The changing geography of innovation : Chinese and Indian regions and the global flows of innovation

Despite the recent theoretical and empirical advancements in the geography of innovation literature regarding the role that global sources of knowledge may have for regional growth and development, research in this field remains focused on successful regions and clusters in developed countries. Hitherto there has been limited research on the role of regions located in developing countries and the different types of global flows of innovation that link firms located in those regions with the rest of the world. Furthermore, most of the geography of innovation literature remains at the meso level (regional and sectorial), and almost ignores the interplay with firm-level characteristics. Using an interdisciplinary perspective, the thesis contributes to the literature by combining the geography of innovation studies with international business and innovation studies to integrate the meso dimension with the global and micro dimensions. The thesis investigates how certain regions in emerging economies are changing the geography of innovation. More specifically, this thesis aims to investigate the role of the region as well as of firm level factors, especially resources and capabilities, in explaining and sustaining firms’ innovation performances and their possible modes of participation in the globalization of innovation. The empirical focus is on firms located in the Pune region (India) and the Beijing region (China) which belong to three different sectors: software, green biotech and automotive components. The empirical approach is mainly quantitative and is based on a comparative and econometric analysis of primary data collected through two international projects. The thesis consists of four articles at different stages of publication, preceded by an introductory section which frames and discusses the theoretical and methodological aspects of the individual articles