The Geography and Structure of Global Innovation Networks: A Knowledge Base Perspective

This paper explores the geography and structure of global innovation networks (GINs) of two multinational companies belonging to industries with different knowledge bases. It contributes to the existing literature on knowledge bases, by studying both intra-firm and inter-firm GINs. By means of social network analysis based on primary data, we identify two different forms of GINs, namely the globally organized model and the locally organized model. The paper finds that, in addition to influencing the geographic spread of a GIN, the knowledge base also influences the way that a GIN is organized.