National innovation systems and domestic multinational corporations

Abstract

This project has investigated outward foreign direct investments from the Nordic economies, and analysed the role domestic multinational companies play in their respective Nordic home economies. The project consisted of a desktop study of existing research, a quantitative study of FDI flows and the innovation behaviour of multinationals, and a qualitative analysis based on interviews conducted with leading managers, researchers and owner respondents in 17 Nordic domestic multinationals. Through this project, valuable insights into multinational corporate behaviour and strategy have been gained. The project explicitly addresses the home-base implications of corporate internationalisation, and provides a theoretical framework for understanding the conditions under which the foreign activities of such companies provide valuable knowledge inputs into the domestic innovation systems of the Nordic countries.