Internacionalização da P&D das empresas transnacionais: especialização produtiva nacional e competências tecnológicas

This paper aims to add evidence to the literature on the internationalization of R&D of transnational enterprises. It focus on two main topics of the process: (i) the relation between the degree of internationalization and host country technological capabilities, and (ii) the role played by companies´ competencies. Using a database formed by patents filed by US companies in the European Patent Office, the paper shows that: (i) transnational US companies concentrate their technological efforts undertaken outside their home country in those technical fields in which US does not have technological revealed advantage; (ii) patents filed by inventors with residence outside the US are concentrated in the technical fields where US companies hold their core competencies; (iii) patents filed by non- US inventors are still a small fraction of the total core competencies developed by US firms.