The evolution of technological capabilities in the multinational corporation - dispersion, duplication and potential advantages from multinationality

This article examines longitudinal changes in the geographical location of advanced technological capabilities in the multinational corporation. Data on the postwar development of 24 Swedish multinationals show increasing dispersion and duplication of capabilities within individual technologies, offering flexibility advantages as well as an enhanced potential for cross-fertilization between dispersed units. The duplication of technological capabilities is shown to be a slow process, and the paper discusses the perceived tension between evolutionary growth and increasing commitments to foreign markets and the forces that tend to concentrate capabilities to a limited number of locations. Differences among individual firms and types of technology an discussed in this context. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.