
    11. Ferriani, Simone & Lazerson, Mark H. & Lorenzoni, Gianni, 2020. "Anchor entrepreneurship and industry catalysis: The rise of the Italian Biomedical Valley," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(8).
    12. Sören Eriksson, 2011. "Promotion of Company and Local Economic Growth through Clusters," Chapters, in: Charlie Karlsson & Robert G. Picard (ed.), Media Clusters, chapter 2, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Fiorenza Belussi & Alessia Sammarra, 2006. "Evolution and Relocation in Fashion-led Italian Districts: Evidence from two Case-Studies," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0023, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jtecht:v:27:y:2002:i:1:p:111-22. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.