FDI Inflows to Sweden Consequences for Innovation and Renewal

FDI inflows have expanded rapidly during the past decade. This paper analyses if such inflows do introduce new characteristics of the innovation systems at national and regional levels. The paper studies two phenomena. First, what novelties are brought into the host region (country) when FDI inflows occur? Second, what are the consequences for the innovation intensity, technology transfer and economic performance of firms in a regional (national) economy that experiences FDI inflows? These issues are assessed by examining the characteristics of foreign multinationals and comparing them with the characteristics of multinational, uninational and non-affiliate firms, respectively. The analyses control for location, examine regional impacts, and are based on CIS data (Community Innovation Survey III). The paper contributes to earlier studies in two important ways. First, it compares FDI firms with three other distinct types of corporate structure. Second, it combines results from both parametric and non-parametric estimations. The results indicate that FDI inflows in an unambiguous way renew the local economy when acquiring or replacing domestic multi-unit firms (uninationals). Compared to other types of corporate structure, FDI firms do not seem to improve innovation characteristics of the local economy.