New forms of organisation and R&D internationalisation among the world’s 100 largest food and beverage multinationals

This paper explores the strategic internationalisation of Research & Development activities of the world’s 100 largest food and beverages (F&B) multinationals (MNEs) in 1996 and 2000 with a sample of nearly 8,000 affiliates for each period. We develop a Global Innovation Strategy (GIS) struc...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Filippaios, Fragkiskos, Papanastassiou, Marina, Pearce, Robert, Rama Dellepiane, Ruth
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2009
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/261504
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/261504
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Food & beverages
Multinational enterprises
Research and development
Foreign affiliates
Descripción
Sumario:This paper explores the strategic internationalisation of Research & Development activities of the world’s 100 largest food and beverages (F&B) multinationals (MNEs) in 1996 and 2000 with a sample of nearly 8,000 affiliates for each period. We develop a Global Innovation Strategy (GIS) structure where we analyse the R&D (Research and Development) internationalisation process of F&B MNEs. We argue that in a fully developed GIS model the sourcing of creative inputs does not come exclusively from a ‘central’ R&D laboratory, but other overseas R&D laboratories or technological affiliates can also undertake genuine knowledge creation activity from capitalising on the scientific heterogeneity fostered in individual host countries as well as distinctive demand conditions. Our results indicate the increasing importance of overseas technological affiliates in the application of a GIS in the leading F&B MNEs, which determine the degree of their technological internationalisation. Two variants of technological affiliates reflect two broad knowledge-related activities, i.e. adaptation and genuine forms of knowledge creation.