21 swedish mncs between 1893 and 2008 and follows

21 Swedish MNCs between 1893 and 2008, and follows their patenting activity in order to
document the distribution of inventive activity, both across and within individual

subsidiaries. The findings at the subsidiary level show that the distribution of
technological activity and contribution to the overall multinational group is significantly
skewed; the paper then empirically explores the assumption that a similar distribution
also applies at the level of individual inventors. The results point to a pattern whereby
most inventors make only occasional and limited technological contributions and, instead,
more significant numbers of new technological discoveries are attributable to a select
group of exceptionally inventive individuals. In the light of the results, we suggest the
fruitfulness of applying a people-centric perspective on the sources of sustained
competitive advantage of the MNC, the management of geographically dispersed
capabilities in the multinational network, and the geographical sources of technological
renewal in the MNC.
6. Title: How Knowledge Brokers Emerge and Evolve: The Role of Actors’
Behaviour
Authors: Cristina Boari, Federico Riboldazzi.
Abstract: This article investigates how actors positioned in a network can evolve as
knowledge brokers, as well as how they act to develop new brokerage roles. Our focus is
on actor's behaviour while previous studies concentrate more on the structural and
positional determinants of brokerage roles. This research combines brokerage roles with
a broker's functions in an exploratory study of a small Italian comics publishing house.
Over 20 years, the firm played different brokerage roles involving different actors at
national and international levels. We find that if all brokerage roles involve transcoding
functions, the ability to overcome transcoding obstacles, through the use of shared
imprinting with receiving partners, could be useful for developing any brokerage role.
Moreover, heterogeneity in the competences and industry experience of hired members
of the management team could support the development of new brokerage roles, with
differentiated effects on various brokers’ functions. If a brokerage role involves new
actors with no previous allegiance, the status of the broker, signalled through network
relations, can have significant impacts by indirectly communicating its superior
knowledge. The proposed, emerging theoretical framework has direct implications for
studies of knowledge brokers and innovation in social networks, as well as for
entrepreneurship research.
7. Title: Knowledge Transfer Activities in Social Sciences and Humanities:
Explaining the Interactions of Research Groups with Non-Academic Agents
Authors: Julia Olmos-Peñuela, Elena Castro-Martínez, Pablo D’Este.