2012
PIs: Balaji Parthasarathy, Yuko Aoyama (Graduate School of Geography, Clark University)
Funding agency: National Science Foundation, USA,
Description: In this research study, we focus on the new geography of corporate R&D locations as a combined outcome of product development, innovation process, and organizational innovation. First, the growing interest among MNEs in the BOP market is a new yet under-researched theme in the geography of R&D decentralization. Second, how firms access and cultivate market intelligence in the innovation process remains surprisingly unknown, especially in the context of emerging markets. Finally, organizational innovation is observed in emerging economies, where MNEs are devising new ways to access market intelligence by forging alliances with NGOs. The emerging partnership between MNEs and NGOs has implications for both the economic and welfare potential of developing countries. Furthermore, it calls for an understanding of a newly emerging form of economic governance in which for-profit and non-profit entities increasingly interact in various dimensions of their operations.