What really makes an economy competitive? This paper reviews and discusses how the capacity to generate, exploit and diffuse new knowledge is key in enabling countries to capitalise on challenges brought about by rapid technology-driven transformations rather than succumb to their adverse...

Applying extant IB theory, I argue that initial firm internationalisation is shaped by the interdependence and dynamic interaction between its O assets and the L assets of its home location. Regardless of nationality, the initial O assets of an infant MNE tend to be constrained by the L assets...

Innovation is a multilevel phenomenon. Not only characteristics of firms but also environment within which firms operate matter. Although this has been for long recognized in the literature, a quantitative test that explicitly concerns the hypothesis that framework conditions affect...

This paper theoretically analyses the dynamics of knowledge accumulation with the aim of understanding how developing economies can effectively engage in the process of knowledge accumulation. The main focus is on the complementarity between competence building and innovation. Our analysis is...

This paper argues that actual technological spillovers are not substantial in developing countries because of the absence of an absorptive capacity. We carry out a panel data analysis in an attempt to gain insight into the specific aspects that enable economies to benefit from the backlog of...

The innovation systems approach has proven useful in explaining the reasons behind varying economic performance in developing countries. The systemic understanding of the innovation process, which pays attention to the knowledge flow among interactive actors, serves as a useful 'focusing device'...

This paper revisits an earlier contribution (Narula and Dunning 2000) and considers how economic globalisation has changed the nature of the MNE, MNE motivations, the MNE subsidiary and the modalities by which they interact with domestic economic actors. Most developing countries, however, have...

Using firm level data from five countries - Brazil, Ecuador, South Africa, Tanzania and Bangladesh - this paper examines the knowledge-based determinants of productivity of firms active in food processing, textiles, and garments and leather products. In particular, it seeks to investigate the...

This paper examines the discovery process of a recent and extraordinarily successful, nontraditional, export activity in developing country - namely the flower industry in Ethiopia. To be able to break into non-traditional exports, developing countries do not need to invent new products, but...

This paper employs both the descriptive and comparative approaches and uses the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's definition of Science and Technology (S&T) indicators (OECD, 1997) to discuss S&T development in Sudan. We find that the low level and the insufficient...