Globalisation of R&D and Technology Markets — Trends, Motives, Consequences

Abstract

The growing integration of many countries in a world-wide division of labour, the decline of trade barriers and national regulations, as well as an increasing mobility of production factors are described today in public and scientific discussions as „globalisation”, in order to pinpoint a new quality in the internationalisation of the economy. On this general level the globalisation of industry encompasses the cross-border operations of enterprises in organising their research and development, production, in the procurement of materials and services, and their marketing and corporate finance activities.¹ The distribution of various corporate activities among different countries is regarded as a crucial characteristic — or a new quality. This particular circumstance distinguishes globalisation from the previous form of inter-nationalisation, in which a company was active in different countries, but could still be unmistakably assigned to one state of origin.² Today, it is increasingly difficult to pin a national label on internationally (globally) active companies. Traditionally, the international expansion of enterprises took place in the field of foreign trade, followed under certain conditions by direct investments abroad.³ This internationalisation of production through direct investments has greatly increased since the 80s. Parallel to this, the traditional modi operandi adopted to carry out research and development (R&D) have changed and the generation of technological innovations is being increasingly influenced by the generally acknowledged trend towards globalisation. Multinational enterprises are now, after sales and production, also internationalising their R&D. What significance and what consequences this development will have, however, is and remains controversial.