The paper is developed at the interface between internationalization and innovation studies. It utilizes data on innovation from the UK Community Innovation Surveys 3 and 2 (CIS3 and CIS2) to assess whether multinationality affects the innovation propensity of surveyed enterprises. The indicators of innovation propensity—our dependent variables—are taken from the following CIS sets of variables: innovation outputs; innovation inputs; innovation outcomes (patent applications); innovation continuity/sustainability. The latter element is considered to be the ability of the enterprise to sustain innovation over a long period of time and the relevant variable is derived from both CIS3 and 2 data. This allows the paper to introduce dynamic elements into the analysis. Four hypotheses are developed and tested. Our main hypothesis states that multinationality per se (i.e. being part of a multinational company network) affects the propensity to innovate. We also test for three sub-hypotheses related to characteristics of multinationality: belonging to a group vs being independent; degree of multinationality; being part of a foreign vs domestic multinational. The results show that all those CIS enterprises that belong to a multinational corporation—whether UK or foreign—are more likely to exhibit innovation propensity; they are also more likely to engage in innovation activities on a continuous basis.Multinational companies, innovation, Community Innovation Survey UK, innovation activity in the UK, foreign-owned companies, degree of multinationality,
The paper starts with a brief summary of theoretical perspectives on the relationship between multinationality and innovation and the move from a centralized and hierarchical perspective to a more decentralized network-based one. Four hypotheses are set up to test the relationship between multinationality and innovation, using data from the Community Innovation Survey 12 for the financial services sector. All models control for the size of the enterprise. The results show that multinationality is positively related to innovation activities. The positive impact of being part of a multinational company (MNC) on the propensity to innovate seems largely due to the fact that MNCs operate in different countries rather than, or more than, to the enterprise being part of a group. The relevance of multinationality appears to be higher, the higher the degree of internationalization of the company of which the enterprise is part. The country of origin of the company appears also to be important.Innovation, multinational companies, internal and external networks, foreign-owned companies, financial services, community innovation survey UK,
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