Different competences, different modes in the globalization of innovation?. A comparative study of the Pune and Beijing regions

Since the seminal work of Archibugi and Michie (1995) on the globalization of innovation, several authors have tried to understand the complex relationship between innovation and internationalization, mainly using firm or sectoral level data. However, most of them tend to focus on just one form of globalization of innovation – exploitation of technology, research collaboration or offshoring of R&D – and often One traditional indicator of innovation, like patents or R&D investments, thus ignoring the complexity of the phenomenon. Furthermore, little attention has been paid to the interplay of the micro characteristics of firms, the region in which they are embedded and different forms of globalization of innovation. Our paper is based on three distinct modes of globalization of innovation: global exploitation of innovation, global sourcing of technology and global research collaboration, thus adapting Archibugi and Michie’s taxonomy to a developing country context. We then use this taxonomy to explore empirically the linkages of firm-level competences, the nature of the international activities and the region in which the firms are located: Pune in India and Beijing in China. We use primary data on the two regions to show that the Pune region is specialized in the three types of globalization of innovation, and in particular in the exploitation of innovation more than Beijing. A deeper analysis of the micro characteristics of the firms shows that the three modes of globalization of innovation are associated to different competences. Firms with technological and organizational competences show a higher propensity to develop international linkages, while firms with a high level of educated human resources seems to focus more on the domestic market.