Innovation in Global Industries U.S. Firms Competing in a New World (Collected Studies) (2008) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Introduction
Introduction
Pages 1-18
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
corporations through their offshore R&D and manufacturing investments would contribute to the growth of foreign competitors in these and other industries and reduce domestic employment opportunities. The debates of the 1980s and early 1990s adopted a slightly different tone, emphasizing the growth of foreign competitors in industries such as automobiles and semiconductors whose innovative performance and high-quality products threatened the viability of U.S.
|
From page 2... ...
to "outsource" activities formerly undertaken by U.S.based professional, scientific, and engineering employees have raised widespread popular concerns over the erosion of employment opportunities in occupations and industries (including many service industries) that formerly were minimally exposed to foreign competition.
|
From page 3... ...
firms and domestic employment, especially in professional and engineering occupations. The STEP Board study examined 10 industries: personal computers, software, semiconductors, flat panel displays, lighting, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, logistics, venture capital, and financial services.
|
From page 4... ...
firms dominate global trade in both packaged software products and software services, although their leadership position is weakening in software services. Important non-U.S.
|
From page 5... ...
firms specializing in design and marketing of semiconductor components to access global production networks and grow rapidly. Nevertheless, continued growth in production capacity and design capabilities in Southeast Asia is likely to result in expanded offshore product design and development activity by U.S.
|
From page 6... ...
All three firms still operate global production networks for the manufacture of traditional lighting products, but they face increased competition from low-cost Southeast Asian producers in traditional lighting products. Moreover, the growth of markets for lighting technologies based on light-emitting diodes (LEDs)
|
From page 7... ...
Vertical specialization has played an important role in the development of the biomedical segment in particular, since many new firms in this segment serve as "research boutiques," conducting R&D in new drugs that are subsequently developed for commercial purposes by larger pharmaceutical firms. The biotechnology industry itself has experienced considerable vertical specialization, and (as in other industries examined in this volume)
|
From page 8... ...
This process is likely to continue as countries develop clusters of technological expertise that attract the attention and investments of VC firms throughout the global economy, as multinational corporations acquire more foreign startups, and as financial markets throughout the world develop sufficiently to support the liquidation by venture capitalists of their investments. Indeed, in some important respects, globalization of innovation in VC reflects the growth of innovationrelated entrepreneurship in other economies.
|
From page 9... ...
The growth of vertical specialization within the global financial services industry also has affected the structure of innovation-related activities. There are strong complementarities between process and product innovation in this industry, but the offshore movement (mainly to Asian countries)
|
From page 10... ...
And just as has been true of innovation in the industrial economies, the growth in innovation-related activities within countries such as India, China, and Taiwan has been associated with regional concentration and agglomeration -- Bangalore, Shanghai, and Hsinchu are examples of regional "high-technology" agglomerations in India, China, and Taiwan, respectively. Expansion of Production Activities Outside of the United States A second factor in the transformation of the innovation processes in the industries discussed in this volume is the expansion of production activities outside of the United States in these and other regions.
|
From page 11... ...
firms of their product development activities. Increased "Vertical Specialization" Structural change in the industries examined in this volume has influenced the shifting structure and location of innovation-related activities.
|
From page 12... ...
Vertical specialization thus far has had varied effects on the location of innovation-related activities in the industries discussed in this volume. Although flat panel display production is located almost entirely outside of the United States, U.S.
|
From page 13... ...
Industry in 2000) noted, restructuring in the domestic and international R&D systems means that conventional R&D investment data are less reliable as a guide to structural change in the innovation process.
|
From page 14... ...
Although patent data represent a valuable additional set of indicators of innovation-related activities in a much more complex global economic environment, their limitations must be kept in mind. Yet another area in which the quality of available data makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions is the effects on domestic scientific and engineering employment from the globalization of innovation-related activities that is occurring in many of these industries.
|
From page 15... ...
Overall, therefore, the data underpinning the conclusions of all of the chapters in this volume provide a clearer understanding of the past than they do of the future. Although the nature of the innovation process is such that the near-term future is not likely to differ radically from the recent past, the fact remains that the data underpinning detailed industry studies such as these provide a limited foundation for forecasts.
|
From page 16... ...
universities as research collaborators and therefore weaken the "magnetic force" of these important institutional assets for R&D investment in the United States from foreign sources. Users of advanced technologies play an important role in innovation in many of the industries examined in this volume, especially those in the IT sector.
|
From page 17... ...
The broader process of economic globalization, of which the restructuring of innovation-related activities is one part, is on the whole beneficial for the United States. Consumers benefit from higher-quality, lower-cost, and more innovative products; employees benefit from the ability to exploit their skills in a global rather than a domestic market; firms benefit from lower costs and economies of specialization through vertical specialization and increased collaboration; and the processes of trade liberalization can have beneficial political consequences for international relations as well.
|
From page 18... ...
And such political resistance has the potential to undercut the globalization in innovation-related activities that has proven highly beneficial to U.S.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.