Links the study of scientific research and industrial innovation to economic competitiveness. Looks at the role of R&D spending in encouraging innovation in firms. Examines the way national institutions prompt innovation in the economy, and the degree to which industrial sectors provide incentives for innovation. Explores the ways in which trade, the operation of multinationals, and international trade negotiations influence national production and innovation systems. Examples are drawn from a range of industrial sectors and a range of countries. Boxes on key themes. Technological change is central in explaining industrial leadership, but the relationships and interactions between scientific research, industrial innovation, and competitiveness are neither clear nor straightforward. Public research funding and business strategy dictate to a significant extent the manner in, and extent to which innovation occurs within the economy. This book analyses the role of technological change in the competitiveness of firms and national economies. This includes an examination of: the roles of R&D spending, and the organisational and technological capabilities of firms in the encouragement of innovation;. the way institutions in various nations differ in the way in which they encourage - or discourage - innovation; and the way in which different industrial sectors provide - or fail to provide - incentives to innovate; and the ways in which trade, the operation of multinationals and international trade negotiations influence national production and innovation systems.

Índice: PART I INTRODUCTION 1. Technology and competitiveness 2. The science and technology system PART II ORGANISATIONAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL CAPABILITIES AND GROWTH 3. Organisations and technology in proprietary and managerial capitalism 4. Organisations and technology during the periods of the 'new competition' and 'systems integration' 5. Organisations, technology and less developed countries: East Asia and Latin America PART III SYSTEMS OF INNOVATION: A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE 6. National systems of innovation 7. Sectoral patterns of technological change PART IV GLOBALIZATION 8. Technological change, internation... Etc.