It has become almost trivial to assert that in the knowledge society universities are important institutions. This consensus notwithstanding, questions like in what sense and for whom those institutions are important are far from receiving unanimous answers. Should the major function be to...

This paper examines the notion that national industrial models evolve with time, and provides evidence of transformation when elements are transferred from one society to another. The Japanese Production System, itself an adaptation of American-style mass production to the constraints of the...

This chapter situates, elaborates, and further explains the theory of global value chain (GVC) governance developed by Gereffi, Humphrey and Sturgeon (2005). The theory of GVC governance at the center of the paper is part of a long-term effort to generalize from accumulated comparative...

The analysis developed aims at identifying patterns regarding the innovative dynamics ofenterprises which comprise Local Innovation and Production Systems (LIPS) in the State of SantaCatarina (South of Brazil), with basis on a set of 298 interviews made with enterprises from fiveLIPS involving...

There is growing recognition that innovation plays a key role in enhancing competitiveness and enable emerging economies catch up with rich countries. In this sense, Mexico needs to strengthen its national innovation system (NIS) in order to create wealth and reduce poverty and inequality. This...

This book integrates three analytical approaches: (i) local and regional innovation systems, (ii) technological spillovers from transnational corporations, and (iii) the processes of technological learning and accumulation of technological capabilities, and creating of absorptive capacities. The...

Several studies from different bodies of literature have studied public private interactions from different perspectives. The literature of National Systems of Innovation suggests that universities and public research centres (PRC) can make an important contribution to innovation (Lundvall 1992;...

It is now widely recognized that Universities can play a fundamental role on the performance of the firms’ innovation activities, because they are the main producers and transmitters of knowledge (Narin, Hamilton and Olivestro, 1997; Cohen, Nelson and Walsh, 2002; Arocena and Sutz, 2001). In the...

How are innovation capabilities created in a firm in an emerging economy, whydoes such a firm decide to start to innovate? These are two of the challenging questionsthat direct this study. A Mexican steel company, called "Steel Company", is the subjectof study. This company started to operate...

There is a growing literature exploring the increasing fragmentation of production processes and the evolution of internationally-dispersed but functionally-integrated economic activities. However, most of this literature appears to neglect an important part of the story, that is the form and...