Multinational firms and the creation of technological linkages in Italy

Using empirical evidence from the Italian R&D survey, we assess the ability of multinational firms in setting-up technological linkages (Extra-muros R&D and R&D cooperation). We find that Italian multinationals are more prone to perform Extra-muros R&D, while foreign multinationals are better at developing R&D cooperation. However, selecting only the linkages with local counterparts, we find that foreign multinationals have no advantage vis-à-vis Italian firms; while multinationals still have some advantages in setting-up R&D cooperation with local universities. Results suggest that foreign multinationals can generally exploit “economies of common governance” when setting-up technical linkages, but they face relative disadvantages in terms of embeddedness in local systems.