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The role of FDIs in regional innovation: Evidence from the automotive industry in W estern S lovakia
Author(s) -
Šipikal Miroslav,
Buček Milan
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
regional science policy and practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.342
H-Index - 8
ISSN - 1757-7802
DOI - 10.1111/rsp3.12022
Subject(s) - embeddedness , multinational corporation , automotive industry , business , economic geography , industrial organization , foreign direct investment , marketing , economics , engineering , finance , sociology , anthropology , macroeconomics , aerospace engineering
Knowledge and innovation play an indisputable role in regional economic growth; however, given their increasingly complex nature, they can be hardly produced within a single region or company and external sources and flows of both knowledge and innovation are increasingly crucial. Foreign direct investments ( FDIs ) can be considered as one of the main channels influencing these flows and look especially important in the experience of Central and Eastern European regions, due to the limited local knowledge and innovation endowments. In this paper, we study the role of external knowledge and innovation sources in the form of FDIs on the successful development of the automotive sector in W estern S lovakia, which mostly consists of multinational corporations, by implementing a case study analysis based on in‐depth interviews with relevant players in the sector. The sector's evolution proved to be an excellent example of a shift from an innovation and growth model based on an imitative innovation pattern to an innovation and growth model based on a creative adoption innovation pattern. Regional and national policies played a significant role in supporting this shift from one pattern to another. This shift leads to creation of regional specific knowledge, which in turn support FDI embeddedness.