Las filiales de empresas multinacionales extranjeras son generalmente consideradas como canales de difusión tecnológica en el país en que se establecen. En el presente artículo comparamos el comportamiento de estas empresas con filiales de empresas españolas, en términos de probabilidad de introducir innovaciones, realizar 1+ D interna, adquirir 1+ D de fuentes nacionales y cooperar con empresas y universidades autóctonas. Los resultados obtenidos indican que las filiales de empresas extranjeras se abastecen menos de fuentes locales de conocimiento. Este resultado sugiere la adopción de políticas cuyo objetivo sea hacer más atractivas a las fuentes locales de conocimiento.

This paper discusses the diversity of mechanisms which firms can deploy to link to science and how science links are associated with their innovation performance. Using a sample of Flemish firms, we show that there exists considerable heterogeneity in the type of links to science at the firm level. Overall, firms with a science link enjoy superior innovation performance, in particular with respect to innovations that are new to the market. At the invention level, our findings confirm that patents from firms engaged in science are more frequently cited and have a broader technological and geographical impact. We show that it is crucial to distinguish between direct science links at the invention level and indirect science links at the firm level to encounter distinct positive effects

We argue that the positive association found between firm productivity and exports in the literature relates to the firm's innovation decisions. Using a panel of Spanish manufacturing firms we find strong evidence that product innovation--and not process innovation--affects productivity and induces small non-exporting firms to enter the export market

Links with science have been argued to improve the (innovation) performance of firms. Yet we still know comparatively little about the project-level characteristics affecting the organization of such links. Our study, based on a sample of 52 projects carried out by a multinational company in the semiconductor industry, reveals that the knowledge attributes of a project help in predicting how the R&D activities will be organized. In particular, basic projects are likely to be developed through formal cooperative agreements with universities. Such projects also tend to be strategically less important. For strategically more important projects, in contrast, and for those where the knowledge to be developed is particularly novel to the firm, the firm is more likely to resort to formal contracting with a university for a specific component of the R&D project, usually early on in the project