Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/58188 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
Frankfurt School - Working Paper Series No. 187
Publisher: 
Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Frankfurt a. M.
Abstract: 
Innovation processes within corporations increasingly tap into international technology sources, yet little is known about the relative contribution of different types of innovation channels. We investigate the effectiveness of different types of international technology sourcing activities using survey information on German companies complemented with information from the European Patent Office. German firms with inventors based in the US disproportionately benefit from R&D knowledge located in the US. The positive influence on total factor productivity is larger if the research of the inventors results in co-applications of patents with US companies. Moreover, research cooperation with American suppliers also enables German firms to better tap into US R&D, but cooperation with customers and competitors does not appear to aid technology sourcing. The results suggest that the brain drain to the US can have upsides for corporations tapping into American know-how.
Subjects: 
technology sourcing
knowledge spillovers
productivity
open innovation
JEL: 
O32
O33
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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